Our football and volleyball teams lost to Eastern and Morehead, respectively, today; but they each had terrific years and we should all be proud of them. If there is any good news for those two teams it might be they can now concentrate on ending their semesters well academically. Go SKYHAWKS!!
A Chronicle of Education article by Eric Hoover explores the plan by the organizers of Occupy Wall Street to draft three pledges related to student debt.
After one million sign the debtors’ pledge, they will refuse to repay their loans and two other pledges will be launched, one for professors and the other for parents and other supporters of those refusing to repay their debt.
The protestors are demanding four things: that student loans be interest-free; that tuition at all public institutions be federally funded; that private and for-profit colleges open their financial records to the public; and that students’ “debt burden” be written off. Professor Ross of NYU, one of the ones organizing the pledge drives, makes the point that all professors salaries are debt-subsidized, which he believes to be immoral.
The article, found today is at this link:
http://chronicle.com/article/Protesters-Plan-a-National/129810/
In my organizational theory and behavior classes, we often talk about different views of power as held by organizations or cultures. Among these are:
Unitary View: the leader does what she believes she must to guide people toward goals with as little conflict as possible. Of course, one of the rubs here is that the leader may believe in a unitary view while the followers do not, yet the leader leads as if everyone believed in it. Sometimes the unitary view is the primary view, as is the case with most military organizations.
Pluralistic View: power is diffuse, not just in hands of leaders. Power of one (e.g. the official “leader”) tends to be offset by counter-power from another entity (e.g. “followers” or “groups of followers”) and this is generally accepted as a value within the culture, institution or organization.
Radical View: the powerful keep the relatively powerless that way by manipulating information and perceptions. In such cultures, institutions or organizations; those who are not among the nominally powerful, seek ways to organize against those in power or at least grow increasingly suspicious over time.
Relational View: every command has the potential for momentum (obeyed command), deference (silence as the command is carried out) and a sting (resentment felt as the command is carried out). It is implied that some amount of deference and sting always accompany following “orders”. Sting means: you do what you are asked to do, but begrudgingly and you seek ways to retaliate; in some instances, even after a good deal of time has past.
Leaders who promote a unitary view of power in the organization they lead, may well be presiding over people who hold a more radical view; so that it is generally recommended that the leader pays attention to momentum, deference and sting.
In my role as FS President, I have been afforded a little window onto how this works at Universities. So, you want another reason to be FS President? It gives you more examples to discuss in class (changing names to protect the innocent, of course).
Unemployment is high now, even among those with a four-year college degree, however; it is good to see the prognosis continues to be good for future graduates, better than the prognosis for non-graduates, according to this chronicle article found today at:
http://chronicle.com/article/Bachelors-Degree-Is-Still/129784/
You may recall a few months ago, to avert a government shutdown, the US Congress put together a super committee to look into budget cuts (and possible new sources of revenue, as if)… to help us avoid the credit-rating problem that was either real or trumped up politically? Well that super committee has a deadline of November 23, the day before Thanksgiving (which will likely help shorten the list of things for which to be thankful, for many agencies), to make its recommendations. One of the fears held by many insiders, is that Pell Grants and research funding will be cut. A Chronicle if Higher Ed article addressing this issue was found today at this link:
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Fear-Tough-Budget/129752/
Does anyone know if the Higher Education Sustainability Act, mentioned here:
http://www.fundee.org/campaigns/usp/
…was ever signed in to law? I see evidence that congress passed it in 2008, but none that either Bush or Obama have signed it. The economy tanked just after congress passed it, so I wonder if it survived?
Surely some of my colleagues will know the answer.
It is always nice to see that our soldiers are respected for their contribution, even by those of us who totally disagree with violence as a means of resolving conflict. In fact, my appreciation for them only grows every time I attend a peace conference and former soldiers are there making the case against war. They certainly know more on the subject then I will ever know.
I hope everyone had a great veterans day.
A while back I sat down and made a list of what I call, Enemies of Excellence. It is my goal, at some point, to discuss each of the obstacles at some length. I thought they might be of interest. As with any list such as this, if you turned each phrase around, you would have reasons why excellence occurs. I guess I was just in a negative mood the day I wrote them.
Students at public two- and four-year institutions of higher education have come to expect annual tuition increases and 2012-13 will apparently be no different. The hikes will be up to 10%, depending on where you are matriculating. However, for the last year and a half, each month we have heard revenues have exceeded projections. When anyone asks how this can be, they are told it is because there are certain things in the state’s budget that, by law, cannot be cut. My question is, how can we create a law that says higher education cannot be cut? Maybe we need more direct democracy in Tennessee. Maybe we need a Tennessee proposition one, that says: “State spending on higher education must only be reduced if state revenues have decreased during the previous fiscal year.”
Read more on the expected (not a done deal yet) here:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/nov/10/state-panel-weighs-tuition-02/
In this article (link below) by Steve Kolowich, the author asserts: “…the number of students taking at least one online course grew substantially for the ninth straight year,… However, belief among academic deans and faculty that the quality of online education is at least as good as the face-to-face alternative continues to grow in grudgingly small increments, says the survey.” As if the fact that more people are enrolling in online courses is itself evidence that online courses are of high quality, and that it is only a matter of time until deans and faculty become aware of this truth. This is sort of like saying people are eating a lot of fast food and it is only a matter of time until nutritionist come around and start calling it healthy.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/11/09/survey-shows-online-enrollments-have-boomed-doubts-about-online-quality-persist
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