From "‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee" (The Guardian).
July 31, 2023
"The new laws have introduced a ban on the funding of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Florida’s public colleges and universities, withdrawn a right to arbitration..."
"... formerly guaranteed to faculty members who have been denied tenure or face dismissal, and prohibited the teaching of critical race theory, which contends that inherent racial bias pervades many laws and institutions in western society, among other changes.
In the face of that and other legislation backed by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers that has rolled back the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community, many scholars across the state are taking early retirement, voting with their feet by accepting job offers outside Florida or simply throwing in the towel with a letter of resignation."
From "‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee" (The Guardian).
From "‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee" (The Guardian).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
157 comments:
Who lost what rights? Typical piece of shit Gaurdian idiocy.
It sounds unconstitutional but it's nice that the experts are leaving.
Politically left-oriented brain drain. Not that you were The Guardian but not to worry, there's a pool of center and center-right academics without jobs...
Buh-bye!
If the absence of a DEI programs is causing faculty to quit I say good riddance.
Brain drain? Quite the opposite, as the changes prod many empty-headed eggheads to flee. The new laws reflect modest criticism of very bad ideas that have failed, and they reject decades of state-funded sophistry.
These changes are long, long, long overdue and should spread across the country and world. Convert those fleeing academics into Starbucks baristas. While we are at it, convert the striking Hollywood crowd into Starbucks baristas. Start a trend.
The reason they have open jobs is because if they take a job at this school they will never get another job at any other school, they will be canceled.
There are 10,000 adjunct profs begging for real jobs.
So cutting DEI funding = I'm not wanted?
What "LGBT rights" were abridged?
How does the law "prohibit the teaching of critical race theory"?
GOOD. Get rid of the progressive liars, and teach subjects that will get you jobs. These Academics are ruining education.
This is why I do not want DeSanctimonious to run for prez. He is too valuable as our Governor!!!!
What rights have been rolled back?
DIE, like affirmative action, confers a broad set of benefits for women and minorities. You can be mediocre (or even stupid and lazy) and still get guaranteed employment (with pensions and tremendous healthcare) if you check the right boxes. White men are denied access to these jobs. And these are awesome jobs.
I think DIE discriminates on the basis of race and it is illegal for the same reasons articulated in Harvard/UNC affirmative action cases.
Wow, this is really terrifying. Imagine an American academia in which professors aren't free to study and teach whatever they want without fear of adverse career consequences, but instead must conform to the ideological bent of the institution. God willing, we must stop what is happening at this one, 700-student Florida school from spreading to any of the nation's other 6,000 colleges and universities.
Bug or feature?
It is a bit ironic when other places are demanding "diversity statements" as part of their hiring practices (even when applying for things like STEM field positions).
The more open positions in Florida, the more conservative academics will head there and the better the quality of higher education in Florida will become.
Universities are majority female, liberal to Marxist leaning, and failing miserably to teach basic courses.
DEI is nothing more than Marxism and propaganda, as is CRT.
In many disciplines, such as history, sociology, English lit, it is almost impossible to advance from novice to professor without being openly liberal and leftist.
This so called problem is actually a blessing. The lack of real diversity in Education faculties is the reason for educations complete failure, from pre school to university.
If teachers and professors had to be at least 50/50 liberal or conservative, most universities and education systems would close.
Elon Musk has said there is no reason to even attend college anymore-Online has made it possible to achieve what people want.
Another reason why they hate Musk.
Fla is sounding better and better.. Plus the riffraff seem to be moving out!
NOW, if they could just do Something; about the gators, and crocs, and pythons, and sharks!
Considering that academia graduates far more professor-grade people than there are openings, this should not hurt Florida's colleges much.
A crippling shortage of Critical Race theorists and DEI consultants brings Florida's economy to a halt. DeSantis will have much to answer for.
"Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee"
For some values of "brain."
I've been reviewing the stories of Sokal and the so-called Hoax Papers lately. Good fun. Ethically... a little problematic, to use the jargon so popular in the circles whose nekkidness they were exposing, but wow are they ever nekkid.
According to the intellectual drivers of this effort in Florida, there is a significant pool of qualified academics unable to function in the closed shop of liberal orthodoxy in current university culture. Some feel that this pool will supply their needs for these vacant positions, and one can also expect that this process will be regarded with horror in all the best places.
Magnets repel, magnets attract. We'll see what we get, live with it, and be where we will be. There will be reviews by critics throughout the process.
