It will come as no surprise to Curmiphiles that this blog highlights education issues a lot. And it’s usually not terribly complimentary to those in charge. This time around, it’s University Follies. Apologies in advance; this is going to take a while.
Let’s start with what, frighteningly enough, is the least
outrageous of the stories.
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| Aqsa Khan |
The program tokenizes minority students by pushing one or two to the forefront in order to appear diverse while doing little to actually help the majority of BIPOC students in any tangible manner, if not outright ignoring and denying them opportunities. In reality, the faculty this department employs and continues to employ have created an inequitable climate in this program.
Not surprisingly, the powers-that-be didn’t take kindly to
this assessment; no one likes to be perceived, rightly or wrongly, in this
light. Curmie, of course, has no idea as
to whether Ms. Khan’s criticisms are legitimate. Perhaps she is highlighting actual issues of
concern; perhaps she is exaggerating; perhaps her discontent is entirely
misplaced. What isn’t in question is her
right to express those opinions.
Well, at least it isn’t in question in the mind of anyone
who knows anything about either professional ethics or the U.S.
Constitution. Unfortunately, the list of
people who qualify under either of those criteria does not include any
decision-makers in the CSULB Psychology Department.
Khan was charged with the “use of computing facilities and
resources to send obscene or intimidating and abusive messages” and the “use of
computing facilities, campus network, or other resources to interfere with the
work of another.” Both of these charges
are, to coin a phrase, bullshit.
It would be impossible for any rational being to interpret
anything in Khan’s message as “obscene.”
That leaves only “intimidating” and “abusive” from that first
charge. Khan makes serious allegations
against a fellow graduate student, but it would be difficult to call them
abusive; anyone intimidated by Khan’s remarks lacks the backbone to perform
even competently in an academic environment.
As for “interfering with the work of another,” well, all
Curmie can see is that someone in a cushy corner office might have to do their
damned job and respond to a student concern.
This would, of course, interfere with that bureaucrat’s conception of
their (ahem) profession: playing solitaire on the office computer.
Anyway, the Star Chamber gave Khan a year of academic
probation and a directive to submit a two-page “action plan” that amounts to
“don’t bother us,” amidst concerns that Khan might “seek a wider audience when
the investigation concludes, and she is not satisfied with the results.” At least they got that last part right.
Curmie need hardly mention that FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) got involved very quickly
to remind the university that even grad students have 1st amendment
rights. Curmie has long considered FIRE
a net positive; he’s beginning to think they’re essential.
FIRE, of course, is often regarded as a right-leaning
organization because many of the cases in which they intervene involve the
suppression of the free speech of conservative faculty or students. That’s why the next cases are important in
demonstrating that the only ideology FIRE seeks to uphold is that the US
Constitution is indeed the law of the land, irrespective of what university
administrators (in particular) think about the subject.
Two separate lawsuits have been filed of late by two now former professors at Collin College, a juco
in McKinney, Texas. Historian Dr. Lora Burnett and education professor Dr. Suzanne Jones have both claimed that the
college severed ties with them in retaliation for, among other things, critical
comments about the school’s COVID policies.
FIRE is actively representing Burnett; it’s reasonable to assume they’ll
soon be in Jones’s corner, as well.
In addition to having the audacity to having an opinion
about an issue which directly concerns them but is also a matter of public
concern, Burnett had some harsh words for then-VP Mike Pence on Twitter, and
Jones was one of the organizers of the Texas Faculty Association, described by
Inside Higher Ed as “function[ing] somewhat like a union but… not recognized, per Texas state
law prohibiting collective bargaining among public employees.”
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| Lora Burnett |
There’s the fact that Jones’s most recent performance review
describes her as “a dedicated professor with a deep passion for education,” and
that the renewal of her contract was supported by the associate dean, dean, and
provost. There’s the fact that there are
numerous other such cases that just didn’t result in lawsuits… and the fact
that Collin was listed by FIRE as one of the ten worst colleges in the country for free
speech.
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| Suzanne Jones |
There’s yet more, which you can check out at the links
included above should you desire to do so.
We’ll close with two thoughts.
