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[GroovyOldDude]

Quote from the article:

*"They seem to have the attitude that they have the Ph.D.'s or doctorates and they know better than the legislators or the taxpayers," says Rep. Stephen L. Nass, a Republican.*


Well, no s*@#, Sherlock.

[ungroovy dude]

The legislature pays your salary--if you find that an unsatisfactory situation, why don't you find another job?  If you accept a paycheck from an organization that you despise--well what does that say about you?

[anon]

The legislature does not pay my salary. The public pays my salary. I pay the legislators' salaries.

GroovyOldDude - Do you teach religious studies, by chance? I just noticed your initials are G.O.D.

cheers.

[%sig%]

[who pays your salary?]

Read your state constitution. Do you go about town with a tin cup?  The legislature pays your salary--which is probably a good thing for you.  If humanities professors had to depend on plebiscites for their wages . . . .

[citation?]

Could you please provide a link to the article?  I would be interested in reading it.   Thank you.

[Claudia]

It's a completely ridiculous statement that all state employees have to agree with all elected members of the administration at all times, or take their hats and leave.

And yes, I do think quite often that those politicians elected into office do not know best, or even worse, they don't even care to know what is best because their decisions are not aimed at serving the common interest anyway.

[jjg]

Groovy's attitude is exactly why some legislators and those in the business world think academics are over-educated idiots, out of touch with the real world, who are, at best, a barely tolerated and largely dispised nuisance.  Having a PhD (which I have) means virtually nothing about one's intelligence or competence.  Some PhDs are intelligent, insightful, and bring much-needed expertise and knowledge to issues.  Many are mediocre.  Some are completely incompetent in their own and any other field.  And some, like Groovy, have started believing their own press - always a mistake.  Frankly I'd rather trust policy decisions to people picked at random off the street rather than most of my colleagues in the academy.

[anon]

Most academics don't want to be accountable to anyone's subjective opinion OR any quantifiable data regarding their own performance. Sorry, but this just isn't realistic.  Someone signs the check.

[to Claudia]

"It's a completely ridiculous statement that all state employees have to agree with all elected members of the administration at all times, or take their hats and leave.

And yes, I do think quite often that those politicians elected into office do not know best, or even worse, they don't even care to know what is best because their decisions are not aimed at serving the common interest anyway."

Who would argue such a thing?  No one can reasonably expect professors to agree all the time with the legislature or governor, etc.  The original poster expressed contempt for the organization that pays his salary: that is silly and pointless--and stupid also.  For starters, what in the mother of pearl does he expect from a legislature?  What you have is a collection of small town lawyers and political hacks rubbing elbows with highly principled and civic-minded men and women, and sometimes the latter make decisions that make them scarcely distinguishable from the former.   And I wouldn't put too much stock in the idea that professors are disinterested and wise: there are enough knaves, tomfools, and other species of kooks & cranks occupying tenured positions that pretty much guarantee an antagonism--sometimes but not always latent--between them and legislators and their constituents.

[Bookish]

I believe that many state universities now have less than half of their operating budget provided by taxpayer money, if that is what you mean by "the legislature." Does anyone (econ anon?) have a link to those sorts of figures? In other words, the state (not the legislature) may contribute to my salary, but it doesn't pay for most of it.

Although I've only skimmed the article, it does sound like there have been some real administrative snafus at U.W., which is too bad because in the political free-for-all we (any state u. academic) may all lose our cover for fights over curriculum, hiring, and academic freedom -- things that really matter and that the faculty really should be in charge of.

[history grrrl]

Steve Nass is one of the most right-wing legislators in the state, and his entire political agenda is anti-"the public." (To cite just two examples, he's been a leader in the fight against raising the state minimum wage, now a whopping $5.15, and he actually introduced a legislative resolution to bar Prof. Ward Churchill from speaking at the UW campus in his area.) His comment doesn't surprise me, but be aware that it reflects a larger set of policy goals.

Aside from that -- I hate to sound elitist, but here goes -- some of these guys are not the sharpest tacks in the drawer.

[%sig%]

[to hg]

Minimum wage laws actually lower employment possibilities for the very people they are supposedly enacted to help; as for Ward Churchill: why should the university invite, and so endorse, a fraud and a kook?  That the professors and administration at UW would invite such a person argues against the idea that they know the common good better than legislatures.

[Retain the Null]

ungroovy dude wrote:

> The legislature pays your salary--if you find that an
> unsatisfactory situation, why don't you find another job?  If
> you accept a paycheck from an organization that you
> despise--well what does that say about you?

Please stop feeding the trolls! It's Thanksgiving for goodness sake!

[GroovyOldDude]

anon wrote:

> The legislature does not pay my salary. The public pays my
> salary. I pay the legislators' salaries.
>
> GroovyOldDude - Do you teach religious studies, by chance? I
> just noticed your initials are G.O.D.
>
> cheers.
>


Hi anon.  No, I do not teach religious studies. History and politics mixed with a little philosophy are my teaching areas.

The initials are purely coincidence.  I never noticed until someone on the boards pointed this out, back in the Spring semester I believe it was.

I also think that my off-the-cuff attempt at a witticism was misinterpreted by some.  My point to the good legislator from Wisconsin is that, yes indeed, the people with the Phds and doctorates DO know more than you do about how to run their institutions.  I'll tell ya, when you get legislatures filled with people who are not adequately informed and educated as to  what the important issues are in public schools and in higher ed., and what the true purpose of an education should be,  you get a lot of silliness.  Kansas being a current example.

[GroovyOldDude]

jjg wrote:

> Groovy's attitude is exactly why some legislators and those in
> the business world think academics are over-educated idiots,
> out of touch with the real world, who are, at best, a barely
> tolerated and largely dispised nuisance.  

I stand by my original point.  The professors know best how to run an institution of higher education.  



> And some, like Groovy, have started believing
> their own press - always a mistake.  

Interesting.  I have no press coverage in which to believe.



>Frankly I'd rather trust
> policy decisions to people picked at random off the street
> rather than most of my colleagues in the academy.

Not I.  I know too many of the random people off of the street.