"Brain drain" is Florida's gain. Most of these credentialed rent-seekers have never done a productive thing in their lives.
This (loss of some left-wing faculty at Florida schools) must be a real crisis, because you just can't find left-wing dominated faculties anywhere, anymore.
There's just no alternative out there! Everything in academia is just like Florida schools, or Hillsdale, these days! DEI has been crushed, nationwide. Critical [whatever] theory is disappearing from all course catalogs. Women, Blacks, and LGBT+ hardest hit!
Oh, the humanity!
Cry me a river, lefties.
There are a lot of college professors looking for jobs. So I have a feeling Florida Universities will suffer less than the people who quit their jobs over this.
"I'm not wanted" = "I'm no longer being treated better than my scholarship and teaching ability deserve on their own"
And this is a problem? I’m quite sure there are many educators available who will welcome not being forced to indoctrinate students.
Is it really a brain drain?
While there's some concern about academic freedom, the wider reality is that the academic guilds have long enforced its own strong censorship and anti-intellectualism. Those who control hiring would never have hired anyone who--with academic rigor--critiqued those named issues. There's a huge glut of academics out there, and I doubt there will be any lingering open positions in Florida schools.
Sad, that it has to take place by mandates, but when academic freedom is already a chimera, it's rather disingenuous to cry about academic freedom being undermined by the opponents who were being previously locked out of academia.
"or simply throwing in the towel with a letter of resignation."
And doing what? McDonald's? Coding? Yoga instructors?
I don't believe that one bit.
Ah, the state chancellor says that there has not been a marked increase in turnover but the teachers union says otherwise. In general neither is to be believed without the data, but in this case I’ll side with the chancellor over a teachers labor union.
DEI educators fleeing Florida? Hallelujah! The chuckle of the day was to label them scholars. Putting the Commie-Pinkos in charge of education for the last 50 years has effectively destroyed it.
"Brain drain" at a liberal university? Priceless. The arrogant lack of self-awareness among the credentialed knows no limit.
Kick ass. In four years we'll have a lot of kids worth hiring coming out of Florida Universities.
"lawmakers that has rolled back the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community".
So, the rights include using taxpayer funds to promote a political view using tenure track employees.
Also, to have taxpayers fund bureaucrats to spread the same.
Also to falsely claim you can't say "gay".
Or to ban age inappropriate books, but ONLY in elementary school libraries.
Perhaps the right to have drag queens celebrated in the tax payer funded schools.
Any others?
Are these "inalienable" rights from our Creator?
Let them go. Please go.
El Predicto sez:
1) the flood is really a trickle, but portrayed as a flood by a joyful media,
2) if it becomes a flood, positions filled on merit will make Florida Universities some of the very best in the nation.
"rolled back the rights of the LGBTQ community..."
Needs a citation. Which "rights?"
Sounds like the new laws are accomplishing their goals, encouraging the woke activists in education to flee like rats exposed to sunlight.
Mmmmm. Not seeing a downside to this. Carry on.
In other words, progress.
In other words, progress.
I don’t understand the removal of arbitration, but the threat of leaving because of the new policy seems like it is having a positive effect. I call it a threat, because several news organizations have repeated the poorly sourced and false story that Florida population is shrinking as people “vote with their feet. Still, if progressives want to hold tantrum and leave for more advanced civilizations like San Francisco or NYC, then I’m sure DeSantis can find room on the buses for immigrants wanting to go to those places too.
Seen a rash of these articles from the national "We hate Florida's success' media.
So let's talk about this.
There is reality, and there is the media version of reality.
1) I knew it would start with New College. It's based where I live here in Sarasota. I lived here briefly 30 years ago and it was a highly regarded small liberal arts college back then. Move ahead 30 years, and as you would expect, it turned into a trash heap. Like so many other institutions, prizing the teaching of hating American traditions/history and praising any alternate studies that...leave grads unemployed outside of a university position teaching the same useless tripe. The current change is to make this school a bastion of Classical Liberal Education. Like a Hillsdale, but not Hillsdale. Also like the University of Austin, but not the University of Austin. University of Austin. Young people looking to get a serious education- like most of our universities used to offer, can now go to Hillsdale, or U of Austin, or New College in Sarasota. When the changes were announced, students and faculty threatened to leave. The new operators were fine to open the doors for them.
