3 ms·

More generally we need better protections for faculty with controversial views who can still teach and research to not get “cancelled”; better labor protections

More generally we need better protections for faculty with controversial views who can still teach and research to not get “cancelled”; better labor protections and more jobs so that faculty can advocate for themselves and receive less work (vs. getting disciplined or fired) when they are too old to effectively teach and research; better grants and more jobs so that faculty have better pay; better grants and more jobs so that faculty can only research (these types of faculty suck at teaching), or only teach and not be considered “lesser”; etc. With all these tenure isn’t necessary. But this is Texas, with US labor protection and a culture which openly hates education and dissent, so in this specific case it’s definitively bad.

endtime 4y ago
> faculty can advocate for themselves and receive less work (vs. getting disciplined or fired) when they are too old to effectively teach and research Why is this desirable (to anyone other than elderly faculty)?
- ModernMech 4y ago
  One of the promises for highly educated people (PhDs) who devote their most lucrative years to unprofitable research, is that they will able to do the job when they are very old. Otherwise, the retirement plan is insufficient. I can make several times what I do on the market, so if I'm going to be replaced as soon as it's convenient for the university, then we're going to have a very different relationship that's more about money.
PartiallyTyped 4y ago
I definitely agree. The state __shouldn't__ under any circumstances have the power to police the content taught at universities. What sort of bastion of knowledge and free speech can universities be if they live in fear of getting angering a governor?
BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago
>”a culture which openly hates education and dissent, so in this specific case it’s definitively bad.” This is a completely untrue and biased stereotype. No one in Texas “openly hates education”. As for the dissent aspect, I don’t even know where to begin with that one.

endtime 4y ago

> faculty can advocate for themselves and receive less work (vs. getting disciplined or fired) when they are too old to effectively teach and research Why is this desirable (to anyone other than elderly faculty)?

ModernMech 4y ago
One of the promises for highly educated people (PhDs) who devote their most lucrative years to unprofitable research, is that they will able to do the job when they are very old. Otherwise, the retirement plan is insufficient. I can make several times what I do on the market, so if I'm going to be replaced as soon as it's convenient for the university, then we're going to have a very different relationship that's more about money.

PartiallyTyped 4y ago

I definitely agree. The state __shouldn't__ under any circumstances have the power to police the content taught at universities. What sort of bastion of knowledge and free speech can universities be if they live in fear of getting angering a governor?

BuyMyBitcoins 4y ago

>”a culture which openly hates education and dissent, so in this specific case it’s definitively bad.” This is a completely untrue and biased stereotype. No one in Texas “openly hates education”. As for the dissent aspect, I don’t even know where to begin with that one.