Gordon Haber

Writer, editor, mediocre guitarist

Tag: adjuncting

The Soothing Stroke of the Invisible Hand

Some time ago I begged people to stop writing stupid things about adjuncts, because I am unable to stop myself from responding and thus I take time away from writing for money. Therefore every time you write something stupid about adjuncts, you are taking food from my child’s mouth. Today my hackles have been raised […]

Adjuncts! It’s Your Own Damn Fault! That Arrogant Libertarian Troll is Absolutely Right!

It is your fault! The arrogant libertarian troll (aka Jason Brennan) argues that (1) adjuncts should have known what the risks were and how bad the system is and (2) they have better options. In other words, adjuncts, it’s your own damn fault. Adjuncts should have known how hard it is to get a decent […]

National Adjunct Walkout Day 2015 FAQ!

    What is National Adjunct Walkout Day? Today, adjuncts throughout this great land will be doing teach-ins, slow-downs and yes, walking out. Not because they’re greedy or lazy or they want something for nothing. They simply want to be paid a fair wage. OK, what is an adjunct? An adjunct is a professional college […]

Adjuncts in Space!

There’s a fascinating piece in The Economist this week on how satellites search for planets. Not surprisingly, it’s an expensive endeavor—one French satellite cost about $220m; an American one cost $600m. And both satellites are now, of course, defunct. Four graduate students from Germany’s Stuttgart University have a better idea. They want to utilize more […]

More Thinky Thoughts from Tepid Academics

Generally I don’t respond to comments. More often than not they’re nasty (you should see what people say when I write about Israel) and it’s not like I am going to change anyone’s mind. But I want to make a quick response to the following comment, which appeared on 3quarksdaily’s reblog of HippoRead’s reblog of […]

The Collected Works of Gordon Haber (on Adjuncting)

  Welcome, wilkommen, bienvenue, come on in! Last week, to my surprise, my Writer’s Manifesto went modestly viral (more like a slight cold than Ebola). So while I have your attention, I want to do some awareness-raising about the plight of adjuncts. Not that I really like the idea of “raising awareness,” because said raising […]

Even More Adjunct Horror Stories

1. Alice Doesn’t Work Here Anymore I left my adjunct teaching position in the middle of last semester for a job offer I received after a year of searching—applying for positions like academic advising, admissions recruiting, community education with non-profit organization, and reception at a massage therapy clinic. (This is what the job market in […]

How to Think Like an Administrator (Part Deux)

  Once again I want to stress that my intention is not to undermine experienced organizers, who know a lot more than I do, or to talk down to my colleagues. I was inspired to write these posts because (a) I’ve been seeing a lot of distracting discussion about rhetoric and (b) in my experience […]

Thinky Thoughts on Neo-Liberalism (and an Admission of Hypocrisy)

This morning Al Jazeera ran an op-ed from one Tarak Barkawi, who teaches at the New School here in my beloved New York City.* Barkawi is rightfully upset about the “neoliberal assault on academia” — meaning the reliance on contingent labor, the budget-slashing and the combining or shutting down of entire departments. It’s an interesting […]

How to Think Like an Administrator (Part 1 of 2)

I will preface this post by emphasizing that I don’t want to be trollish or to undervalue the hard work of activists. I know that adjuncts have many experienced negotiators and organizers on their side. And I am excited, even gleeful, at the possibility of making life difficult for those who have been screwing over […]

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