2) The idea that there have been LGBTQ (+?) rights taken away is preposterous. No one's rights have been diminished. Anyone can live their lives today in Florida just as they were a year ago in Florida. Their lives do not change. What has changed is that the teaching of sexual materials to young children- traditional or alternate styles- is prohibited. IF anyone wonders where and how this happened, they need only look at some of the books allowed to show or read to the kids, which have been removed from the school libraries. THEY ARE NOT BANNED BOOKS. If you want them, you can buy them in any bookstore. But they're not going to be sitting on the shelves of the elementary schools in Florida. Duh. As for 'don't say gay'. Nowhere in the law is that stated.
But..media has it's narratives.
3) A few other things going on in Florida today. (a) The population is booming. (b) With that, new communities and scores of new schools are being built. (c) We're getting more and more teachers moving into the state. (d) Our test scores in Florida are going up. This used to be a questionable state when it came to education. And that used to make sense. It was a retirement state. NO LONGER. It is a booming state attracting families from the Northeast, Midwest, and...believe it or not- California.
Our schools are growing and we're getting more and better teachers. So while the professional Left is pounding on their Narratives, the reality on the ground is very different. If we're losing some teachers, I suspect they're the ones who looked at the parents as the enemy, and any oversight on them as an intrusion. Sorry, but we all get checked on our work in real life.
I totally understand how they feel.
I work for a major global corporation that shoves lgbtqia+ down our throats every chance they get.
June was “Juneteenth pride month” it as a daily reminder of that happens when you work for a company that’s gone all in for woke.
It wasn’t terrible for the hourly employees. But try being a mid level supervisor.
I turn 65 this year thank God.
Same "brain drain" lie is being used against the Waukesha, WI school board. They are getting rid of groomers who are disguised as teachers and removing politics from the classroom. One guy quit and wrote a sanctimonious public letter the Milwaukee Journal creamed all over. They recently terminated the contract of a 1st grade teacher to had more rainbows in her photos than are on a box of Lucky Charms.
They get attacked by lying liberal groups that "Waukesha is loosing great teachers! They're all leaving!" It's bullshit. Waukesha's turnover rate was 14% last year. West Allis was 25%. If your kid goes to Waukesha South, there are 120 faculty for 980 students. Go to Rufus King in Milwaukee, and there are 90 faculty for 1400 students.
Liberal or not, where do you think teachers want to teach? They want the safety, tax money, and parental support provided in conservative communities. Waukesha, Sussex-Hamilton, Arrowhead... Recently Waukesha and Arrowhead voted out liberal school board members. Sussex Hamilton never had a problem.
When a liberal "educator" quits in protest, there is no "brain drain". It's a net positive.
Trust me. Anybody teaching in Milwaukee Public Schools who got an offer from Waukesha, Arrowhead, or Sussex Hamilton would take the job in a heartbeat.
Do these idiots really believe they're not replaceable?
Reminds me of how doctors insisted they weren’t castrating kids, then when legislatures banned castration of children the docs quit in a huff because they weren’t allowed to practice…
I wrote about it here:
https://thefederalist.com/2023/05/26/if-doctors-arent-mutilating-kids-why-are-leftists-upset-that-doctors-in-red-states-must-cease-mutilating-kids/
It’s called a Law Against Imaginary Dangers, and to date is the only known defense against The Law of Merited Impossibility (“It will never happen, and when it does, you bigots will deserve it.”)
Have teachers been insisting passionately that they absolutely are not teaching children to judge people based on race? Great! Then pass a law banning teachers from judging people based on race - a law against imaginary dangers - and watch as all those teachers quit. Works every time!
Neglecting, of course, decades of discriminatory hiring practices which have resulted in faculties that are overwhelmingly liberal and Democrat. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing if a few left.
The academic quality of the brains draining out is questionable based on the shitty scholarship I’ve seen in support of the pseudoscience and jibberish that passes for “studies” now. Why do they object to teaching facts like the sum of two plus two? What educational value is there in denying reality? Eventually even today’s students will have to live in a world where the laws of physics apply, where actual people they care about will hold controversial opinions and beliefs that require examination and reflection. Slogans don’t answer the real questions we face in life.
"Brain drain" is generous, even melodramatic.
Still, they should be addressing the warped values of higher education that lead to these types of programs rather than micromanaging what types of programs universities can offer. I.e., use New College as a model.
Good. Riddance.
But colleges are for the students, not the staff . . . Students might find it easier to learn stuff.
Sounds pretty good to me. What's not to like?
"prohibited the teaching of critical race theory" in public universities — I suspect there is (or will be) a distinction made between teaching about crt and seeking to indoctrinate. I will be keeping my eye out for the statutory language.
