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> An e-mail from Executive Vice Provost David Nirenberg on Sunday cautioned that unionization would introduce a “third party” that could interfere with graduate
by politician 9y ago
> An e-mail from Executive Vice Provost David Nirenberg on Sunday cautioned that unionization would introduce a “third party” that could interfere with graduate students’ relationships with the University.
That, of course, being the point.
- sjg007 9y agoIt's funny that the liberal ivory tower academics in charge don't want unions...... Oh the... I'd say irony but it is really hypocrisy.
- justinpombrio 9y agoThe students and professors tend to be in favor, but they aren't the university. It's the administration that tends to hate the idea. EDIT: speaking from my limited experience with the unionization effort at Brown. My main point is that faculty are not the university.
- HarryHirsch 9y agoWhen they tried to unionize students and postdocs at a previous workplace the most vociferous opponents were the full-time professors, protected not only by their public-sector union, but by tenure as well. They would do such a thing, wouldn't they, it would limit their power.
- justinpombrio 9y agoHuh, I'm not getting that impression from Brown's professors at all. We're working toward unionization as well.
- Cyph0n 9y agoWhy would professors be in favor of a move that would likely make it harder to get the cheap labor needed to churn out publications?
- toomuchtodo 9y agoThe university pays for the graduate student salary, not the faculty. Edit: My knowledge of funding comes from a sample size of 1 (wife's cousin doing genetic engineering out of St Louis) so it's possible I've made a mistake extrapolating too widely.
- Cyph0n 9y agoI'm a grad student myself, so I'm speaking from experience. As far as I know, in virtually all US public universities, faculty members have to pay for research assistants from their own grant money. The university I am at helps the faculty by charging less for the student's tuition (out-of-state to in-state). Maybe you are confusing RA funding with TA funding?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mirimir 9y agoIsn't it mainly TAs who want unionization? At least in the physical sciences, RAs are indeed paid with grant money.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- newen 9y agoIt depends on the universities. Yeah for most public universities, the grad students are directly funded by the professor's research. In many other universities, grad students are funded through the department, as in they are guaranteed a salary; the salary would come from the professor (or other fellowships the student got themselves) if they a research assistant, and it would come from the university if they are a teaching assistant. They are guaranteed funding because if the student doesn't get research funding, then the department sticks them in a TA position so that they get a salary.
- Fomite 9y ago
- williamscales 9y agoThe sad truth is that over the last 60 years the academics have been seeing more and more power over the University ripped away from them by middle management. So they aren't really in charge. If you speak with an academic in the US about this they will agree that it's a bad situation for everyone...except the middle managers.
- omegaworks 9y agoMaybe it's time to question your belief that academia is inherently liberal.
- Fomite 9y agoOr perhaps recognize that "left leaning" is not a monolithically held block of universal ideas.
- sjg007 9y agoIn some sense though most academic departments that study labor movements would probably argue that unions are a good thing. So that is why it seems hypocritical.
- Fomite 9y agoYou've now gone from "Something the provost said" to the stance of most faculty in a single department. One of these things is not like the others.
- MisterBastahrd 9y agoThe kind of profs that are the norm at Chicago aren't living off their educational salaries.
- dbingham 9y agoYeah, the administration is not "liberal ivory tower academics". The administration tend to be conservative business folks forever at odds with the university's faculty.