First, there’s the fact that Collin doesn’t offer tenure to faculty;
these cases demonstrate both why that is so (so idiot administrators—the usual apologies
for redundancy—can pretend they’re feudal lords) and why that’s a real problem
(because dissent is essential to a functioning democracy and its educational
systems).
Second, here’s FIRE’s Greg H. Greubel:
A professor expressing their political
views on social media is not insubordination, it’s core protected speech. Colleges and universities are supposed to be
a space for individuals to engage in fearless debate on controversial issues,
not a place where criticizing your boss gets you fired. If professors like Lora
Burnett cannot inform the public about their views on public issues and
problems on campus, our democracy is weakened. This case shows that when
colleges treat professors as disposable, academic freedom and faculty expressive
rights become disposable, too.
Yeah, what he said, even though that first sentence should
have a semi-colon instead of a comma. 😉
It’s hard to figure out where to put the following story in
an essay that’s sort of arranged in order of increasing awfulness. It doesn’t fit the “free speech” motif of the
rest of these incidents, but it sure is about a university behaving badly. Indeed, it’s incomprehensible that anyone
capable of even semi-articulate expression would think this is a good idea.
So we move on to Michigan State University,
where there is apparently a shortage of student labor in the dining halls. OK, that’s understandable enough, given the
pandemic and all. And let’s face it, it’s
not a terribly glamorous job. So, Gentle
Reader, what do you suppose the university did to rectify the problem? Possibly raise the pay to attract more
employees? Well, they did eventually get
around to that, but first they had a better idea: get faculty and staff to volunteer
to sling hash. Such was the import of an
e-mail from Vennie Gore, senior vice president for residential and hospitality
services and auxiliary enterprises (what a title!).
That’s right, they’re understaffed because they don’t pay
enough for it to be worthwhile for college students to do the job, so the
obvious solution is to not pay anybody and to de facto extort
faculty into this allegedly volunteer activity.
Faculty have been under extreme pressure in recent months: administrators
have used the global health crisis and the ensuing financial crunch to enact
whatever harebrained schemes infect their underutilized crania.
Faculty, librarians, and all those other personnel
considered irrelevant to the enterprise, are sacrificed so we can be sure to
give the president a raise equal to the annual salary of a full professor or
ensure that the football team doesn’t have to enter the season with a mere 20
coaches and other full-time staff.
Priorities, after all.
Faculty have also been pushed to the limit with demands that
they accommodate in-person, livestream and online students simultaneously,
adapt to new technologies that are evolving at a dizzying pace, and respond to
an increasingly entitled student population and administrations that manifest
equal parts narcissism and paranoia. All
this extra work, of course, would be for the same or even less money than they
were making in pre-COVID days.
Moreover, any faculty member who isn’t tenured is absolutely
under threat of being let go in light of “budget constraints,” so the right to
refuse is rather like the right to vote for Fidel Castro’s opponent in Cuba a
generation or two ago. Had Curmie
received such a request (demand?), he would have responded with a two-word
message that rhymes with “duck poo.” But
Curmie was tenured until entering into semi-retirement this year. And now, the prospect of losing a part-time
gig that pays less than he’s worth, a job he accepted simply to keep his mind
fresh, doesn’t really constitute a threat.
But administrations are all about “team players,” which is code for “silent
acquiescence” (see above, re Collin College).
Oh-so-curiously, it appears that actually paying more
dropped the staffing shortage significantly.
Who’da thunk it, right? The
university could hire a lot of student workers if they got rid of Vennie Gore
and his $302,000 salary (plus perqs). The university would be
better served by leaving that job vacant rather than having it staffed by a
clueless buffoon, and the fact that he still seems to be employed is a stain on
the university’s reputation.
Curmie is reliably informed (by Beloved Spouse, who works in
financial aid) that there are no governmental restraints on work-study job
salaries. The total amount a university
is allocated is set by the government, but hourly wages are at the discretion
of the employer. So pay them what you
need to, and cut some of those work study jobs for which students are de
facto paid to do their homework or play games online. Trust me, they are manifold.