This is interesting to watch, because I'm always reading how professor-ships are so hard to get -- and yet here are all these openings. Professors just have to choose between being employed and working within the system. You don't always get to work in Utopia University.
I'm surprised that so many aren't applying and being more adept at working under-the-radar to affect change. Does no one read Machiavelli?
"And nothing of value was lost" has never been more apt. The ever-worsening division of society has its fount in academia, it is deliberate, and it will never be fixed until the influence of Marxism is greatly lessened there.
And nothing of value was lost.
Brain drain? Or leech removal?
No one will miss them.
Did she complain about unfairness when it affected those deplorable MAGA types?
If not, screw her.
This is what democracy is all about. (And why democracy/mob rule is not necessarily a good thing)
John Henry
Some brains fit down the drain, others don't.
It's so hard for PhDs to find academic positions that I rather doubt this is going to have a serious long term effect on Florida's public colleges and universities. The supply of PhDs, at least in the humanities, greatly exceeds demand.
I'm not so sure it will be seen as a brain drain by the majority of taxpayers though; maybe they'll see it as more of a simple flush. They also have a vote in the next election - unlike the students that were stuck with compelled course work.
"At its first meeting in late January, the revamped panel voted to fire the college president, Patricia Okker, without cause and appoint a former Republican state legislator and education commissioner in her place."
She was liberal and woke, and Florida is "restoring public authority over public universities" according to the college board. She was offered a $abatical, and a teaching position if she did not take a job elsewhere. Cry me a river.
“All of the legislation surrounding higher education in Florida is chilling and terrifying,” said Leininger, who is rejoining the biology department at St Mary’s College in Maryland this fall where she had been teaching before moving to central Florida. “Imagine scientists who are studying climate change, imagine an executive branch that denies climate change – they could use these laws to intimidate or dismiss those scientists.”
Hyperbole. Have fun in Maryland. What is REALLY terrifying are the lies being pushed regarding man made climate change from these University "scientists" who get zero predictions right. They politicized "science" and refuse to be challenged. Makes them a waste of money.
"In the face of that and other legislation backed by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers that has rolled back the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community..."
Assuming for the moment that teaching CRT is a right, everybody's right to do so has been rolled back, not just the right of the Alphabet People.
Just sayin'.
Oh, and this:
"critical race theory, which contends that inherent racial bias pervades many laws and institutions in western society"
"Many"? Try "all" instead, that'll get you closer to the mark.
Don't let the door hit you on your way out, oh mighty "brains" in the brain drain.
When all brains think alike, they flush down the toilet of history alike as well. So what happened to all those Adolf Hitler Schulen and NPEA instructors? Many of them drained away to Argentina.
>‘I’m not wanted’.
You are astute and correct.
>...the state-level president of the United Faculty of Florida labor union, predicts a loss of between 20 and 30% of faculty members at some universities during the upcoming academic year<
Alright! It's working!
This is supposed to suggest, I guess, some sort of catastrophe for Florida colleges. As if there weren't thousands of academic job-seekers trying to get a college teaching job.
Excellent opportunity to refill the Florida college positions with math, physics, biology, instructors interested in teaching their subject matter rather than racial politics. What a gift to future students to clean house of the crazies and replace them with professors who value their students and want them to learn actual subjects.
Hard figures for turnover rates will not be available until later this year, and none of the other 11 state-run universities are expected to match New College’s exceptionally high percentage of faculty vacancies...But Andrew Gothard, the state-level president of the United Faculty of Florida labor union...
'The premise of our article is based on self-serving, political talking points, but please read on.'
The effect is more psychological than anything. The Left is not used to the Normals taking back their institutions.
Key word 'many' covers a large range. Also, how many many out-of-FL scholars might be seeking employment in Florida now?
If the people leaving are ethnic/gender studies professors, then their leaving Florida is a vast net benefit for the state.
If dei faculty leave the FL colleges it's a win for the state. Students will hopefully choose better majors.
It's probably already been said, but don't let the door hit you...
Translation of this piece: "It's having the desired effect!"
Sounds great.
If dei faculty and personnel leave the FL colleges it's a win for the state. Students will hopefully choose better majors. Less dei theatre to drag down the institutions. .And the money saved can be returned to the taxpayers.
Not seeing the downside for Florida here. . . . . .
The profs fleeing are the kind nobody wants. The question is... Who will take them? There are already way too many profs for the size of the college population.
