no comment

A visitor asks

How do you feel about the Universities decision to stop requiring the SAT or ACT to get in?

Because I am not real faculty and have no long term job security, I have made it a policy not to have opinions on a number of local issues, including

1. The weakening of the use of standardized tests in admissions

2. The gutting of all privacy policies regarding university computers.

3. The decision to go to a grade scale with .25 incriments.

I am strongly tempted to pontificate on all these issues, but since I have no long term commitment from the university, thinking about them would be a waste of effort for me.

One of the reasons employers in all businesses constantly strive to reduce job security precisely to force decisions like the one I have made. The less the employee feels secure in their job, the less likely they are to bother to push for changes in the way the jobsite is run. The motivation isn't just fear of being fired (which I am well past) but the simple fact that there is no point in developing worthwhile arguments and plans of action if you are going to be on the other side of the country in a year.

Not that I think that SLU in particular is intentionally pursing a policy of hiring temps to disenfranchise the profesoriate. Rather, this is one of the factors motivating the industry-wide move to use only temporary faculty.