True, as will the political consciousness of future students be much different than it was in the 1970s. Then, some students (like me) could scrape up the bucks to pay the rent on a single low-wage job. That freed me in ways big and small. Now, such a material reality is a pipe dream for students. Many workers are also in the same boat, including those covered in the article that launched this thread.
Seth Sandronsky Re: Re: The New University Underclass by joanna bujes 02 September 2002 22:07 UTC < < < Thread Index > > > The current situation in academia is the triumph of divide and rule tactics. It is an enraging, nauseating situation. However, if current drifts continue (what is it presently?... 70% non-tenured, 30% tenured nation-wide?), it will simply come to this: that by dint of sheer numbers, politically conscious, organized non-tenured staff can bring the university to a complete stand-still. This is a big IF, but it remains the case that nothing but political consciousness and action can give non-tenured staff a living wage. Notice that this is the reverse of the situation in the sixties and seventies, when the carrot of tenure essentially disabled the academic intelligentsia. Now they have nothing to lose. And, if they struggle and win, it will be a very different (politically conscious) teaching staff standing in front of the students in future years. Joanna At 02:27 PM 09/01/2002 -0700, you wrote: >Sabri's sad story is only a tiny vision of the degradation of the >university, which has never been a bulwark of democracy. A recent Slate >interview with Dick Army says that congressional politics is not nearly as >vicious as academic politics. > >Even within the professoriate, huge class differences are emerging, both >within departments and between disciplines. > -- >Michael Perelman >Economics Department >California State University >Chico, CA 95929 > >Tel. 530-898-5321 >E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
