Famous Higher Ed Experts: Mr. Needles of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

I would like to feature some noteworthy statements made by higher ed experts in the past couple of years. It's hard to choose, and I know you have little time, but some are just too good to bury in the archives, and you may not have seen them before.

Like this, from the testimony of Gregory L. Needles, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Education and the Workforce Committee United States House of Representatives, November 14, 2013:

(Maria Maisto, President of New Faculty Majority, also testified in front of this same outfit, but here comments were perfectly straightforward, sensible, to the point, and accurate, and so I don’t want to concentrate on that sort of thing.)

 So, to the contribution of Mr. Needles:

Adjuncts and student employees serve a unique role in the college and university space. In the case of adjuncts, they generally supplement the institution’s full-time faculty. For students, college employment through work-study is a way to finance their education. Typically neither adjuncts nor students are provided benefits. Instead, they are provided an opportunity to gain valuable experience, and the college or university is able to meet a need that might otherwise go unmet. It is a compact that has served students, adjuncts, and academia well for decades.

This really is choice, is it not? One hardly knows where to begin. In fact, I'm not going to begin. I'd never end. Also, I trust my several readers to know the basics anyway.

Mr. Needles works hard for his people, I'll say that, and managed to squeeze out this before he was done, by way of suggesting that his objection to more fairly and accurately estimating the actual working hours of adjunct/contingent faculty was motivated by tender concern for these same folks:

"As a client said, 'The ACA is forcing us, typically well-meaning employers, to make tough decisions that have negative consequences for our faculty and our students, and that can’t be what was intended.'"

Clearly, Needles fellow is badly informed, or else intending harm. I cannot tell for sure.  By the way, Ted Cruz, I'm sure it is relevant to note, worked for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, from 2007, after his stint as Texas State Attorney General and right up to his swearing in as a US Senator in 2013.

Ok, one is enough for now. You shouldn't gobble down these things by the fistful.