Adjunct professors unionize, revealing deeper malaise in higher ed

[rjsquirrel]

29. Yes I know that

My Credentials? Lol. I'm a tenured full professor of science at an R1 university where I've taught for almost 30 years. My PhD students number in the dozens and are faculty members all over the world. My grants from major funding agencies add up to well over a million dollars. I've been in administrative positions at high levels of PhD education.

And every PhD student I've ever trained has been fully funded for 5-7 years. All tuition paid. All fees paid. Housing subsidized. Health insurance. And a stipend that amounts to a working class paycheck. Their work is in my lab.

Of course you have to have a PhD to be a professor. But if you paid for it you weren't smart enough or disciplined enough to get into one of the better programs, in ANY field including humanities, where you'd actually have a fighting chance at a career.

If you pay cash or take out loans to get a PhD you are doing it wrong and making a very serious life mistake because you are not competitive for the academic career. Most professors in American universities of any quality did not pay for their PhD degrees. It's been that way for generations. Sorry to disappoint your expectation that I was writing from a position of ignorance. Is suspect no one on DU knows more than I do about this subject.