(I should also note that I'm not particularly sympathetic regarding her attempt at what she admits was a "political deal" to remove "the department's ineffectual staff member". It comes off sounding both underhanded and politically naive at the same time.)
Thursday, March 10, 2005
"...false friendships, deals, grudges, acts of political sabotage, indecorous alliances, favoritism"
"V. S. Ravens" writes about "The Limits of Tenure" at her large public university in the U.S. What strikes me is that her description depiction of dirty campus politics in the U.S. is remarkably similar to the way some folks describe depict university life in Taiwan. Which is to say, to quote Erma Bombeck, "the grass is always greener over the septic tank". (Gotta remind myself of this sometimes...)
(I should also note that I'm not particularly sympathetic regarding her attempt at what she admits was a "political deal" to remove "the department's ineffectual staff member". It comes off sounding both underhanded and politically naive at the same time.)
(I should also note that I'm not particularly sympathetic regarding her attempt at what she admits was a "political deal" to remove "the department's ineffectual staff member". It comes off sounding both underhanded and politically naive at the same time.)
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7 comments:
Clyde says:
That was so inept! Does Ravens really think she was working for a higher purpose by getting another person fired--oh PLEASE.
As Michael Turton says, if Chinese academics were set lose in America, they would be running the show in no time. I don't see what Ravens is crying about at all. She got screwed rather than screwing a poor staff member--oh my, boo hoo, I'm crying!
I'm not sympathetic to Ravens, either. In trying to work a deal to remove the ineffectual staff member, she seemed to be abusing the power of tenure rather than using it responsibly . Did the administrator think the staff member could be easily removed at the request of Ravens? That seems either a false, desperate promise or incredibly, unbelievably naive, too. --ERG
Clyde Said:
I go with the very naive theory, and that is my point--in Taiwan you don't last very long being naive. What bugs me the most is that this is very typical of what American profs complain about and think of as heavy politics. Here we deal with being sued, dragged into court, put on TVBS, getting in the print news, etc.
So my question is (and it's not an original one, I admit), why does the Chronicle keep printing stuff like this?
Clyde Said:
Because to pampered American academics this kind of thing IS a big deal.
Here's my answer to your question: the Chronicle prints this stuff because it sells issues. Plain & simple. I gave them a piece called "Plagiarism, Policing, Pedagogy." Without my permission, they changed to "Forget About Policing Plagiarism; Just Teach." The title distorted what I actually said in the article, but it sure did get a lot of attention. The Chronicle is a corporation. Sales comes first.
"Thomas Benton" has a hilarious article on humanities buildings in the latest Chronicle. I can almost forgive the publishers for the Ravens essay.... almost...
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