Alternative Headline:
Florida Universities Pawning Off Shabby Second-Rate Brains On Suckers In Other States.
Sounds absolutely marvellous.
As a life long resident of Florida I'd like to inquire if there is a fund I can make contributions to that will help these fleeing academics in their haste to leave the State? A Go Fund Me page or it's ilk? Asking for my entire neighborhood.
The brain drain of America’s wang.
Are we sure this didn’t already happen a few decades ago?
As a Floridian, I consider this report (presuming it is factual, which is never a given) to be evidence that the legislation is working as designed.
Florida will turn into a hellhole of anti-intellectualism and intolerance. I pity da fools.
At one point in my life I couldn’t tell if I had warrants.
Believe me. You’re better off when you’re “not wanted”.
With the exception of Donald Trump. Who seems to do better as indictments mount.
(Trump challenge: find a way to insert Trump in the comments w/o running afoul of the comment rules)
First, consider the source. Then LOL to your heart's content.
--- Leininger witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of the new laws on her colleagues’ morale.
Impossible not to smile at that sentence.
---“All of the legislation surrounding higher education in Florida is chilling and terrifying,” said Leininger, who is rejoining the biology department at St Mary’s College in Maryland this fall where she had been teaching before moving to central Florida. “Imagine scientists who are studying climate change, imagine an executive branch that denies climate change – they could use these laws to intimidate or dismiss those scientists.”
Those godawful deniers. Killing our scholarship. Ending our automatic tenure tracks. Making us consider some alternative point of view on a subject! The science was settled. We had it all fixed up nice. This is Just Out Rageous
Haha. Getting a job as a professor in most fields is like winning the lottery. These jobs are not going to be hard to fill.
Good. We have way too many Scholars.
These people are complicit in the student debt crisis. They are better than drug dealers.
Presented as though this were somehow a BAD thing. I suspect the departing crowd is prevailingly in the Humanities, for which there are available and fully-competent replacements by the hundreds, if not thousands.
Brain drain or just opinion drain?
My wife is an academic and after 25+ years of hanging around the higher-ed crowd I remain unimpressed in general.
-XC
Is that what Florida was hoping would happen?
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
- Rafe
These are probably the same people who cheered when Trump was taken off Twitter.
Is this in the Humanities? If so, there is a surplus of PhDs who are looking for employment in higher ed.
"Brain drain" LOL, more like the mind guards of the groupthink are fleeting.
Too little, too late. Raze the universities to the ground. Let not one stone stand upon another.
Bye Felicia!
A counterrevolution is not a dinner party.
Academics who support DEI and other racist ideologies are better leaving Florida as long as they don't come to Arizona. AZ State already has too many.
“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”
― George Orwell
Florida universities should have no problems filling those slots with professors from the numerous other states where obedience to the DEI religion is required.
I have a hunch these positions will not be difficult to fill, and a number of them should not be filled.
"36 of the small honors college’s approximately 100 full-time teaching positions were vacant." Things could have changed in the last couple of weeks, but a search of the college's own hiring portal shows this is incorrect now.
A search for Faculty and Adjunct positions shows that there are only 13 open jobs and 8 of them are for "visiting" positions. (https://ncf.simplehire.com/postings/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=&query_v0_posted_at_date=&1375%5B%5D=3&1375%5B%5D=4&1375%5B%5D=5&1375%5B%5D=10&435=&commit=Search)
13 out of 100 positions being open is, according to the article, pretty close to the standard 10% rate that Florida traditionally sees. ("which would signify a marked increase in annual turnover rates that traditionally have stood at 10% or less."
You can re-create this search here which allows you to filter by "full time" and it shows only 10 open positions. https://www.higheredjobs.com/institution/search.cfm?University=New+College+of+Florida&StartRow=-1&SortBy=4&NumJobs=25&filterby=&filterptype=1&CatType=3
Seems more likely the media is just lying (again) to hurt DeSantis.
I hate kitchen-sink legislation generally. While we're at it, let's fix this little problem I have been keeping in my back pocket that I couldn't get passed otherwise.
How many of these drained brains belong to STEM professors and how many belong to "administrators"?
It is little known outside engineering circles but Florida has a few really good engineering programs that were originally tied to NASA when it was still a serious scientific establishment. Those have been severely hampered the last ten plus years by the insane Leftist, feminazi, LGBTQ mafia in the universities who can’t do higher maths but think they should control the engineering, physics and hard science departments as they do what is left of the “liberal arts” and the soft sciences. Getting those people out of Florida higher Ed could only be a blessing. Florida may become the refuge of the hard sciences. Goodness knows MIT has been gutted and being worn like a skin suit by the Left. Sad.
