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.