CSU Faculty Voice: This is How We Spend Our Time

Friday, August 31, 2012

This is How We Spend Our Time

I have just finished writing a draft of my discipline’s response to Watson’s comments on our rejected DAC. The peevish and petulant posture adopted in his DAC response by our purported president propagated a dazzling parade of preposterous perorations and propositions. Of course, I had to respond to them.

His comments are overwhelmingly disingenuous, incorrect, or just plain uninformed. In several places Watson’s letter conflates contractual conditions of employment with criteria for promotion, tenure, and retention, ignores the contract outright, or misstates specific sections. His comments and questions about the DACs are often based on erroneous readings (or willful distortions). His comments and questions about research demonstrate a woeful lack of knowledge about how scholars in the social sciences or humanities conduct research.

What a monumental waste of time.

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Thanks to Haki Madhabuti

"1. He/she must be a scholar of national note, with significant peer review publications and books in his or her field. There must be no doubt as to his/her standing in the community of scholars. This would also include a history of the candidate’s participation in the appropriate professional organizations.

2. He/she must have served with distinction as the administrative head of a major unit within an institution of higher learning or at the important position of Provost and/or Dean. Of course, prior service at the presidential level is preferred.

3. He/she must have a documented history of raising significant monies from the private and public sectors. At most major and research one universities it is not unusual to expect the president to come with a plan to raise in excess of half a billion dollars or more in the first few years.

4. The prospective president must have a consensus buy-in from the faculty, students, administration and staff, therefore, arriving with a unity mandate to lead by joining a University community that has bought into his or her vision for the future."

From an open letter to the CSU Community, 2009.