Gold Bricks hittin' the bricks.
But are the students leaving?
Screen door… ass…
"... that has rolled back the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community." "... brain drain as academics flee."
If they can't groom and/or indoctrinate, it just isn't fun anymore.
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
That's a "dead brain drain"--there I fixed it for the Guardian.
The 5 stages of DEI death:
1. Denial. Ignore the decision to roll bach DEI.
2. Anger. Loudly reject to decision to roll back DEI.
3. Bargaining. Propose to rename DEI, but plan to keep it going unchanged.
4. Depression. Give up on your current institution and look for a spot where DEI lives on.
5. Acceptance. Obscure your past work in or support for DEI to differentiate yourself from the many DEI refugees looking for new spots.
OT, but RIP Paul Reubens… RIP PEE WEE!!!
Adios, motherf***ers!
Odds are the brains being drained raises the average IQ of the academics who remain.
"Academics" I bet many professors of real things are breathing a sigh of relief.
Will tent camps be popping up around Vassar and Evergreen State College and the like?
Will it be a modernized version of depression era hobo-izing as the tattered clothes wearing "professors" hop onto electric scooters to move about from town to town?
Brother, assuming you identify that way, can you spare a patriarchal "dime" tool of the capitalist running dogs?
A feel good story!
A feel good story!
I've been reviewing the stories of Sokal and the so-called Hoax Papers lately.
Be sure you include Jan Hendrik Schon in your reviews. You can start here for a good overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%B6n_scandal
He may hold some kind of record for most research papers and later retracted. At one point he was publishing a research paper a week, peer reviewed, in top journals.
His field was some esoteric speciality in electonic materials.
He was so bad that his alma mater pulled his PhD. He sued in court and lost at various levels.
Funniest part of the article, after all this, after 30-40 retracted articles for fraud and all the hoorah:
Schön returned to Germany and took a job at an engineering firm.
I wish they had told us the firm so we could avoid any firm that would hire him.
Sokal was publishing his hoax papers to expose the fraud in scientific publishing. Schon should be exhibit A.
John Henry
Expat(ish) said...
"Brain drain or just opinion drain?
My wife is an academic and after 25+ years of hanging around the higher-ed crowd I remain unimpressed in general.
-XC"
Funny storey. I was at a party with a bunch of college professor wannabes. One of them happened to be doing his phd dissertation on Thomas Pynchon's, "Gravitys Rainbow". I had read it a couple of times by then because I found it very entertaining. He was enthusiastic on his chances until I told how I liked that some of the characters were named after parts of the A4. You'd have thought I shot his dog.
....not to mention that Florida is a state with a 6% sales tax, no personal income tax, no capital gains tax, reasonable property taxes, and the price of gasoline is below the national average.
- Krumhorn
The whole concept of Adjunct Instructors (I don't think there are any "adjunct professors")has been really abused in recent years.
I love the idea of adjunct instructors. I was one for more than 30 years. I had a number of them in undergrad and grad school.
All of the adjuncts I had, as well as myself, were subject matter experts. For example, I had a really great Labor Relations prof who was a leading labor lawyer. I learned market research from the head of research in a large ad agency. I taught packaging (among other things) in engineering school.
We all taught 3-4 courses a year. I had no complaints about the money but it certainly was not much of a motivator in my case. Probably not in the others, either.
I find the people who try to make a living as adjuncts rather pathetic. I keep reading how they expect it will lead to full time teaching jobs. It almost never does. They should give up on academia and get regular jobs. Unless they want to teach a course or two for the pleasure.
No college will ever need to hire a regular professor as long as there are adjuncts willing to humiliate themselves. Other than the bare minimum of professors required for accreditation.
John Henry
Readering, incompetent to provide more speech to counter, suggests Althouse do away with comments. If you can’t handle comments, readering, then don’t click to read them. Try your own discretion rather than demanding others try it instead.
"diversity, equity and inclusion"
It's a lot faster to just call it The Big Lie.
When is the last time you saw a video clip of anyone being told, "You can't come/sit/study/eat/swim/dance here because you're Black."?
It's all bullshit. All of it.
"Convert those fleeing academics into Starbucks baristas. While we are at it, convert the striking Hollywood crowd into Starbucks baristas. Start a trend."
