Thank you for writing this. You touched on so many hard truths about academia, and the one truth that broke my relationship with it: the exploitation of faculty. Universities are businesses that thrive on unpaid labor and they get away with it because “service” usually comprises a significant portion of the job requirements. How does one…
Thank you for writing this. You touched on so many hard truths about academia, and the one truth that broke my relationship with it: the exploitation of faculty. Universities are businesses that thrive on unpaid labor and they get away with it because “service” usually comprises a significant portion of the job requirements. How does one avoid service? By getting external funding. Bring in enough money and first the service requirements start to go and then the teaching requirements. If an institution has enough faculty to run things — always by committee — they can hire more administrators. Numbers of faculty are governed by numbers of students but numbers of administrators seems to be governed by God only knows. I routinely worked 60-80 hours a week for 30 years. When I loved what I was doing, it was my life. It was my identity. I learned during Covid that my job is merely my job and I do it to pay for my actual life. So many of my colleagues woke up to the same realization, and so many of us are trying to figure out who we are outside of our jobs. Being an academic requires a single mindedness that eliminates the ability to see options outside of academia and the sunk cost of the effort to get and keep the job…it’s just a job.
The board of trustees at my institution have proposed using AI to teach lower level classes.
I’m out. I’m retiring and this summer is the first time in over 30 years I’m not doing research (for free), advising new students (for free), or planning new instruction for the fall (for free).
Right there with you. Retiring this summer after 25 years at my institution (also a 4-4 load, with tons of service) and 30 years of teaching. I always thought I'd be that professor who taught until age 70, that they'd have to pry me out with a crowbar. I was so afraid of losing my professor identity that I balked about leaving for a long time. Now that I am doing it, I cannot believe how much lighter and better I feel. It's astonishing.
Thank you for writing this. You touched on so many hard truths about academia, and the one truth that broke my relationship with it: the exploitation of faculty. Universities are businesses that thrive on unpaid labor and they get away with it because “service” usually comprises a significant portion of the job requirements. How does one avoid service? By getting external funding. Bring in enough money and first the service requirements start to go and then the teaching requirements. If an institution has enough faculty to run things — always by committee — they can hire more administrators. Numbers of faculty are governed by numbers of students but numbers of administrators seems to be governed by God only knows. I routinely worked 60-80 hours a week for 30 years. When I loved what I was doing, it was my life. It was my identity. I learned during Covid that my job is merely my job and I do it to pay for my actual life. So many of my colleagues woke up to the same realization, and so many of us are trying to figure out who we are outside of our jobs. Being an academic requires a single mindedness that eliminates the ability to see options outside of academia and the sunk cost of the effort to get and keep the job…it’s just a job.
The board of trustees at my institution have proposed using AI to teach lower level classes.
I’m out. I’m retiring and this summer is the first time in over 30 years I’m not doing research (for free), advising new students (for free), or planning new instruction for the fall (for free).
Right there with you. Retiring this summer after 25 years at my institution (also a 4-4 load, with tons of service) and 30 years of teaching. I always thought I'd be that professor who taught until age 70, that they'd have to pry me out with a crowbar. I was so afraid of losing my professor identity that I balked about leaving for a long time. Now that I am doing it, I cannot believe how much lighter and better I feel. It's astonishing.
I took a buyout from my place, got 3 weeks notice to leave. Turning 70 in a few months and cannot wait to leave!