Downturn
So, as you may remember, for the past couple of years I've been in the strange position of being one of the few people who has benefited from the Global Financial Collapse. To briefly recap ...
PREVIOUSLY on CLINTON: THE UNEMPLOYMENT SLAYER:
For the longest time, our department has been two full-time people, my job -- permanent part-time with benefits -- and adjuncts. Todd had my job for nine years. Someone had it before that for longer (I think). The year of the Global Economic Collapse, one of the full-times went on "phased retirement." I became full-time for a year to pick up the slack. We cut our adjuncts by half. Then the GEC meant she had less to retire on, so she "phased" a bit longer to let the market rebound. I got another full-time year to pick up slack, and we dropped all our adjuncts. My boss likes me and wants me full-time. She's been trying approach after approach to make it so. Each time she got a, "Weeeeell, just give us a moment."
Okay, so they still haven't advertised for the phaser's position. Her phasing finishes this year. We have no adjuncts. This year it's just me and my boss, who just today went to the new dean with her plan for next year's teaching load. We'd whittled it down to her, me and an adjunct. It meant losing classes but everyone has had to cut.
"Actually," says the new dean, "we weren't thinking of having Clinton be full-time again next year."
"What?" says my boss. "You mean he's got to go back to 5/7th time with benefits?"
"Actually," says the new dean, "we were thinking of actual par-time with no benefits."
My boss was so cute when she told me about the meeting. "You just don't treat people like this," she said. Of course, I've been on the fringes of the corporate world. I know that this exactly the way you treat people ... every day. Hey, with my history, it's a step up that they weren't talking about shit-canning me right there. Although offering me 2 classes per semester with no benefits might be a sly soft peddle. They're going to advertise for the phaser's position, and I'm welcome to apply, but they want that position to shared with the MLitt/MFA program. (Two profs for the price of one.) That means they'll be most likely looking for a Ph.D.
You see (if I understand this right) in past economic lean times, it turns out that the college dipped into its endowment. Well, with the Global Economic Collapse, the endowment is not as much as it was (and the college wasn't even phasing!). So the bank said, "Hey, you guys suck. Here's your deal. You've got to cut one million dollars from your budget or we're calling in all the loans. That's one mil, and they're gonna split it right down the middle - 500 from academics / 500 from not-academics. And now I'm to do my part to keep the loans from being called in. Whee!
My boss is asking that I at least go to where I was. The new dean says she'll ask the president. Who knows what the president will say. Things are tough all over. What makes me specia?
As for me ... I don't know. Right now I'm blogging about it. We'll see what I do after that.
PREVIOUSLY on CLINTON: THE UNEMPLOYMENT SLAYER:
For the longest time, our department has been two full-time people, my job -- permanent part-time with benefits -- and adjuncts. Todd had my job for nine years. Someone had it before that for longer (I think). The year of the Global Economic Collapse, one of the full-times went on "phased retirement." I became full-time for a year to pick up the slack. We cut our adjuncts by half. Then the GEC meant she had less to retire on, so she "phased" a bit longer to let the market rebound. I got another full-time year to pick up slack, and we dropped all our adjuncts. My boss likes me and wants me full-time. She's been trying approach after approach to make it so. Each time she got a, "Weeeeell, just give us a moment."
Okay, so they still haven't advertised for the phaser's position. Her phasing finishes this year. We have no adjuncts. This year it's just me and my boss, who just today went to the new dean with her plan for next year's teaching load. We'd whittled it down to her, me and an adjunct. It meant losing classes but everyone has had to cut.
"Actually," says the new dean, "we weren't thinking of having Clinton be full-time again next year."
"What?" says my boss. "You mean he's got to go back to 5/7th time with benefits?"
"Actually," says the new dean, "we were thinking of actual par-time with no benefits."
My boss was so cute when she told me about the meeting. "You just don't treat people like this," she said. Of course, I've been on the fringes of the corporate world. I know that this exactly the way you treat people ... every day. Hey, with my history, it's a step up that they weren't talking about shit-canning me right there. Although offering me 2 classes per semester with no benefits might be a sly soft peddle. They're going to advertise for the phaser's position, and I'm welcome to apply, but they want that position to shared with the MLitt/MFA program. (Two profs for the price of one.) That means they'll be most likely looking for a Ph.D.
You see (if I understand this right) in past economic lean times, it turns out that the college dipped into its endowment. Well, with the Global Economic Collapse, the endowment is not as much as it was (and the college wasn't even phasing!). So the bank said, "Hey, you guys suck. Here's your deal. You've got to cut one million dollars from your budget or we're calling in all the loans. That's one mil, and they're gonna split it right down the middle - 500 from academics / 500 from not-academics. And now I'm to do my part to keep the loans from being called in. Whee!
My boss is asking that I at least go to where I was. The new dean says she'll ask the president. Who knows what the president will say. Things are tough all over. What makes me specia?
As for me ... I don't know. Right now I'm blogging about it. We'll see what I do after that.
posted by - caj at 12:27 AM
2 Comments:
So sorry, CJ. This is indeed how the academy treats people (sometimes even w/o GEC's).
It's good that your boss will go to bat for you. If they really want to keep you, she should and they should cough up some benefits. And you should apply for the full time job. Yeah, you don't have the terminal degree, but you now have experience and a foot in the door.
And not to go all Pollyanna on you, but maybe there's a better job out there for you. I hope you take a look. Might not be in Cville. But that's the other sucky aspect of life in the academy: too few jobs in too few places where one would actually wanna live.
Again, so, so sorry.
Ugh. I'm sorry too. It pretty much sucks. But I'm with Carolyn. I hope you apply for the full-time job. You have a relationship with some of these people — and your boss likes you!! That should help a lot. As for them needing a PhD for the position... who knows. My father (a prof) used to claim that an MFA was way more than an MA. You have a lot more experience now than you did when you started the job too.
Anyway, COURAGE!!!
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