Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 13:44:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Howard Hastings <hhasting-AT-osf1.gmu.edu>
Subject: Re: PLC: Personal plea for advice


On Thu, 24 Jul 1997, Joerg T. Gruel wrote:
> 
> Yet If you feel you have to continue as a scholar - who's there to stand
> in your way? And why look gloomy?
> 
> Be serene,

Joerg old buddy,

I've got to stand with Paul on this one.  I hope to have a Ph.D. in
Cultural Studies before the turn of the millenium.  My chances of getting
hired might be considerably less than those of someone represented as
an English or Philosophy Ph.D. And I have a wife and two kids.  (Although,
I should add that my wife will have her DMA this fall and will likely have
a much better chance of being hired than I.) Not good. And I think it is
wrong for society not to appreciate me.

HOWEVER, since liberal arts types are not so appreciated, I think it
behooves those of us in such positions to examine more carefully the
structure of our universities, whose purposes they serve and why.  We
shouldn't just think of the curriculum and hiring practices and the job
market as natural forces we can't think of altering.  Perhaps
unionization is in order?  Just being better teachers won't change things. 

I don't really trust professional organizations like the MLA, which was
saying in 1992 that around the mid 90s all these tenured old dudes would
be retiring.  Well it turned out many were, but they were just being
replaced with adjuncts at half the pay and no medical benefits.  And this
"made sense" to many of the tenured elite.  

It's for sure that thousands of grad students who are only thinking in
terms of their personal lives and career goals will never amount to much
more than a pool of cheap labor in a buyer's market.  I have been
following recent events like the Yale strike and would like to become
involved in any attempt to organize students and faculty, and to reassess
the tenure system. 

Howard Hastings
George mason university