4 ms·

Anecdotally I have heard similar things from top tier institutions in the US as well. They are all in recession mode basically and actively cutting classes, sta

by aprilthird2021 1y ago

Anecdotally I have heard similar things from top tier institutions in the US as well. They are all in recession mode basically and actively cutting classes, staff, and lecturers. This all started when the govt began withholding federal funding in an attempt to clamp down on campus protests

bonsai_spool 1y ago
> This all started when the govt began withholding federal funding in an attempt to clamp down on campus protests This is definitely not why the 'govt began withholding federal funding'
- yongjik 1y ago
  Yeah it's more like "clamp down on higher education." I've said it multiple times, Trump and his folks see higher education as the enemy, the anti-Christ that corrupts their vision of America. Protests and admin bureaucracy (give me a fucking break) are just convenient excuses.
- aprilthird2021 1y ago
  I guess it's the excuse, maybe not the real reason. But the cases with UCLA and Harvard is when this all changed
  - bonsai_spool 1y ago
    > I guess it's the excuse, maybe not the real reason. But the cases with UCLA and Harvard is when this all changed That is not true. Those happened in 2024. The extortionate demands are happening in 2025. The campus protests are clearly a pretext.
kadushka 1y ago
I hope they're cutting their bloated administration departments before cutting classes and lecturers, but I'm not holding my breath.
- awesome_dude 1y ago
  > bloated administration departments Can you demonstrate how those administration departments were bloated (in any way) edit: re-added "administration" which I had, for some reason, neglected to add, thinking that it was obvious that that was what I was talking about.
  - kadushka 1y ago
    Yes, this fact is well-known and has been widely discussed. The first two google search results provide the stats: https://students.bowdoin.edu/bowdoin-review/features/death-by-a-thousand-emails-how-administrative-bloat-is-killing-american-higher-education/ https://students.bowdoin.edu/bowdoin-review/features/death-b... https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulweinstein/2023/08/28/administrative-bloat-at-us-colleges-is-skyrocketing/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulweinstein/2023/08/28/admini...
    - awesome_dude 1y ago
      Both of those links (thanks for providing them) only talk about raw numbers, no real in depth analysis of whether the administrators are needed at those levels, or not, nor even how they classify someone as being an administrator.
      - sherburt3 1y ago
        Feel free to do your own analysis
        awesome_dude 1y ago
        Do YoUr OwN ReSeArCh has joined the chat ^
    - kenjackson 1y ago
      The numbers are alarming, but I feel like seeing more details would be really helpful. For example MIT and CalTech both have numbers that indicate something like 7x more non-faculty staff than faculty. That sounds crazy, but is it? I'd love to know more detail about the distribution of people to those non-faculty roles. I feel like this is an example where we can get almost everyone behind reducing costs at college by showing better data. If you were to show, for example, that 7x is almost all carbon emissions admins then I think we'd see a ton of support to cut these positions. But it may also be the case that people see the admin responsibilities and say, "Oh... OK, that makes sense". The problem is -- with this data, I have no idea.

bonsai_spool 1y ago

> This all started when the govt began withholding federal funding in an attempt to clamp down on campus protests This is definitely not why the 'govt began withholding federal funding'

yongjik 1y ago
Yeah it's more like "clamp down on higher education." I've said it multiple times, Trump and his folks see higher education as the enemy, the anti-Christ that corrupts their vision of America. Protests and admin bureaucracy (give me a fucking break) are just convenient excuses.
aprilthird2021 1y ago
I guess it's the excuse, maybe not the real reason. But the cases with UCLA and Harvard is when this all changed
- bonsai_spool 1y ago
  > I guess it's the excuse, maybe not the real reason. But the cases with UCLA and Harvard is when this all changed That is not true. Those happened in 2024. The extortionate demands are happening in 2025. The campus protests are clearly a pretext.

kadushka 1y ago

I hope they're cutting their bloated administration departments before cutting classes and lecturers, but I'm not holding my breath.

awesome_dude 1y ago
> bloated administration departments Can you demonstrate how those administration departments were bloated (in any way) edit: re-added "administration" which I had, for some reason, neglected to add, thinking that it was obvious that that was what I was talking about.
- kadushka 1y ago
  Yes, this fact is well-known and has been widely discussed. The first two google search results provide the stats: https://students.bowdoin.edu/bowdoin-review/features/death-by-a-thousand-emails-how-administrative-bloat-is-killing-american-higher-education/ https://students.bowdoin.edu/bowdoin-review/features/death-b... https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulweinstein/2023/08/28/administrative-bloat-at-us-colleges-is-skyrocketing/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulweinstein/2023/08/28/admini...
  - awesome_dude 1y ago
    Both of those links (thanks for providing them) only talk about raw numbers, no real in depth analysis of whether the administrators are needed at those levels, or not, nor even how they classify someone as being an administrator.
    - sherburt3 1y ago
      Feel free to do your own analysis
      - awesome_dude 1y ago
        Do YoUr OwN ReSeArCh has joined the chat ^
  - kenjackson 1y ago
    The numbers are alarming, but I feel like seeing more details would be really helpful. For example MIT and CalTech both have numbers that indicate something like 7x more non-faculty staff than faculty. That sounds crazy, but is it? I'd love to know more detail about the distribution of people to those non-faculty roles. I feel like this is an example where we can get almost everyone behind reducing costs at college by showing better data. If you were to show, for example, that 7x is almost all carbon emissions admins then I think we'd see a ton of support to cut these positions. But it may also be the case that people see the admin responsibilities and say, "Oh... OK, that makes sense". The problem is -- with this data, I have no idea.