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One should not underestimate the importance of parking spaces to an academic at a suburban school. When an academic loses free or convenient parking, they are

by ISL 8y ago

One should not underestimate the importance of parking spaces to an academic at a suburban school. When an academic loses free or convenient parking, they are suddenly hit with either financial costs or a losses of time. The howling can be tremendous, and the memory of an academic can be very long. Academics tend to operate in a resource-constrained environment, and on timescales of a few years, can be effectively zero-sum. If a resource is taken away, it may never return, and no compensation may be offered. TL;DR: Hold wages constant if necessary, but don't go after the parking.

tlb 8y ago
Most suburban campuses could have plenty of parking, but they avoid building enough so that supply is constrained, so that they can reward professors by handing out designated parking spaces. The number of different levels of parking preference at Stanford boggles the mind.
- adrianratnapala 8y ago
  As my father rose from lowly lecturer to top professor, at the University of Queensland his parking privileges slowly got worse (though it never got very bad). This in spite of the fact that a lot more parking was built. So it seems that parking was redistributed away from academic staff during that period.
_emacsomancer_ 8y ago
This may be true, but it's not clearly tied to status. Of course, there are parking things which are tied to status, but these generally are only at higher administrative level (Dean &c.) - but then it's a special parking space which is a visible marker of status perhaps but clearly not the most important thing about the position (even status-wise). My university doesn't have any free parking; if we want parking we have to pay a fee, which is based on how 'good' the spaces are. And (unless you're a Dean or whatever) you don't get a specific space but rather the right to park within certain designated areas. A significant number of faculty (myself included as well as my chair) choose to ride the bus or the train (which we do get free passes for, as do the students). > Academics tend to operate in a resource-constrained environment, and on timescales of a few years, can be effectively zero-sum. If a resource is taken away, it may never return, and no compensation may be offered. This is certainly (and sadly) true. > TL;DR: Hold wages constant if necessary, but don't go after the parking. No, I'd rather you properly increase my salary. Thank you.

by ISL 8y ago

tlb 8y ago

Most suburban campuses could have plenty of parking, but they avoid building enough so that supply is constrained, so that they can reward professors by handing out designated parking spaces. The number of different levels of parking preference at Stanford boggles the mind.

adrianratnapala 8y ago
As my father rose from lowly lecturer to top professor, at the University of Queensland his parking privileges slowly got worse (though it never got very bad). This in spite of the fact that a lot more parking was built. So it seems that parking was redistributed away from academic staff during that period.

_emacsomancer_ 8y ago

This may be true, but it's not clearly tied to status. Of course, there are parking things which are tied to status, but these generally are only at higher administrative level (Dean &c.) - but then it's a special parking space which is a visible marker of status perhaps but clearly not the most important thing about the position (even status-wise). My university doesn't have any free parking; if we want parking we have to pay a fee, which is based on how 'good' the spaces are. And (unless you're a Dean or whatever) you don't get a specific space but rather the right to park within certain designated areas. A significant number of faculty (myself included as well as my chair) choose to ride the bus or the train (which we do get free passes for, as do the students). > Academics tend to operate in a resource-constrained environment, and on timescales of a few years, can be effectively zero-sum. If a resource is taken away, it may never return, and no compensation may be offered. This is certainly (and sadly) true. > TL;DR: Hold wages constant if necessary, but don't go after the parking. No, I'd rather you properly increase my salary. Thank you.