Indentured Servitude for Academics

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Clarissa

April 4, 2014

It’s very sad to see formerly good blogs suddenly become really horrible. Professor Is In was a really great blog that suddenly veered off course and started publishing very silly articles by very unintelligent and obnoxious people. See a short quote from the most recent post on that blog which was written by some preachy and weird dude:

I actually think that it might not be so bad and lead to better initial offers if universities could hire as do sports teams – a locked in 5-7 year contract whereby the candidate cannot leave their position for another academic position unless they are released from their contract. Although this would disadvantage some people, it really might increase the quality of offers, plus it would make candidates give pause about committing to a position that they really don’t intend to stay in for the long haul.

Yes, let’s also consider bringing in indentured servitude for academics. And if an academic tries to escape for a different job, she should be publicly flogged, or something.

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10 responses to “Indentured Servitude for Academics”

cliff arroyo

April 4, 2014

“if an academic tries to escape for a different job, she should be publicly flogged, or something”

Of course that’s too extreme. There’s no reason it has to be done in public…

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 4, 2014
  
  I’m also appalled by the comparison with athletes. Does he imagine academics are paid anything like the athletes in professional sports?
  
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Jonathan Mayhew

April 4, 2014

That kind of contract would not even be legally enforceable.

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 4, 2014
  
  I really hope so because the entire idea is scary.
  
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David Bellamy

April 4, 2014

I’m also appalled by the comparison with athletes. Does he imagine academics are paid anything like the athletes in professional sports?

If this would lead to professors’ being paid like athletes, I am in favour of it.

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 4, 2014
  
  And since that isn’t likely, the whole idea is just wrong.
  
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AcademicLurker

April 4, 2014

“if an academic tries to escape for a different job, she should be publicly flogged, or something”

Now I’m picturing something like The Great Escape set on a college campus, with adjuncts trying to tunnel under the barbed wire fence surrounding the quad…

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Evelina Anville

April 4, 2014

I actually find the Professor is In to be generally hostile to academia. She has good tips but I find the blog sort of univiting. And I find the entry you posted to be absoloutely repugnant. There are of course issues with academia (what field doesn’t have issues?) but this unrelenting trend to bash academia really irks me. And the more we proclaim that our field is dead, the more likely it will die. And I think American Higher Education is wonderful and amazing and it hurts me to see so many people delight in bashing it.

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1. Clarissa
  
  April 4, 2014
  
  I agree completely with this comment! The American higher ed system is absolutely the best, and I speak from a very good understanding of the system in several different countries. Ours is absolutely the best. The goal is to preserve everything that is good about it and work to make it even better.
  
  I can’t remember why I thought PII was such a great blog. I follow too many blogs and I remember having a nice and warm feeling about this one. It is also quite possible that I’m confusing it with another blog.
  
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  1. Tom
    
    April 4, 2014
    
    I think the Professor Is In used to be better. The recent string of guest posts has been weak and she hasn’t written much herself the past few months. I suspect she’s either too busy with her business to write or that she’s hit all of the relevant topics in her niche and has run out of things to say.
    
    For what it’s worth, my university has language in sabbatical award letters that requires faculty to return to campus to teach the following semester or to repay the salary for the semester of sabbatical. It’s not a 5-7 year lock in, but the idea behind it is similar.
    
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