tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6478968031180581927.post8648698646885717173..comments2023-04-06T02:18:40.985-07:00Comments on The Battle for Indiana Public Education: The Battle for Public Higher EducationIndiana Citizens for Public Educationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590732880106290415noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6478968031180581927.post-42749734224113293632010-08-20T06:54:31.720-07:002010-08-20T06:54:31.720-07:00The “administrative bloat” has been observed for m...The “administrative bloat” has been observed for many years now, and statistics do show dramatic increases. We need to ask, though, what’s behind the “bloat”—are we providing more much-needed support services that we never had to before (more financial aid counselors, tutors, Bridge programs, learning communities), perhaps more people to handle bureaucratic reporting requirements, or are we hiring people who are redundant, lazy, or inefficient? No one seems to be exploring those questions with systematic data. In any event, I agree with Jack that addressing the major declines in state support are not the answer. Michigan at 10% state support is hardly a public university. As the saying goes, we’ve gone from state-supported to state-assisted to state-tolerated. Maybe there’s a lower rung on this ladder? Sounds like!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6478968031180581927.post-48618923250742204842010-08-20T06:53:54.147-07:002010-08-20T06:53:54.147-07:00Cutting public support of higher education is a
m...Cutting public support of higher education is a <br />mistake.<br /> <br />I agree, however, that universities must examine their budgets. I wonder what the percentages are for IU and IUPUI when it comes to upper-level and mid-level administrators and their support staff. I wonder where the authors of the Op-Ed got their information and what exactly "administrative" means in that data. Large public universities do need a lot of student services staff, so I hope that would not be counted as administrative bloat. Deans and associate deans and vice-chancellors and such can be valuable if they support <br />faculty in their work, rather than simply creating more work that detracts from the teaching, research, and service missions of the <br />campuses. I do not think such administrators should be paid overly high salaries, especially when faculty salaries are so low and raises <br />so few and meager.<br /> <br />A major problem is that university faculty are increasingly part-time and non-tenure-track AND those faculty are poorly paid and often treated with some measure of disdain or at least ignorance by tenured faculty and administrators (not all, I realize, but some). We have a hierarchy of faculty that is not healthy and does not reflect the real work that is done or that needs to be done. When a high percentage of university courses, taught year-in and year-out, are taught by poorly paid part-time faculty with no benefits and little inclusion in university life, that is harmful to the university and to those faculty members. When departments are increasingly seeing non-tenure-track faculty making up a growing percentage (sometimes 50%, sometimes more), and when those faculty are paid far too little in comparison to tenured faculty, then we have a problem.<br /> <br />The faculty can be made up of various kinds of people who have diverse <br />job descriptions and responsibilities. But ALL university faculty <br />should be on a comparable plane when it comes to recognition, <br />inclusion, professional development, salary, benefits and working conditions. We need to be a strong, united faculty, and I fear we are <br />becoming separated and even polarized.<br /> <br />A change will require more public money, not less.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6478968031180581927.post-82268540869136621042010-08-19T07:42:10.508-07:002010-08-19T07:42:10.508-07:00A version of this post has made it to the Indy Sta...A version of this post has made it to the Indy Star! comments anyone?<br /><br />http://www.indystar.com/article/20100819/OPINION01/8190361/1002/OPINION/All-levels-of-public-education-under-attackIndiana Citizens for Public Educationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06590732880106290415noreply@blogger.com