Let's get rid of tenure - What a jerk!!!

People often forget that there is a left wing to libertarianism as well.

That aside, there are some definite abuses of tenure in this country but this isn't really one of them.

 

It's not Dan Patrick's first rodeo, you know. Yeppers, getting rid of this creep would be immediate improvement. The same guy who said senior citizens are willing to die of COVID to support the economy. The same guy who owns a radio station airing QAnon stuff. Driving force behind banned books lists, and anti- anti-mask mandate mandates (joined by the rest of Texas GOP on this last one).

When I first came to this country, I lived in Florida. Now, after stint in Ontario, I moved to Texas. Lovely places, but oh, the politicians..

 

There are two thing in common between Texas and Florida (more than two, actually, but these strike at me). They both have world-class public university systems. And they both have ruling Republican parties hell-bent at damaging these systems.

You know what also stikes me? How Abbott, Patrick and the gang laser-focus on these culture war stuff rather than, you know, address the faulty electric grid or something. I'm old enough to catch a bit of the Soviet system; I was put in charge of leading "political informations" in class at the age of nine (Lerner knows what these are). What you call "culture war" things are what was then called "ideology work", and every single Communist Party functionary from the local cell level up to the Politburo would prioritize this over economy concerns if he wanted to keep his job. "Neglected ideology work" is a stock phrase in party censure resolutions in Soviet Union. So functionally, Abbott, Darth Santis, and the gang act like competent, rational First Secretaries of, respectively, the Communist Parties of Texas/Florida, answering to Comrade Secretary General Donald Fredovich Trumpsky. Because they are accountable to The Party first and the population, a distant second. Mechanics are different but effects are exactly the same.

 

Out of the weird state of Florida!

"DeSantis said higher education employees with tenure will now go under review every five years, giving the school’s board of trustees the ability to part ways at that time if desired."

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/watch-9-am-gov-desantis-make-announcement-villages/WYVBSCINFBG35EFQSCWWHNBQEM/

 

Not sure they can do this. Tenure is a contract between the professor and the institution. On the other hand, there are limits to how tightly bound a state legislature can be by the acts of a prior leglislature. Interesting issue. So. Not sure they can't, either.

 

I know the Baptist university where I recently turned down an offer has a reaffirmation of the tenure process that occurs every 7 years after being initially granted tenure. However, the chair noted that it is nothing as rigorous as achieving initial tenure. So, my guess is that it's an individual school or university system's prerogative to make such decisions.

 

The craziness continues. Now FL schools will be required to change their accreditor after 10 years. How will that work when the "regional" ones only accredit schools in specific states? Smh!

https://www.winknews.com/2022/04/20/gov-desantis-signs-higher-ed-accreditation-tenure-changes/

 

Colleges and universities under the law will be required to change accreditors at the end of each accreditation cycle, a process that can take as long as 10 years. The law will take effect on July 1... The accrediting bodies will have to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

 

I was just admitted to Jacksonville University and I'd be curious to know how this would impact their AACSB Accreditation and such...or is this only regional accreditation?

 

If the law stands, it sounds like an accredited FL degree is soon going to be impossible to obtain.

 

"The role that these accreditation agencies play, I don’t even know where they come from" DeSantis said.

This has strong "I never understood wind" energy.

 

Regarding tenure...State institutions might not be in the exact same position as private ones. When the State enters into an employment contract the employee gains not only enforceable private contractual rights but a possible constitutional right not to be deprived of property without due process. This can matter in a lot of embarrassing ways.

 

Please explain to me that I'm mistaken. I really hate concluding that people are just plain stupid because it is usually wrong! I can't figure out any reasonable rationale for this law. What good could come from forcing colleges to spend resources on continuous accreditation activities? This seems like incompetence? The tenure thing doesn't make anymore sense to me. I'm assuming that the politicians are doing this as a political ploy? I hope it's not true. I don't see what gain there is politically either.

 

Speculation? Anti-intellectualism. Pandering to a slice of the Trump Base.

 

Well, thanks for trying. I'm going to have to remember this anti-intellectual argument. A good way to generally save me from concluding that it must be gross stupidity.

 

That's my thinking, too. They want to dismantle the school system entirely for "indoctrinating" young people. You can't indoctrinate people if you aren't allowed to exist. Win-win, in their minds.

 

Republicans increasingly critical of several major U.S. institutions, including big corporations and banks (Ted Van Green, Pew Research Center, August 20, 2021)

 

Well, consider the enormous damage done to average household wealth (as opposed to Top 1% household wealth) as a result of the 2008 financial panic. A great many people had worked for decades and saved diligently into their retirement accounts only to see half or two thirds of their savings evaporate. Even if much of that has recovered, the time was lost and many, many people were forced out of houses they could no longer afford. The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements had a great deal more in common than either would willingly admit. Meanwhile, the sharks who ran the investment houses and major banks swam away with tens or hundreds of millions they'd earned off the backs of those same people. I'm surprised that literal torches and pitchforks didn't appear.