I received a comment on this blog written by an alum and prof at Acadia University (yes, that “striking” place). I’d like to respond fully to David McMullin’s thoughtful remarks. His comments are in italics below:
I’m an alumnus and a faculty member at Acadia. The place is very dear to my heart. But I’d like to correct at least one misconception on your part (and one that seems to persist throughout those who don’t see much inside the University “bubble” as you put it).
University teachers do not work only 8 hours per week and get summers off. For many of us, our contact time with students (i.e., class time) may be as “little” as 9 hours (mine varies from 15 to 28 per week depending on the term) but that is more than made up for in other work, including but not limited to: preparing lectures, grading assignments and essays, doing research, writing research papers, giving talks at conferences, writing grant proposals, etc. My work week is generally not less than 50 hours and often longer. I know that I was in my office for 8 hours on Thanksgiving Monday.
Yes, okay, so I did exaggerate a bit. I’m well aware of the fact that teaching requires a lot of back-end hours that aren’t obvious to those who sit in class (or simply write tuition checks). But again, I am coming from a parent’s perspective, and it is important that professors and administrators “see” what it looks like from where we sit. We don’t see those hours you spend–YOU need to make clear that you are doing more than meets the eye. So, thank you for that.
Also, I do not have the summer off. Many of the things listed above happen during the summer months including more classes. I taught a course this past summer.
Yes, but most professors do not teach every summer, right? You teach some summers, and others you don’t. And let’s face it–a summer schedule doesn’t have the same rhythm as the other semesters do. The classwork can be intense–you tend to cover more material in a much shorter time–but there is definitely a summer vibe to it. I’ve taken summer terms–and encourage my kids to do so–precisely because you get to learn a lot in a short period of time and the whole thing feels more relaxed. So, sorry–teaching a summer course just doesn’t seem to be the same kind of thing as working a 40-hour 9-5 job that doesn’t allow for, say, sitting in the grass on a nice day. But this is small stuff. Let’s get back to the bigger issues.
I am on strike because of my concern for the academic health of my alma mater. This concern actually spreads beyond Acadia to every university campus in Canada. For years, administrative budgets have ballooned while academic budgets have stagnated or worse. At Acadia, the administrative budget has grown by 105% (i.e., more than doubled) in the past 7 years, the academic budget has grown by 34%.
Now, THIS I can get behind. Rising administrative costs should be a concern for all universities–and parents. So, yes, I respect your position on this and couldn’t agree more that this is a dangerous trend.
This course of action has weakened Acadia’s ability to attract and retain good faculty. We have lost a number of high calibre people recently and we’ve had far too many “failed searches” for new ones. Failed searches occur when selected candidates have declined to come to Acadia, many of them because they have a better offer elsewhere. Acadia has promoted itself, with good reason, as one of the best, if not THE best, undergraduate universities in the country. But unless we can hire good faculty, faculty who stay at Acadia for more than a term or two, Acadia’s reputation will diminish. Such loss will affect everyone who will graduate (and has graduated) from Acadia.
Absolutely true. I completely agree that the reputation of the university (and the diplomas granted) is at stake, and any administrative issues that create barriers preventing outstanding professors from joining the Acadia team are going to hurt both the future of the university and the current morale and cohesiveness of the faculty.
The current offer from the board (there has been only one, the bits of which the Board shuffles around to present as a “new offer”) would see cutting of faculty positions, increased hiring of part-timers, the continued lack of a dental plan, and many other undesirable elements. The hiring of part time faculty may seem like a good idea but if that habit becomes endemic in this (and/or other institutions) there is precious little incentive for talented people to spend 10+ years of their lives in university earning multiple degrees.
No argument here. A sustainable work force requires a commitment to support those who are willing to devote themselves both long term and full time to the development of the organization. I’m all for the free agent approach to both employment and education–going where the best deals are, trading up when it seems like the right thing to do–and I recognize that if we lived in a perfect world, we’d get everything we wanted in one place and wouldn’t feel compelled to move on (or strike) in order to find that ideal package. As you know, this is not a perfect world, and I get the fact that your intention is to create better working conditions not only for yourself but for everyone who winds up at Acadia or other institutions in Canada.
I am in a privileged position. I get to see some of the brightest and best minds of the next generation. I have a role in shaping them. It’s an awe-some (in the old fashioned sense) responsibility, one I take very seriously. But in the final analysis I cannot stand idly by while those who never see a single student in a year would erode the quality of education at Acadia. And, with luck, and letters like this one, I hope to pass on that message. I’m on strike FOR the students and their future.
