[lbo-talk] Re: Phyllis Wise, chancellor , Remains Piggish to the End

[michael yates]

Top college administrators are no different than their corporate counterparts. You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get these jobs, and to do so, you have to either be a pig or willing to become one. I never met a boss I liked, and my college bosses were no different. Whatever academic values might be these days, you can be sure that administrators will almost always be willing to compromise them or abandon them altogether.

As tenure disappears, thanks in no small part to the many pigs among the tenured faculty, especially those who lust after administrative posts, academic freedom will disappear too. Constant struggles will be necessary to achieve even the victories gained so far in the Salaita case. How often will it be that a similar situation arises?

In 45 years of teaching, I knew but a handful of principled faculty, people who would make a personal sacrifice to uphold academic freedom, for example, and not a single administrator. Right from the Chancellor down to the department chairpersons. The default position for a "principled" professor is to write a letter. So how likely are the necessary struggles to take place?

When the Yale workers went on strike, David Montgomery wouldn't even get his mail on campus much less teach his classes there. He's unfortunately dead.