“… Over the past twenty years, colleges have become ‘multi-tiered workplaces’ in which a select cadre of older, tenured academics enjoy job security and benefits while undercompensated adjuncts, teaching assistants and – increasingly – undergraduates do the majority of instructional work. But this change has not come about because of the increased cost of educating students: over the past 15 years, tuition at public institutions has risen 2 to 3 percent above inflation, per year; yet the amount of money spent on educational services has remained stagnant. This is due in part to a decline in state support, but also to a shift in priorities. The money, Bousquet says – and the savings reaped by hiring adjunct faculty – has gone toward ballooning administrative costs, positions and salaries; venture partnerships with corporations; and the construction of costly, extravagant facilities that critics say have more show value than instructional utility …” (more)
[Gabriel Arana, The Nation, 31 March]