Max Kennerly — University administrators thes...

Universities being absolutely ghoulish to their students bc the university boards of trustees and donors are disgusting ghouls

Hypervisible @hypervisible.bsky.social

“…some NYU students facing discipline for their actions during this spring’s pro-Palestinian protests have been assigned a 49-page workbook that includes a ‘Simpsons’-based module on ethical decision-making.”

Some NYU students being disciplined for protests must reflect on a ‘Simpsons’ episode: ‘What, if anything, could Lisa have done or thought about to make better decisions?’

One workbook has a section based on an episode of “The Simpsons” in which Lisa uncharacteristically cheats on a test and is wracked by guilt.

fortune.com

19 May

“The one trait all these interest groups [students, faculty, administrators, alumni, donors, and the state] share is a powerful sense of entitlement in telling university presidents and college deans exactly how to do their jobs.”

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social

I wrote grumpy today. Really really really grumpy. All the grumps. danieldrezner.substack.com/p/you-could-...

You Could Not Pay Me Enough to Be a College Administrator

A few thoughts on the utterly thankless task of running an institution of higher education in the 21st century.

danieldrezner.substack.com

13 December 2023

These are largely the same people who are terrified of 15 minute cities and their ability to drive being taken away? Their ability to be scared of absolutely everything is impressive.

As opposed to most nations, which are composed both of their people and the state that is their home.

Would there be a university without students and faculty? They *are* the university. The university is not its BoT, administrators, or donors; their jobs are to facilitate learning, intellectual discussion and debate, and the creative processes core to these. Fin

Public Health has turned out to be to government what Human Resources is to large corporations.

Despite their essential function, and the good intent of their professional staff, the reality is that their agenda and decisions are controlled by more powerful people often with other priorities.

The problem is that University administrators are beholden to their stakeholders, who are not, as one might think, the student body, but rather their bored of directors (I'm going to leave that speech to text error), who are usually very wealthy, law and order types. As always, follow the money.

University presidents' main job is glad-handing alumni, donors, and the car dealership owners and real estate donors who make up their boards of regents. So pandering to people who are full of shit is reflexive for them.

Police are agents of the state and thus are not part the working class. They are distinct from the working class because their "work" is state violence and their purpose is to keep working people in their place.

Nyasha Junior @nyashajunior.bsky.social

Police Unions: What to Know and Why They Don’t Belong in the Labor Movement (2020)

There’s No Room for Police Unions in the Labor Movement

No other union employees are allowed to kill other human beings.

www.teenvogue.com

01 May

The primary constituency of colleges/universities is not Congress or their current students or the public, but their private donors: alums, trustees, corporations. State and federal govt funders come after that. And only then current or prospective students. Donors are pushing repressive actions.

i think it’s fine to enjoy japanese culture even if their history (and a lot of their current politics) are absolutely vile like not all the people of japan are responsible for that and the people are who create the culture

In the case of Texas they are dealing with an actively hostile state government that they are terrified of. And they are also, of curse, worried about their plutocrat bastard donors. But I do think the congressional attacks are spooking university admins too.

#nzpol the government are washing their hands of responsibility for anything that doesn’t enrich them and their donors

Tom @tomcpearce.bsky.social

Private accom w/ 90day no-cause evictions is not a replacement for state housing. It puts our most vulnerable into precarious, low quality housing. The govt is washing their hands of responsibility to ensure everyone has a roof over their heads, so they can hand out more public cash to landlords.

Govt hopes for landlords' help in ending emergency housing

The government plans to bring back 90-day no-cause evictions, and is considering social bonding which would see landlords paid if they keep families out of emergency housing.

www.rnz.co.nz

06 March

Truly, the most vocal of these types are middle-class mfs that learned what politics were in their mid-late 20s and then thought they were intelligent for seeing the government as it is, and all they are capable of is the bloating of their ego and hapless clinging to their moralist ideologies.

This man and the scene's POV character are irrelevant to the wider narrative of SeaBed, but the choice to give us 5 minutes with them is so powerful

Their lives and the most minute stuff in them are everything, to them - it is their world

We must give their worlds the dignity of literature

The mistake here is thinking that their clients are faculty and staff. They are good for administrators who want particular recommendations, not so much for those subjected to those recommendations.

Chris, Keeper of the Sacred Floof @calmicc.bsky.social

I have yet to see any evidence that consulting firms, in any field at all, are actually good for their clients!

22 March

and who are given large stakes to share in the success of their efforts

The truth is they are scared of their dogs. The dogs are large and in charge.

The funny thing is both the University of Texas and University of Florida are among the pinnacle of public schools. Which might be why their respective state governors hate them

People are harmed when they are stripped of their right to self-determination and their state is wiped off the map. That is, itself, a harm.

the people you are extending to are nazis, their domestic policy is nazi, their foreign policy is pro-another country's nazis, they long for the establishment of a nazi state, and their material interests are thoroughly uninteresting to me because they're cunts and they /should/ live dreadfully

Have we reached consensus about why university administrations are coming down so hard on peaceful protests? Is it that they're listening to large donors who are opposed to the protests? Clearly they're out of touch with their students and faculty and must be listening to someone else.

We’re seeing which university Presidents exercise their authority in craven service to trustee investments, and which (any besides Wesleyan so far?) are willing to act in the interests of their students and faculty.

Free speech on campus is protection for faculty and students. Administrators are representatives of the university and have never had the same protections (except in their faculty positions which is why they often “return to the faculty”)