Tony Palmeri posted this link to the COLS list--students at Eau Claire make a nice symbolic gesture to support their professors by offering to help with salaries out of their own segregated fees.
This is part of a broader discussion on our list about the misperceptions about faculty salaries in the UW system. The public and the legislature operates under the assumption that we are making big bucks. Outside of a few high fliers at Madison, we make a decent living, but we are never going to get rich being college professors.
The life of the mind drew us, not the financial incentive. Administrators and legislators both like to take advantage of our idealism . . .
JS Online: Eau Claire student fee would fund pay raises
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2 comments:
Since when does fourteen students constitute a groundswell of student support? Looks to me like a bunch of student government kids who bought the administration line lock, stock and barrel.
For someone who ran for office last year advocating a tuition freeze, it's telling that Palmeri would be the one circulating an article about students funding faculty pay directly. I hope UWO students get reminded of this next fall, if he runs again.
I am not sure why it would be a bad thing for students to appreciate the plight of college professors in Wisconsin. Their education is tied up in having high-quality universities and instructors. If student government representatives at Eau Claire want to send a message to legislators and the Regents, this is a good thing.
We like students to be aware of what the legislature is doing to their institutions while raising their tuitions. This is a sign that some are taking note.
As for Palmeri, I am sure his position was (and is) similar to mine. Tuition-freeze would be a great thing for college students. However, this is not a zero-sum game. The freeze must take place in the context of decent investment from Madison. If legislators would accept that having quality, reasonably-priced higher education is critical for the success of the state as a whole, tuition would not be going up.
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