Adjunct professors unionize, revealing deeper malaise in higher ed

[llmart]

24. Yes, that is a problem we face also.....

There is no easy solution to it either. We have quite a few older professors, even one in his 80's, who for varying reasons will not retire, though the union contract has tried to deal with the issue by offering more incentives for them to retire. I don't want to paint the issue with a broad brushstroke here and have to qualify my comments by first saying that I'm one of those "70'ish women" you speak of, though I'm in faculty administration, not a professor. The main reason we're given for most of the older professors who won't retire is that they have never built a life outside of their career and cannot fathom not getting up and going to work every day. The money is no longer an incentive for them, so telling them that we'll offer them a payout bonus to leave doesn't make any difference. We also have a few who have kept current over all these years and are excellent teachers, but I would say the majority of those who have been there 45+ years are just going through the motions.

Having said that though there are just as many in administration that haven't kept current themselves and I work for one of them. She is actually younger than I am and is able to get by on her b.s. and schmoozing with almost zero technology skills.

I feel the students are getting ripped off in many ways because the money goes into marketing and the top 1% of the organization and not in recruiting new, exciting professors.