Let’s summarize that story on aging tenured radicals, shall we?

What I learned about my profession from this New York Times front-pager by Patricia Cohen:  My profession is graying really fast.  It’s much, much tougher to get a tenure-track/tenured job than it used to be. Many older professors entered the academy because they wanted to change the world through teaching and social action — plus ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

What I learned about my profession from this New York Times front-pager by Patricia Cohen:  My profession is graying really fast.  It's much, much tougher to get a tenure-track/tenured job than it used to be. Many older professors entered the academy because they wanted to change the world through teaching and social action -- plus they liked the lifestyle.  Many younger professors entered the academy because they want to change the world through sophisticated, ground-breaking research -- plus they like the lifestyle.  Many older professors think they're "down" with their younger colleagues; many younger professors wish their older and less productive esteemed colleagues would stop bloviating at faculty meetings retire. This paragraph was particularly interesting: Wisconsin is part of the state’s university’s system, for example, but it receives only 18 percent of its total budget from the Legislature. The rest comes from donations, foundations, federal research grants and corporations. Mr. Wright and Mr. Olneck worry how constantly having a hand out — particularly to corporations — may affect attitudes and policies. Mr. Olneck mentioned the long list of labs and classrooms named after companies like Halliburton, Pillsbury and Ford Motor Company. I understand the concern, but Mr. Wright and Mr. Olneck know that foundations like MacArthur or Koch have their own ideological agendas, right? 

What I learned about my profession from this New York Times front-pager by Patricia Cohen

  1. My profession is graying really fast. 
  2. It’s much, much tougher to get a tenure-track/tenured job than it used to be.
  3. Many older professors entered the academy because they wanted to change the world through teaching and social action — plus they liked the lifestyle.  Many younger professors entered the academy because they want to change the world through sophisticated, ground-breaking research — plus they like the lifestyle. 
  4. Many older professors think they’re “down” with their younger colleagues; many younger professors wish their older and less productive esteemed colleagues would stop bloviating at faculty meetings retire.

This paragraph was particularly interesting:

Wisconsin is part of the state’s university’s system, for example, but it receives only 18 percent of its total budget from the Legislature. The rest comes from donations, foundations, federal research grants and corporations. Mr. Wright and Mr. Olneck worry how constantly having a hand out — particularly to corporations — may affect attitudes and policies. Mr. Olneck mentioned the long list of labs and classrooms named after companies like Halliburton, Pillsbury and Ford Motor Company.

I understand the concern, but Mr. Wright and Mr. Olneck know that foundations like MacArthur or Koch have their own ideological agendas, right? 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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