In Praise of “Personnel”

I heard a speaker at a recent conference remark that university life changed when the “Office of Personnel” transformed into the “Department of Human Resources.” The change, he opined, meant that the “person” was jettisoned and converted into a “resource.”

I often stand amazed at how frequently academe treats employees like some sort of consumable resource. Adjuncts who are ground into dust, housekeeping staff workers who are denied benefits, even entry-level faculty members who are tossed into the classroom with little preparation.

How is it that an environment so saturated with high ideals can harbor such a cynical view of workers?