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If the professors and administration don't come to an agreement in the next couple hours, instead of class tomorrow morning, my fellow students and I will get this. At least, I hope so. Regular picketing is boring.
Frankly I don't even know why they'd bother picketing. If they aren't teaching, there's not much point in crossing the picket line now is there?
I'm torn. Our tuition shot up like a heroin addict this semester, the president of the university got a massive raise, and the professors had their salaries frozen. I love most of my professors, and I think they work really hard. I don't think they deserve a salary freeze, but they're also putting thousands of peoples' lives on hold potentially if this goes to a strike. I have mixed feelings on how I want this to shake out, as far as the outcome goes and what I'd be willing to support to get it.
But on a very selfish level, I just want class to start tomorrow, whatever the cost. This year is too important to me. On the other hand, my outrage meter is rising pretty steadily at the idea of an overpaid president sticking it to teachers after gouging students on tuition. I guess I'm with the profs.
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I would not object if students rose up and tarred and feathered every single president and trustee at every large university in the country. I've yet to meet a one who wasn't a complete tool.
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One of the saddest days for me whilst studying abroad in Greece was the day we found out the TAs (back at our home institution) had gone on strike, with some of the professors (unofficially) striking in support.
It sure would have been nice to not have those classes.
Anyhow, I somewhat feel your pain. Having been in class for a couple weeks now, however, I've moved on from actually wanting class to start and am looking very much forward to Labor Day weekend.
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One of my professors, who also happens to be the chair of the History Department here, recently wrote an article on Florida's fiscal situation as it pertains to education with a nice protest motif. I'd hazard a guess that you would like this guy Lyr. I don't know why, just a hunch. Fighting Back: The Fate of the State in FloridaPosts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I would not object if students rose up and tarred and feathered every single president and trustee at every large university in the country. I've yet to meet a one who wasn't a complete tool.
former president of Utah Valley University and former Senator from Michigan William A. Sederburg seemed like a real stand up guy while I was attending the school.
But I suppose UVU is not a "large university" so it doesn't count in your statement.
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quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: One of my professors, who also happens to be the chair of the History Department here, recently wrote an article on Florida's fiscal situation as it pertains to education with a nice protest motif. I'd hazard a guess that you would like this guy Lyr. I don't know why, just a hunch. Fighting Back: The Fate of the State in Florida
Excellent article! It resonates with me, for though the education funding crisis in Michigan is totally different, it's just as dire. The dropoff in funding is coming at a steady rate, while politicians in Lansing keep talking out the sides of their mouths about investing in Michigan's future and high tech jobs. I don't know how any of that is going to happen with students fleeing the state, and the quality of the education had by those who stay is suffering due to underfunding. To say nothing of the fact that graduates don't want to stay here anyway. A lot of the focus lately has been on financial aid for students, and that's really important, but so is basic funding for the schools themselves.
Professor Jumonville sounds like a cool guy. You're right, I think I would like him. What's his area of expertise?
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If I'm not mistaken he focuses on Liberalism and Conservatism in America during the 20th century. Right now he's working on a book on the History of Privacy. Pretty neat stuff. It's sort of a shame really - he's teaching my Historical Methods class and even though I'm a staunch Europeanist, he actually makes being an Americanist sound interesting and appealing.
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I would not object if students rose up and tarred and feathered every single president and trustee at every large university in the country. I've yet to meet a one who wasn't a complete tool.
Can you put the President and Provost of the UofU at the top of that list?
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This morning the professors were in front of the classroom doors, rather than in them teaching. As of midnight last night, the university was still telling us to show up, but they've decided to be courteous and officially cancel classes.
Lots of mixed feelings on campus right now. But there seems to be an uneasy calm.
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: If I'm not mistaken he focuses on Liberalism and Conservatism in America during the 20th century. Right now he's working on a book on the History of Privacy. Pretty neat stuff. It's sort of a shame really - he's teaching my Historical Methods class and even though I'm a staunch Europeanist, he actually makes being an Americanist sound interesting and appealing.
Oh now I'm even more interested. I'm focusing on American history. The only thing I find particularly fascinating about European history is the Crusades, but my school had no specific instruction on it in undergrad, so I went with America.
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Many schools in many states are facing funding issues. Big or small, urban or rural, the funding issue is looming large. I work at a small community college, and we're being asked to budget for a 13% reduction in state funding, which is a cut of several hundred thousand dollars. Just to scare everyone, they laid out the loss of money in terms of full-time positions at the college. No word on whose salary was used in reaching that figure...
Yeah, it's not as big a loss as the millions and tens of millions I read about in Florida, Michigan, or the other large public universities. But it will probably happen, and it will probably hurt.
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I would not object if students rose up and tarred and feathered every single president and trustee at every large university in the country. I've yet to meet a one who wasn't a complete tool.
former president of Utah Valley University and former Senator from Michigan William A. Sederburg seemed like a real stand up guy while I was attending the school.
But I suppose UVU is not a "large university" so it doesn't count in your statement.
Sederburg was pretty good with the students but I knew a large number of faculty and staff thought he was a douche.
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I forgot about this thread, but for any who are interested, the strike is over, and we're finally in class.
The major point of contention has shifted to the students now, as many of us are pissed that we lost a week of instruction that won't be made up at the end of the semester and that we won't be getting any sort of compensation for.
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It's funny, I was just thinking about this and wondering what had ended up happening.
Lyr, we need to have some sort of a historical discussion thread or something. Or, we should if I wasn't so darn busy reading for class. Grr...
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quote:Originally posted by King of Men: Well then, the solution is obvious: You should go on strike! To the barricades!
I'm not saying there aren't fool students proposing we do just that, but it sounds pretty stupid to me. It would seem to me that any legitimacy is lost when you complain about lost instructional time, then protest by voluntarily giving up your instructional time.
I expect nothing will come of it, it just blows. What should be a three and a half month semester is more or less down to 12 weeks. We lost a week due to the strike, and a week due to crappy scheduling that shorted us. Some people don't care at all, but this is an important semester for me research and career wise, so I want my time back, but my that same token, I don't have the time to protest for it.
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: It's funny, I was just thinking about this and wondering what had ended up happening.
Lyr, we need to have some sort of a historical discussion thread or something. Or, we should if I wasn't so darn busy reading for class. Grr...
Yeah I know the feeling, well, you're a grad student so maybe I don't quite know the feeling, but I think I will soon. I don't know how it works at other universities, but we have to take a Historiography Seminar, and then a research capstone class before we can graduate from the history department. This semester is my seminar in research (capstone in the Winter!), so I'm going to get my first real taste of independent research! Despite the fact that EVERY history major tells me horror stories of this class, I'm also really excited to actually independently delve into raw material and make an actual contribution, small though it may be, to the wider field of history.
I'm doing my paper on the Landrum-Griffin Act, which was, in theory, supposed to bolster union democracy and protect workers from hostile union leadership (it was primarily passed in response to the behavior of the Teamsters).
I've also never really spent that much time in a library for a paper like this. Other than just grabbing a specific book or two, I've never had to really do journal article searches, and spend time delving through old NYT articles and what not, and I find the whole thing fascinating. Also, how awesome are libraries!
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