I really agree with you Carrol, having met a few of the people you cite who
actually became college administrators after their service to the State (my
favorite quotes for not returning to academe after government service come
from George Schultz and Henry Kissinger). Better me than them, I say (since
I don't have a lot of confidence in the governance abilities of tenured
professors but I still believe in collective organization), and I do find
( with all due respect to those on the list who are members of faculty
unions ( I am also at this moment a member of such a union)) and without
scapegoating them, that the coziness of senior professors and administrators
really is the problem and that there's not a lot of administrative
corruption that hasn't been agreed to by the "permanent faculty" ( they both
can still afford the daschas and the international conference junkets etc )
since they share their spoils of capital accumulation (a la David Noble),
but then again I've read too much David Lodge perhaps over my 24 years of
higher ed academic employment. Lumpen is as lumpen does, and yes (although I
have funny stories from my last job that show quite the contrary especially
in the area of false consciousness, but that's best left off this list) they
all are anti-working class, so we don't disagree, but like Jim implies, we
have to pay our bills so whether administration is more corrupting than
money is like comparing the ethics of lawyers, journalists and used car
salespersons.
Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carrol Cox" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 1:48 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:8663] Re: Re: Re: farewell to academe
>
>
> ann li wrote:
> >
> > I, too have mixed emotions about our status as "cultural workers" in
> > academe, since I was a dean last year and now am teaching part-time,
> > partially in the reserve army of distance learning educators, waiting
for
> > yet another opportunity in administration, hoping to make a difference,
> >
>
> I don't know -- university administration (regardless of intentions) is
> close if not over the borderline of that lumpen-bourgeosie consisting of
> cops, prison guards, CIA, career military officers, upper corporate
> management in which the position, not how it is carried out, is
> anti-working class. I've been connected with universities for 54 years
> now and have never met an administrator who I would care to take my
> coffee breaks with. There may be exceptions, but adminstration is more
> corrupting than money.
>
> Carrol
>
>
>
