Excellent piece. I was not a professor but I worked in higher ed admin as support staff for 25+ years. The world of academia does not fulfill the promises it makes. In this day and age, the expenses you accumulate with the promise of solid employment are extreme. Free labor is the norm (so wrong). I've seen academia turn into profit mach…
Excellent piece. I was not a professor but I worked in higher ed admin as support staff for 25+ years. The world of academia does not fulfill the promises it makes. In this day and age, the expenses you accumulate with the promise of solid employment are extreme. Free labor is the norm (so wrong). I've seen academia turn into profit machines---upper admin only cares about new buildings that (surprise) fall apart quickly, and making everything into an "event" with "student swag". (Spoiler alert---if you make everything an event, NOTHING is an event. And students have enough water bottles from previous events.) It's been on the horizon for YEARS that the student population is dwindling (fewer births) and the race to attract them to their institution is fierce. And yes, students as undergrads are still sold a false bill of goods. Recruiting makes universities seem like a utopia where there, and only there at their institution, your dreams can be fulfilled. And then after acceptance, students and their parents have to navigate the difficult world of financial aid that somehow wasn't mentioned in recruiting materials. The university where I worked (cough---University of TN---cough) also has a housing crisis and oversells admissions. This is truth---students sold on making friends at your new dorm were, instead, forced to live in a Holiday Inn Express instead. Upper admin vowed to lower their admissions so the housing need would not be so critical. But guess what? The next spring the promise was forgotten and a "new record class" was admitted. SO GLAD I RETIRED.
Excellent piece. I was not a professor but I worked in higher ed admin as support staff for 25+ years. The world of academia does not fulfill the promises it makes. In this day and age, the expenses you accumulate with the promise of solid employment are extreme. Free labor is the norm (so wrong). I've seen academia turn into profit machines---upper admin only cares about new buildings that (surprise) fall apart quickly, and making everything into an "event" with "student swag". (Spoiler alert---if you make everything an event, NOTHING is an event. And students have enough water bottles from previous events.) It's been on the horizon for YEARS that the student population is dwindling (fewer births) and the race to attract them to their institution is fierce. And yes, students as undergrads are still sold a false bill of goods. Recruiting makes universities seem like a utopia where there, and only there at their institution, your dreams can be fulfilled. And then after acceptance, students and their parents have to navigate the difficult world of financial aid that somehow wasn't mentioned in recruiting materials. The university where I worked (cough---University of TN---cough) also has a housing crisis and oversells admissions. This is truth---students sold on making friends at your new dorm were, instead, forced to live in a Holiday Inn Express instead. Upper admin vowed to lower their admissions so the housing need would not be so critical. But guess what? The next spring the promise was forgotten and a "new record class" was admitted. SO GLAD I RETIRED.