tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post3336393881784239575..comments2024-02-26T09:30:54.111-06:00Comments on Domine, da mihi hanc aquam!: Coffee Bowl BrowsingFr. Philip Powell, OPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14970857401221305221noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18842286.post-12298277394803552242010-05-28T23:04:33.946-05:002010-05-28T23:04:33.946-05:00Tenured academics have it cushy, but the problem i...Tenured academics have it cushy, but the problem is that universities are essentially cutting tenured positions by not hiring tenure-track faculty to replace retirements. Now, I'm a bit ambivalent about the implications of tenure so that wouldn't necessarily bother me except that what's going on is that the universities are hiring adjuncts to pick up the slack. Adjuncting is a really terrible gig; it pays less than being a graduate teaching assistant around here, and if you spend more than a couple of years post-PhD adjuncting you can kiss your chances at EVER being hired to the tenure track goodbye. I know of people who stitch together work at multiple institutions just to be able to contribute to their families.<br /><br />There is so, so, so much wrong in the American academic job market. I don't think unionization is the answer, but I do think that there are legitimate grievances and I can understand that faculty are alarmed. I think part of the movement toward unions has to do with the fact that it is hardly ever the department's choice not to replace a retiring tenured professor with adjuncts; it is dictated by the university and the budget. And of course we're looking at massive financial crisis in the universities like in other sectors.Jamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18076215213828545013noreply@blogger.com