There's been a flurry of emails on one of my listserves related to "should we automatically know where in the world Temple University is?"
Temple U, in geography at least, favors the caste system. They hire tenure track people to do research and teach limited classes, and they hire contractors on fixed contracts to do the icky work of teaching undergrads, so as not to unduly burden the researchers.
I had a phone interview there last spring, and frankly I counted the minutes until I could decently end it. It was clear early on what they were interested in (warm bodies to relieve the "stars" of the drudgery of teaching) and It's another example of the hypocrisy of academe: you'll find that the tenure-track researchers there are all interested in class/race/disadvantage, yet when it comes to equity in their own department...well, it goes no further than their own self-interest.
Typical, I'm finding, of the world of academe. Full disclosure: I didn't get an offer. But frankly, I was so horrified at the setup that I would have turned it down in a heartbeat if they'd called back.
They are advertising again this year like crazy. Must be a helluva place to work....
Posted by otto0114 at April 6, 2008 09:37 PMWell no surprise there.
At my university the race & class folks are all Marxists (yeah...umm, didn't they LOSE already?... why YES!) who preach the sad tales of inequality and power structures and unfair labor and the evils of capitalism...
And then they fight tooth and nail for more and more power to control a bigger share of the departments feudal fiefdoms - screwing over anyone in their way (especially grad students!)... then drive home in their luxury cars to beautiful homes in expensive neighborhoods. Content in their belief that they have made a HUGE DIFFERENCE in our evil society!
Same ol, same ol.
Posted by: Been-there--Seen-that at April 7, 2008 05:23 PM