ACADEMIA
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD - The law school at Seton Hall
University has put its untenured faculty on legal notice that their contracts
may not be renewed for the 2014-15 academic year. The firings of these seven
individuals are not certain, depending on the outcome of other steps the administration
will try to bring the budget in balance.
The situation at Seton Hall is representative of many other
non-elite law schools. According to the Faculty Senate: firing untenured faculty is a shortsighted approach to managing an
academic budget. It encroaches on an important principle of academic
freedom, namely that a tenure decision should be based on the merit of the
case, not the budget of the department.
Seton Hall’s decision to allow budget considerations to affect
tenure outcomes sets an interesting precedent. Law professors, economists and
other academics are often called to testify in front of Congress, and academic
research is often used to shape legal policy. Academic views are respected
precisely because they are free from economic pressures; academics are not
beholden to clients. If universities tie tenure decisions to department
budgets, deans will be tempted to think about pleasing alumni in determining
whom to tenure and whom to let go.
Across the country, law school enrollment has declined as
prospective students respond to dismal employment prospects. Seton Hall has
slashed its tuition by more than half for well-qualified students, to about
$22,000 from $47,000, matching the in-state tuition rate at Rutgers. While
reducing class size and lowering tuition is the right response to weak
employment prospects, it obviously leaves a hole in the budget.
Neither law schools in particular nor universities in
general are well designed to deal with fluctuating revenue. Academic budgets
have high fixed costs, largely attributable to the salaries of tenured
professors. Budgets have exploded with increases in administrative staff,
information technology staff, and health care and pension costs.
During the fat years for legal education — a long run from
the 1980s until 2008 — law schools raised tuition, raised salaries and expanded
faculty and staff in a race to improve or maintain rankings in U.S. News and
World Report.
Adjustments are needed, and Seton Hall’s decision to focus
on untenured faculty might appear to make sense. But there is another side to
this decision making - Hiring faculty is a unique process intended to separate
outside influence and budgetary considerations from the assessment of merit.
Deans should and do look at the budget to determine whether to create a new
faculty “line” in the first place. Once they make that decision, however,
professors, not administrators, decide who gets hired and who eventually gets
tenure. The decision is based on peer-reviewed academic merit, not the
preferences of deans or budget officers (or venture capitalists or real estate
developers).
As a legal matter, budget concerns can be relevant to
staffing decisions in extreme circumstances. Even tenured faculty can be fired
without cause in the event of a severe financial circumstance known as
financial exigency. A declaration of financial exigency requires more than the
usual tight budget; it requires an imminent financial crisis that threatens the
institution as a whole.
There are better ways to shrink a law school budget. The
size of the tenure-track faculty can shrink by retirement and attrition, not
involuntary termination. Post-tenure review (by faculty, not administrators)
can ensure that faculty members remain productive. Libraries can be moved
online. Clinics can be closed, and adjunct faculty can be better utilized to
team-teach practical courses alongside research faculty. The size of the
administrative staff can be pared down, especially those who manage programs
that might be considered luxuries. Lots
of luck.
REAL ESTATE - Nearly 10 million
U.S. households are underwater on their mortgages and a similar number don’t
have enough equity in their homes to pay the selling costs, a new Zillow report
shows.
SEATTLE APPROVES $15 MIN WAGE - The
Seattle City Council ... unanimously approved a $15 minimum wage, creating a path
over the next seven years to provide the city's lowest-paid workers the
nation's highest minimum wage. Fast-food workers, union organizers and labor
activists celebrated on the City Hall Plaza after the historic vote with cake
and ice cream provided by some local small businesses who joined in support of
a plan that will phase-in the $15 minimum over the next seven years. ...
The speed with which the measure went from
political slogan to economic reality surprised even advocates, whose campaign
emphasized the high cost of living in Seattle and the low pay of even full-time
minimum wage workers who currently earn about $19,300 a year. The election of
socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant in November provided pressure from
the left. Her organization, 15 Now, made raising the minimum wage a political
rallying cry and convinced many business leaders to work for a compromise
proposal.
COLLEGE
CHRONICLES – This cartoon is a good example of the state of
the Higher Education class room these days:
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Jim Belushi (60), Former President George H.W. Bush (90),
Elizabeth Hurley (49), Sasha Obama (13), Tara Lipinski (32), Prince Philip
(93).
CLUB
SPORTS: GOOD OR BAD? - Stealing home: In Little League's 75th
year, coaching dad David Mendell worries that travel teams are undermining
community baseball" -- David Mendell, a freelance writer and former
reporter for the Chicago Tribune, coaches Oak Park Youth Baseball outside
Chicago : "To rise in rankings and win tournaments, some teams, especially
in warm climates, play nearly year-round, competing in as many as 120 games per
year, more than most minor league players. Travel ball is not new - it's been
around for a couple of decades. But participation in full-time travel baseball
has exploded in recent years. ... In 2000, Atlanta's first All-American Wood
Bat Classic tournament opened with about a dozen teams. This Memorial Day
weekend, nearly 100 squads from half a dozen states will descend on fields
throughout metropolitan Atlanta ... Players range ... from 8 to 14.
"Rebecca Davis , executive director of the
Atlanta-based Youth Amateur Travel Sports Association, estimates that there are
tens of thousands of travel teams in Georgia and Florida alone. ... Little
League enrollment has declined 20 percent since its peak in 1997, from 3
million to 2.4 million. ... 2.4 million players hardly suggests that community
leagues are disappearing. And many ... travel team players also play on their
local teams. ... Travel ball ... participation fees average about $2,000 per
player ... Some travel ballplayers resemble professional athletes ... [going]
from one travel team to another, ... with the name splashed across the front of
the jersey usually signifying something other than their home town.
THE SWAMI’S
WEEK TOP PICKS –
NHL
Stanley Cup Playoffs: Stanley Cup winner – Los Angeles Kings in
six over the New York Rangers.
NBA
Playoffs: Championship winner – San Antonio Spurs in seven over the
Miami Heat.
2014 Season
to date (36-31)
WORLD
CUP – Brazil to beat Spain in the World Cup Final.
MARKET
WEEK
- The Dow is only about 75 points of 17,000, while the S&P is about 50
points from the 2,000 mark with both coming off record closing highs Friday.
The Dow and S&P are also coming off their first three-week winning streaks
of 2014.
DRIVING THE WEEK - Increasing
numbers of young Americans are heading to college, where they're racking up
debt to pay for rapidly increasing tuition costs. Those graduating are being
confronted by a challenging jobs market, which eventually leads many to just
drop out of the labor force altogether. This in turn has led to an increasing
delinquency rate for student loan borrowers.
So, it's no surprise that young people are
increasingly opting, perhaps out of necessity, to live at home with their
parents.
Next
week: Summer movies, summer cocktails, and summer deserts.
Until Next Monday, Adios.
Claremont, CA
June 10, 2014
#V-8, 217
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