I respect this. As I’ve stated, I’m certain that the vast majority of faculty members are devoted to Acadia and want the best for their students. This is as it should be. And I’m sure there is more than a little concern on your part for the fate of the students in this strike. You want to get a good contract, yes, but you don’t want students to miss out on learning or–God forbid–not get any credit for this semester. That would be horribly unfair and create a backlash against the university from which Acadia might never recover. Nobody wants that. And though the professors are standing firm in their commitment to getting a fair contract that will ultimately serve the best interests of the students, that’s a tough thing for a tuition-paying parent to swallow. Sure, I want Acadia to be strong. Yes, I want the profs to be happy and thriving and dedicated to the institution and their students.
But–pardon the whine–does it have to be done on my dime? That’s the issue that affects me most as a parent. I’m spending money for my daughter’s education, and she is teaching herself the material. When classes resume, she will show up ready to take the tests on the topics that her professors have never discussed in class. I mean, if I wanted her to take an online course, I wouldn’t have sent her to Acadia for $10,000 a semester (give or take). And as a parent, it is perfectly within my right to feel that, no matter how much I might support the cause for which the professors are striking, I’m still getting screwed in the process.
P.S. Lest you think I’ve avoided the issue of salaries, I will agree that I’m better paid than many in the so-called real world, but after training for 14 years (to gain 3 degrees) and nearly 15 years of work at Acadia, a salary of under $60,000 is hardly exorbitant. If I’d left university after one or two degrees and got a job in the “real world” (as people are so fond of saying) I suspect I’d be earning a lot more than that.
Now, see, we’ll never know that, will we? I know plenty of people with multiple degrees who are not making $60,000. And in most cases, it’s because they’ve chosen to dedicate their lives to a profession (or cause) that they feel passionate about and they’re willing to forego the higher salary in order to do what they really want to do. I’m not saying profs need to be saints or martyrs or go without dental care. I’m merely pointing out that those degrees do not necessarily translate to high-paying jobs and there are plenty of people who choose to work for themselves or in positions in which they don’t earn high salaries and it’s because they’re trading money for the freedom to do what they love.
As a parent, I’m kind of hoping there’s a little of that sentiment among the professors at Acadia.
It’s never a bad idea to say, “I love what I do, I’m great at it, and I want to work to the best of my ability and for as long as possible right here. Help me find a way to continue my good work for this institution so that everyone can benefit.”
I like to think that this is the approach you’re all taking, and that the administration will recognize the power of this opportunity to invest in the future of Acadia–for the faculty and the students.
Good luck.
2 Comments
October 23, 2007 at 3:51 am
As an Acadia alumnae, former part-time professor, and current PhD-holder seeking a job as a full-time professor, I just can’t let this go:
“So, sorry–teaching a summer course just doesn’t seem to be the same kind of thing as working a 40-hour 9-5 job that doesn’t allow for, say, sitting in the grass on a nice day. ”
I am so jealous of people who merely work 9-5 for 5-6 days a week!
Yes, summer teaching and summer research has a different vibe to it, and, yes, I can take my laptop with me whereever I go and write in a grassy field or on the beach, but profs work way more hours than a typical 9-5er. The difference between 9-5 and a prof’s job is that the prof’s job never ends. Even if profs leave the office at 5pm or 6pm or 7pm (often it’s after 7pm or 8pm for me), their work follows them home (physically and mentally). Yesterday, a Sunday, I worked for 14 hours straight with minimal breaks. Most nights, the first thing I do when I get home from the office is boot up my laptop and respond to administrative emails and work on other tasks because there simply aren’t enough hours in the day, let alone enough days in the week, to get it all done. Profs are trained from their first day in grad school that they need to work non-stop (14-16 hours a day is what I was told my first semester), and they carry that mentality of guilt and the obligation to do more and more with them their whole careers (or at last until they reach tenure, after 6-7 years, but the good ones tend to have established long nights and weekends as an unbreakable habit by then). For those first 6-7 years, “publish or perish” drives our lives. Whether we are at “research schools” or “teaching schools” like Acadia, the imperative is the same, and for most profs it drives them for the rest of their careers.
Profs at Acadia typically teach 2 courses one semester and 3 courses the other semester (compared to profs who teach 2/2 at big research schools or sometimes even 1/1 at the really big research schools), yet they still produce quality research. When does that research get produced? When people who work 9-5 jobs 5-6 days/ week get to have time to spend with their family and loved ones and enjoy the hobbies and leisure activities that normal people in the real world get to enjoy.
What a vacation 9-5 would be!
February 10, 2008 at 8:06 pm
[...] My Response To A Thoughtful Acadia Professor On Strike: blog post that addresses what professors do; read the comments as well. [...]