The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — Hard-working faculty at colleges and universities naturally bristle when outsiders accuse them of occupying an ivory-tower or being out of touch with ordinary folks. Like most jobs, instructing college students is a lot tougher than it looks to people who’ve never done it. The education and preparation that go into teaching a three-hour course in just about any subject are no walk in the park.
Still, angry faculty members at Indiana Sate University would do well to temper their public complaints about the effects they will be suffering from deep cuts in the university’s budget.
True, to a tenured professor, last week’s announcement by ISU Provost Jack Maynard is a very big deal: Teaching loads will be increased considerably, cutting into valuable research time, and most sabbaticals will be suspended for a year. Run those hardships by most struggling workers in other fields, however, and the sympathy level will be minimal. Those folks will point out that the ISU faculty members still have jobs with great health care and retirement benefits and that they are now simply experiencing what millions of Americans have endured during this recession — the grinding reality of doing more work for the same (or less) money.
No argument, it’s a rotten state of affairs, but it is a common state these days. As most people have learned, the only graceful response is to suck it up and confine the complaints to the ears of one’s colleagues.
