Today I found out that N and I will both probably lose our jobs soon and I also dropped a tray with 30 cupcakes, so you can imagine the mess, but I don’t care because my kid turned 9 today, and nothing matters if you have a kid.
Absolutely nothing but joy have I gotten from this child. She’s everything that’s good in life.
As for jobs, neoliberalism, fluidity, we all know how it goes. Only people who are completely out of the loop expect something different.
Clarissa's Blog 
Will keep you in my prayers. May God bless you with a path of wisdom and goodness, and keep your family safe and well.
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❣️❣️
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Wait, what???
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That’s ok, it happens. Stability is an illusion in neoliberalism. It’s not a loss, it’s an opportunity, and all that.
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Please tell us more when you’re ready to do so. I’m amazed that any institution/company would let you or N go. And the fact that I’m amazed tells me how mentally unprepared I am for our current times.
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At my university, we are in the endless process of budget cuts. The goal (this is stated directly by the administration) is to substitute tenured faculty with part-time lecturers because they are cheaper.
Apparently, students should be happy to have most of their tuition go to administration and “services” and not to actual instruction.
But a large (maybe a larger) part of the blame lies on the faculty. I’ve been warning them for 16 years that this was going to happen if they don’t reconsider their approach to work. Nobody wanted to listen but now the bills are coming due.
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If it took sixteen years… for most hamster-brained people that’s exactly the same as never happening. There’s no connection.
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Sorry to hear that Clarissa. I really hope you don’t both lose your jobs at the same time, that would just suck.
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It won’t be at the same time. In academia, everything is very slow.
Somebody with a literary talent needs to write a novel about how the smugness and laziness of academics invites smooth neoliberal operators to destroy academia.
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Happy birthday to Klara!
I am sorry to hear about your jobs, I hope that whatever happens, it will lead to something even better for your family.
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“N and I will both probably lose our jobs soon”
That totally sucks and reading between the lines I have the idea the decision has been made to shut down your university entirely probably doing a mafia style bust out (exploiting assets and credit to the breaking point) along the way.
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Not entirely but much of the Humanities. I don’t know the exact list but foreign languages will be #1 on it for sure. The worst part is that we’ve done everything to make it so. I’d be very happy to just blame the neoliberal administration, and it’s true, the administration sucks ass. But I have to be honest about us having been an absolute pest of a department and huge underachievers. Entitled brats of the first order. That’s the part that really gets to me. I’ve been warning about this for 16 years. And I know I already said this but I need to keep saying it until it’s less annoying to me.
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A former collaborator of mine (now happily retired), used to tell me all the time that a lot of smaller universities/colleges will be shut down in the future, or have entire programs eliminated. Even us, who are at R1 institutions are not going to be spared and our programs will have to shrink (some may be eliminated as well). He told me I need to understand this is coming, prepare for it and not be taken by surprise. From what I can see so far, he was right. I am aware of at least two small schools that have shut down, another one is on life support (just a question of time before they will not be able to continue anymore).
You can also see a lot of people abusing the system and this will not be allowed to go on indefinitely. I have some colleagues here who have been very vocal about not teaching freshmen because they have to take care of their one million dollar grant. The truth is, that no matter how much money we bring in grant support, University is actually losing money on us doing research. If the federal government succeeds cutting the overhead, it will not take a genius to figure out that the money is indeed lost. People who are the most highly paid also do everything possible to minimize their teaching, so for the cost of one highly paid tenure-track faculty, the University can hire several teaching-track professors who will each have double the teaching load and no problem with teaching large freshman classes. If I can do this math, I am sure that our administrators can do the same… The train wreck is happening, it is just in such a slow motion that people do not realize they are the ones causing it (at least partially).
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“Humanities. I don’t know the exact list but foreign languages will be #1 on it for sure”
At some level I think you’re still in denial and trying to make things seem rational. So you think that if your colleagues had just worked harder or smarter and done research like you then it wouldn’t have happened. But… it’s been inevitable for a while now.
Capital no longer needs most US based education as it’s cheaper (to those making the decisions) to use AI and fill in the gaps with immigrants who can be discarded when they’re no longer useful.
I’m pretty sure it will be the entire institution will be abandoned once it’s completely gutted and stripped of value.
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This is a situation made by all of us together. It’s not a disembodied force acting upon us. It’s a journey we took together. For example, during COVID, faculty abandoned academic self-governance. No more boring committee work! Tons of free time! But we never asked ourselves, who is doing all that boring work now that we stopped? Who was now in charge of all of it? How come after COVID long ended nobody asked us to come back to all these committees?
I saw who was on campus daily throughout COVID. Meeting, making decisions. The bureaucrats, the administrators. They stepped in because we stepped out.
How many times did I warn people, “this online course you are designing is very easy to lock you out of and hand everything over to a cheap lecturer.” People pouted at me when I said it. Today this is happening. And the list goes on. We aren’t victims here. We collaborated. And that’s what’s driving me up a wall.
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“faculty abandoned academic self-governance”
That’s nuts… off all my colleagues (and students asked) all uniformly _hated_ online “learning” and were raring to get back into the classroom (the one who didn’t mind only had a couple hours a week in very small groups).
I think there’s a cultural element at play too… it’s easier to sucker Americans with talk of ‘convenience’ and selling online “learning” as a new phase of education.
But still…. I think it’s just a matter of time before 80-90% of higher education institutions in America are shut down.
The rot economy or the scam economy or whatever you want to call it is in ascendance.
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Truly sorryto hear that re the jobs.
Have you considered moving to another location, one which would give you a good opportunity for a job at a really good university, where doing research is expected and you’ll be valued as you deserve for it, and also an area with many good jobs for N?
I understand you bought a house, but aren’t jobs more important?
Very heartening to hear, considering the choices I’ve decided to make.
Hope to discover too soon.
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The only reason I’m not going on the job market is because of my kid. But I might be forced to do it. We’ll know more later but either way,.what an adventure. This is going to be good.
As for your choices, I’m praying, praying, praying. This will be such a wonderful thing. Please keep me abreast.
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\ The only reason I’m not going on the job market is because of my kid.
I thought going now, while you enjoy a good place of employment, would give you an advantage. Also thought you didn’t do this because of Klara, before you replied.
Obviously, every person is different. I would’ve gone now, but aiming for a really good place both for you and N. Believe that’s best for kids too, when both parents truly love their jobs.
In my case, keeping a job looks more important than ever now.
\ As for your choices, I’m praying, praying, praying. This will be such a wonderful thing. Please keep me abreast.
Thank you very much.
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There’s no job market now anyway. Our cycle starts in September, so I might reconsider depending on what the actual plan of reform is. For now it’s concealed from us “to avoid rumors.” Because that’s what secrecy usually does.
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I am at an R1 that is not struggling. They just announced an immediate hiring freeze for all staff and faculty positions. There may not be much of an academic job market next year. Exploring other options in the meantime may be better.
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Will old icons ever return? Or should I try changing email to get another icon? It looks kind of too pink now.
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I can change them back but in a few days to avoid triggering another collapse of the commenting system.
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Trying once more to get a normal icon.
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Happy belated birthday to Klara!
I am so sorry to read this. You know that many of us are in the same situation, and we can spend hours talking about it. It is almost comforting to read, however, that courses are offered to instructors and not some sort of AI.
Ol.
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