Be better if they learn to code.
Temujin: I actually went to New College, as I've mentioned before. And started complaining to the state about it back in the mid-1980's, when they brought Timothy Leary there with tax dollars.
I've also been an adjunct instructor in Florida. I could have doubled my salary by working at a Taco Bell.
I doubt you'd find many alumni who agree with me, but I'm delighted by the governor's entirely normal exercise of power in appointing his choice of five trustees to New College's board. New College was once a serious place. It still has many fine professors and brilliant students taking advantage of its size and cost. I think Mark Rufo made some bad choices Bigfooting around bragging about taking over. Hopefully, he won't damage such efforts to improve education.
All they really had to do was sit back and let more people see the crazy. I hope Rufo learns to tread more softly. Otherwise, this is all good news. Offhand, I alone could recommend about fifty great educators and scholars who never got tenure track jobs who could fill the tiny number of ideologues purportedly bailing.
Blogger Readering said...
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
Because we come here for the comments. Nobody reads the WaPoo or the NY Times.
Blogger Readering said...
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
--
For insightful gems like yours.
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
Well, it seems to me that the comments here have been stressing two main themes:
1. Lying With Statistics: How To Do It, brought to you by Our Media, and
2. Just what were the roles of these people we're told are "voting with their feet" and feeling unwelcome enough to leave and all, and if you're not going to reveal that answer, why not?
Just yesterday I saw my father's entry in the Library of Congress Veterans' Project and sent an error form to them about the three significant errors in his service history that I saw without any effort at all. And I'm certain there was no malice or even any agenda behind those errors. How do we do the same for essentially the entire news media apparatus, entertainment industry, government bureaucracy, and at least half of our elected federal representatives, for example with regard to "don't say gay"?
Too bad those teachers chose teaching instead of working for the City of SF:
- Former Building Inspection boss Tom Hui, gone after he was found with compromising material, has rec'd $16,398.61 a MONTH in pension income since 2020.
- Former PUC general manager Harlan Kelly, accused of bribery and bank fraud, has been drawing $22,065.96 a MONTH since December 1, 2020.
- Former building inspector Bernie Curran, who signed off shoddy construction projects and accused of bribery — has been pulling $4,429.90 a MONTH since June 15, 2021.
- Ex-Public Works boss Mohammed Nuru, whose January, 2020, arrest began the city’s ongoing game of corruption dominoes, is earning $7,463.78 a MONTH.
They get their monthlies until the day they are behind bars - no matter how long that takes.
Don't you GQP idiots care that this evil Florida law is now forcing children to seek back-alley Drag-Queen Storytimes? Won't anyone think of the children?
JAORE said...
"El Predicto sez:
1) the flood is really a trickle, but portrayed as a flood by a joyful media,
2) if it becomes a flood, positions filled on merit will make Florida Universities some of the very best in the nation."
I can only hope that there are sufficient meritorious candidates to fill the open spots. The serious candidates are likely outnumbered by other candidates who are just like the ones who are leaving.
A little-known but expensive problem within academia involves the huge numbers of symbolic and just no-show jobs created for or given to former politicians from both Parties. DeSantis could get a big bump if he released Marco Rubio's sweetheart deal, for example.
The racist goons are out in force today!
Readering said...
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
Nobody's forcing you to be here.
Readering said...
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
--
Remind us why you bother posting comments.
rrsafety said...
"Excellent opportunity to refill the Florida college positions with math, physics, biology, instructors interested in teaching their subject matter rather than racial politics."
Biology interview question #1: What is a woman?
Readering said...
Remind me why AA bothers with comments.
--
Remind us why you bother posting comments.
Tina Trent- good for you going to New College. As I said, it once had a great rep. You should contact them with some names of some of the educators and scholars you know. It could only help.
From "‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee" (The Guardian).
No, you're not wanted. good riddance to bad rubbish.
it's not a "brain drain", it's a "corruption drain", and it's an excellent thing
How about abby normal brains? Are they leaving too?
"‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee"...
Good riddance. But define 'brain drain'.. cause these 'academcis' don't much intelligence.
Academics fleeing Florida vote with their feet.
Americans fleeing to Florida, what are those voters voting with?
Let’s see what the internet says: Florida is the fastest-growing state in America for the first time since 1957, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population in the southeastern state, which is known for its warm weather and sandy beaches, now tops 22 million. Mar 15, 2023
The ideology is so bereft of substance, enablers have to inject it with fiction in a fruitless attempt to rouse sympathy.
this piecemeal legal approach is essentially floundering about which will founder ship of state
DEI. It’s almost like they knew affirmative action was unconstitutional, and wouldn’t stand.
