French Idiot
Posted on February 21st, 2011 in Uncategorized | 12 Comments »
Professor Karin N. Calvo-Goller is an idiot. And she is welcome to sue me for saying so. But does she not understand what suing someone for publishing a book review will lead to?
12 Responses
2/22/2011 2:26 pm
Harvard News-Steve Hyman is finally out-it took Faust a while, but seems to have been accomplished with tact. Any guesses on his successor?
2/23/2011 7:01 am
So, do you think that the Wisconsin backlash against public unions will spill over into higher education and tenure? Will the moneyed donors behave the same way as the Koch’s have with the Republican party? Could it have an affect on tuition prices? Just a thought. Wondering yours?
2/23/2011 10:50 am
Interesting observation 7:01 am.
Guess we’ll have to wait and see how well the faculty defend themselves in such an argument. How many tenured economists who favor free trade and less or no government restrictions will defend their sinecure?
Can the US Higher Education system maintain such a pay system in light of the merit pay discussion for public school teachers? Perhaps the same same standards should apply to college and universities - they get a lot of our federal, state and local tax dollars.
Is it time to introduce Leaving Certificates at the university level? But who would administer it? Perhaps the same people who require test score improvement for K-12 teachers?
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/blog/news_features_releases/2010/08/public-and-teachers-divided-in-their-support-for-merit-pay-teacher-tenure-race-to-the-top.html
Who do we start with first? Twitter or FB?
2/23/2011 3:38 pm
@ anon 7:01 .
It will never happen. The moneyed donors want “the best” professors, whatever the hell that means. They want their schools to have the superstars, the dream teams, so that they can brag to their colleagues that their school has the greatest dream team in “x” studies. What results is an arms race… with no winners.
The moneyed donors are more than willing to have their school in Cambridge give shared appreciation mortgages of a million to prospective new professors (sorry RT, it doesn’t apply to those of you who came to Cambridge a while ago and have done yeoman’s duty in your field); no interest, no doc loans… what a deal. Even more than the SAM when you leave Cambridge (New Haven, Hanover etc.) and then “they” want you back. Big bucks to get you to come back.
Moneyed donors are different from Wisconsin taxpayers. They want the best for their schools.
2/23/2011 3:59 pm
Sam:
I agree re moneyed donors.
The question then becomes the “other” moneyed donors such as government - federal research dollars, local and state real estate tax relief and the like. How do government officials (elected’s and appointed’s) justify K-12 requirements with tax dollars but not at the university level? Do you think the donors can make up the difference in federal grants if the output (test scores) isn’t up to par? This goes for private schools as well as state schools. How much does Harvard get in Federal Grants? State and local relief. Equity will become the battle cry.
Basically, what I am pointing out is Martin Niemöller famous quote:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
2/23/2011 5:04 pm
I’m fine, Sam, and even got help with a house that the President and Fellows don’t own any part of. I get paid enough to have just bought $50 worth of pizza for the resistance in Madison. Anyone can do it:
SEND FOOD AND WATER DIRECTLY TO THE PROTESTERS
These two close-by shops will supply food and water to those in the Capitol
or on the picket line:
Ian’s Pizza 608-442-3535 minimum order $20.00 These folks are now taking
orders only for delivery to the resistance, they’ve stopped all delivery to
the general public. They tell me they deliver to wherever the people are
— if they’re inside the Capitol, they go in. If people are marching and
picketing, they take the food to the picket line.
Subway on the Square 608-255-1636 NOTE: minimum order $100.00 They have
set up a fund there for your orders, and they are giving free food from that
fund to any union member or pro-union demonstrator who requests food.
2/23/2011 6:21 pm
Anyone interested in supporting the Wisconsin protesters can also make donations online via the Wisconsin AFL-CIO (http://www.wisaflcio.org/) and the UW Teaching Assistants’ Association (http://www.defendwisconsin.org/).
2/24/2011 2:48 pm
As a former Harvard professor now at UW-Madison, just to say thanks to RT and Feste. We appreciate and need your support.
2/24/2011 6:37 pm
to 2.26 above… does any of it matter?
2/24/2011 7:39 pm
Perhaps the politicians who are demanding to take voters rights away (union folks are voters too) should subject themselves to the same pay and benefit packages.
Do you think the Senate or the House will give up that level of support? They are government workers too…
Perhaps that should be a national referendum.
2/24/2011 8:22 pm
Good to hear from you, Lisa. Good luck to you and to all of us
2/24/2011 9:23 pm
has the disappearance of the provost gone unnoticed?