tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post818068697750448001..comments2024-01-28T03:35:51.182-05:00Comments on Reassigned Time: Thoughts on Tenure from the Tenure-TrackDr. Crazyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-54354509198466651712008-03-31T18:58:00.000-04:002008-03-31T18:58:00.000-04:00Speaking from the adjunct perspective, tenure and ...Speaking from the adjunct perspective, tenure and the tenure system seems to me to create an extreme disjunction between those who've got it (and will fight to the death for it) and those who don't have it and never will. It's an odd sort of utilitarian logic that says 'achieve the greatest good for the greatest number', except the number for whom that good can be achieved is forever diminishing. I really do see a day in the not-too-distant future in which there will be a few people of your generation with tenure in any given department surrounded by a sea of adjuncts. What then?<BR/><BR/>I'd prefer it if we were to strive for a moderate good for more people -- come what may -- than hold out for the greatest good for a select, and forever diminishing few.<BR/><BR/>All of your reactions to the prospect of tenure are good and noble and decent. But in the end, the one that is most important is what you say about how you will be insulated (at least financially) from the ravages of the presetn and future economy. To me this is the essence of tenure. The rest that you discuss is being a good citizen.Second Linehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11027186818733260061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-15441884571172035172008-03-31T00:20:00.000-04:002008-03-31T00:20:00.000-04:00Good post!Good post!Rent Partyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05172304380312568465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-81544836362701931962008-03-29T05:49:00.000-04:002008-03-29T05:49:00.000-04:00Freedom to take risks like research projects that ...Freedom to take risks like research projects that might not pan out is what I was looking forward to most.MommyProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12040890762575693250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-88997698870880102882008-03-28T20:58:00.000-04:002008-03-28T20:58:00.000-04:00Crazy, I think this is a very good post and a good...Crazy, I think this is a very good post and a good attitude on tenure. I thought that it would be different, somehow. Never has been. But I'm glad I got it, and damned grateful my SLAC still has such an arcane thing.Bellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10849272391043604637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-90187586707869405022008-03-28T17:17:00.000-04:002008-03-28T17:17:00.000-04:00Hey, Doc C, nice post! Just a quick note that Cra...Hey, Doc C, nice post! Just a quick note that Craig Smith of AFT and I have been debating the wisdom of rethinking and extending tenure to the currently nontenurable at FACE Talk and CitizenSE since January. Of course, Tenured Radical and Lumpenprofessoriat have been talking about this for much longer on their blogs....<BR/><BR/>And a quick clarification that my proposed cease fire puts in black and white exactly the consequence of giving up tenure--the loss of collegiality, commitment to changing an institution, and all the other good things about the tenure system you identify. It's not exactly a reductio, but if my compromise is repellent at all, there must be something more to tenure than what its critics claim.The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-73427255020141650802008-03-28T17:00:00.000-04:002008-03-28T17:00:00.000-04:00I'm not sure if this is the place for my own post-...I'm not sure if this is the place for my own post-tenure reflections, but since I don't have a blog and this relates, I figured I'd share....<BR/><BR/>I got tenure two years ago, and a couple of things have changed, or shifted, for me in a way that I hadn't quite anticipated: First, I'm doing a lot more service work. While it's true that I'm freer to say 'no'--and that I'm actually very interested in and committed to the service things I'd doing--it's also the case that I've been asked to do *a lot* more than before. So while it's easier to say 'no', there're a lot more occassions where that's become necessary!<BR/><BR/>So I'm not any less busy than I was pre-tenure, but it's somewhat harder to make the space I need to do my own research (since the entire department prioritized that before--they, too, wanted me to publish so I could get tenure).<BR/><BR/>The other major change is that I've been freer to think about what it is I want (and don't want) out of my non-academic life. The questions about "work-life" balance, as well as questions about my having/not having a "social life" outside the university are ones I think about more now, since I'm now free of the worry that I will be denied tenure. In some ways this is good, but it's also brought with it a certain amount of questioning... what am I doing with my life? why am I working so much (given that I don't *have* to), will I ever find a partner in this little university town, etc...<BR/><BR/>Again, nothing all that surprising, but I figured I'd share.<BR/><BR/>And thanks for another thoughtful and insightful post! It sounds like things are going very well for you.heleneschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00379096203492608139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-64150602767204593192008-03-28T16:32:00.000-04:002008-03-28T16:32:00.000-04:00Hey Cr. C--Delurking after long lurking. I'm prep...Hey Cr. C--Delurking after long lurking. I'm preparing my own tenure file now, which is due this fall. Of all your meditations on what tenure will mean to you, the first resonates most powerfully with me, but I'd extend the list from "service-wise" to include all aspects of my professional life. It's terrible to do something good--publish something, mentor a student into publically-recognized success--and think, before any other response, "This will look great on my CV." I'd like to think that I'll find some way to appreciate successes for themselves, to celebrate them as ends rather than as means to some externally-defined end. (That may take some learning on my part....)Renaissance Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06243095907452011303noreply@blogger.com