Readering: "Remind me why AA bothers with comments."
What readering really is getting at: Why can't Althouse Blog censor all conservative/republican/non-dem/non-LLR-dem commentary too?!
That is what the complaints ALL boil down to.
But only every single time.
Oh what heady days these last years have been for the dems/LLR-dems with social media, the government, legacy medi, academia and ESG/DEI directed corporate entities all working hand in glove to create a hermetically sealed New Soviet "reality"...
...and they would have gotten away with it too if it hadnt been for those meddling populist kids and Elon!
Buh bye. Don’t let the door hit ya where the Lord split ya.
There are job opportunities in Florida colleges is what I read.
Ron D made all this happen. How about some love for Ron from strong Trump supporters.
Trump said he would build the wall, and there is no wall. Even with 2 years of total R control. I know, not DJT's fault. Ron is in the fight. Give the bobblehead some credit!!
The link confirms that it is much ado about nothing.
I, for one, hope that the door DOES hit them on their way out.
Let them go. Might have better educated kids.
Sokal was publishing his hoax papers to expose the fraud in scientific publishing. Schon should be exhibit A.
Boghossian, Lindsay, and Pluckrose of the "Grievance Studies affair" or "Hoax Papers" were exposing the unbelievable lack of rigor in the "grievance studies" fields. They submitted 20 fabricated papers, of which 7 were accepted, 6 (the first 6, give or take, while they were honing their approach) rejected, and 7 remained under review when the project was outed. Among the accepted papers: "Human Reactions to Rape Culture and Queer Performativity at Urban Dog Parks in Portland, Oregon" in Gender, Place & Culture. (The lack of Oxford comma gives it away...)
Their point was to pillory postmodernism and critical theory (and Marxism, though this is adjunct to critical theory to them so far as I've read or heard, as they hold that critical theory is essentially applied neo-Marxism). They continue to speak and write about it today.
I'll check out Schon, but he sounds like a different ballgame.
In the late 1970s at my small, southern, Baptist affiliated university, my professor in an Arts class told us that he had to sign a pledge upon hiring, promising not to lecture about anything that wasn't associated with his subject matter, especially if it was negative about Baptists or Christianity in general. He explained that he had no trouble signing, as Art has as its subjects the entire universe and therefore he could discuss anything he wanted in class without violating his loyalty oath. Profs were smarter then, I think.
He also demonstrated "close up" magic, where he would do sleight of hand tricks standing right in front of a student, making objects appear and disappear at will, while explaining that this is why one should never play cards for money.
I don't think the two anecdotes are connected. At least, I hope not.
I notice there's no option to leave a comment on the article.....
Rob C said...
"It is a bit ironic when other places are demanding "diversity statements" as part of their hiring practices (even when applying for things like STEM field positions)."
Indeed. I suspect that most of the people complaining about the laws are perfectly happy with filtering out even the most technically qualified potential hires (and existing staff) who may object to being required to write doctrinally correct "diversity statements" as part of the hiring process or the annual performance management process. It's a quiet draining of "undesirable" brains.
I experienced this myself recently when a colleague encouraged me to apply for a senior technology role at an Ivy League university. Before describing any of the duties or requirements for the role, the job posting devoted a paragraph to the importance of the personal DEI statement to the application. The job actually was exceptionally well aligned with my skills, experience, and personal interests, but I refuse to subject myself to such ideological bullshit. I suppose the filters worked as intended for all parties involved.
Robert Cook said...
"The racist goons are out in force today!"
I would like to know what has been said here that is racist? I'm not seeing it.
Temujin: I got a great Great Books-style education at New College in the 80's and walked away with no debt, but there was already a lot of crazy that has only grown exponentially worse over the years, as academic standards in some fields (not all) collapsed into identity politics. There used to be several geniuses among students and professors in math, science, and early computing, in a school that then graduated as few as fifty students a year. My humanities professors were amazing teachers and scholars, outstanding in their fields. Of course, they had all been trained by a more serious generation of academics, and they are almost all retired or deceased now. It would be wonderful to return the school to its former reputation. Those bothered by it can always go to Naropa or Evergreen State.
You would make a great trustee. There's always one seat for a Sarasota resident. It's currently filled, but if it ever opens up, I would help you run.
Post a Comment