A paper utterly and completely devoid of any kind of historical or political analysis whatsoever. This crap goes at least as far back to Gov. Engler's ridiculous commitment to tax cuts and his avoidance/displacement of the crisis - by spending the state's surplus rather than deal with the crisis he and his administration contributed mightily to (though some, quite properly, would say it goes back to the Reagan recession's devastating consequences for Michigan. It also can be closely tied to an obstructionist Republican Senate, still committed to the same silliness, and a pro-business Democrat, Granholm, who's yet - after six/seven years! - to call them on their BS... no wonder Obama and Granholm get on so well...
That this stuff has been going on parallel to constantly raising the bar for tenure, promoting universities as engines of regional growth rather than the roots of a healthy citizenry (however much this was most often honored in the breach in the past), devaluing teaching in preference for the pursuit of external grants to cover declining public allocations, and continuing grad program primarily about providing cheap TA/RA/Temp support rather than producing exceptional professional teacher/scholars in most instances only serves to make matters worse.
Not that any of the press, or university administrations, see this.
On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 6:41 PM, <wrobert at uci.edu> wrote:
> Which paper is this from? I recall that a couple Detroit papers had their
> own minor labor issues back in the 1990's. robert wood
>
> > Editorial: Unions must adapt to the times
> > Michigan's public employee unions must adapt to economic times and
> > stop counterproductive tactics
> > This Labor Day presents a moment of truth for public employee unions
> > in Michigan. They should recognize the state's dire economic situation
> > and adapt. Instead, from the union halls in Detroit to the campus of
> > Oakland University in Rochester, there is the same old
> > fire-and-brimstone talk about keeping what they have and the
> > unfairness of city and university leaders.
> >
>
>