And yet one more observation… Years ago, the VP for Development at the
college where Curmie then taught told a group of faculty that over time a
well-managed portfolio could be expected to yield 6% over inflation. Let’s make it easy and call it just 6%. Michigan State’s endowment is $3.4 billion. 6% of that is $204 million. That would fund… let’s see… 13,600 student
half-time workers at $15/hour, for 50 weeks a year. Remember that when you hear about how MSU
can’t afford to do otherwise.
Finally, we move on to the There But for the Grace of God
story as far as Curmie is concerned. All
Curmie knew about Coastal Carolina University prior to this episode is that
they used to employ one of his former students, and that they have a good (if
over-rated) football team. But now there’s
this. And we’re back in FIRE territory.
About six weeks ago, a group of students walked into a theatre
classroom at CCU to see a list of names written on a whiteboard. Turns out, all of those names were of BIPOC
students. Any normal person might wonder
why those names appeared on the board.
The more perspicacious might consider who was last in the room. But nay.
It would be a gross understatement to suggest that students leapt to
erroneous conclusions about the nature of the list; rather, they hurtled
themselves into an ecstasy of victimhood.
Overcome by a mix of raging paranoia and an apparent orgiastic
fervor to be regarded as persecuted, the students entering the room presumed
with literally no evidence that the names were intended to “single out”
non-white students, apparently to some unspecified nefarious purpose. Students proceeded to organize an on-campus
protest a few days later rather than attend class.
Actually, the singling out part is true, but with nothing
remotely similar to the intent manufactured by the wannabee victims. Indeed, it quickly became clear that a guest
artist had been working with a group of BIPOC students who wanted to get to
know other non-white students in the program, so… wait for it… they
brainstormed a list of other BIPOC students to possibly hang out with. Literally no one seems to dispute that this
was the purpose of the list.
Nonetheless, the visiting artist and the faculty Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion Committee both issued apologies, the former describing
her actions as “thoughtless and careless” (it’s unclear whether it was the
writing of the list or the failure to erase the whiteboard that merits such
self-flagellation), the latter describing itself as “deeply sorry,” saying the incident “should never have
happened” (well, that part is true), and promising to “[discuss] with faculty
and students the gravity of the situation.”
Of course, the only part of this incident with any gravity at all is the
apparent willingness of students to substitute fantasy for reality and subsequently
fail to admit they were wrong, and the abject failure of DEI committee members
to observe, à la Gertrude Stein, that there is no there there.
And now we’re back at the infomercials, because THAT’S NOT
ALL!
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| Steven Earnest |
So far, though, it’s just a bunch of post-adolescents acting
like post-adolescents and members of a DEI committee feeling a mixture of
self-importance and the need to justify their existence. Curmie has seen more than a few variations on
these themes for decades.
Ah, but then the idiot dean (again, apologies for redundancy)
had to get in on the act. It’s unclear
exactly when Earnest sent his e-mail, but it was in response to the committee’s
message, sent after 5:00 pm on a Friday. The following Monday, Dean Claudia Bornholdt told
Earnest not to come to his classes and to send her his syllabus, effectively
suspending him from his teaching duties!
AND THAT’S STILL NOT ALL!
According to FIRE, Earnest’s lawyer says the university is
now starting termination proceedings against him. Needless to say, Curmie, who may or may not
have sent an e-mail describing as “Stalinist” a draft “anti-racist” manifesto
distributed to faculty in his theatre department a year or so ago, is
more than a little concerned that Dr. Earnest is going through all this for the
apparent crime of noticing that the emperor was… erm… déshabillé.
Also, Curmie can't resist the obvious joke here, noting the absolute Importance of Being Earnest. OK, that’s out of the system. Moving on...
Alas, there are even more stories like these out there. Colleges and universities are being pulled apart in a way Curmie has never seen before. Repressive forces are stronger than ever, and they’re coming from all political and ideological angles. It’s not too late to restore thought, the search for truth, and the necessity of differing opinions as the center-pieces of higher education. But we’re speeding towards that cliff, and if we don’t want to be Thelma and Louise ten seconds after the movie ends, we damned sure need to hit the brakes. Hard. Now.
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