Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Another Case of Repression at Ivy Tech

The case at Ivy Tech Community College shows how academic freedom and academic standards are deeply tied together. Here, an adjunct was fired for trying to increase academic standards by going beyond the textbook. The danger of standardization is a dumbing down of expectations, and that's precisely what happened at Ivy Tech. Giving individual faculty authority over their classrooms tends to raise standards, not lower them.

At Inside Higher Ed, "Mr. T" makes the comment, "AAUP Comments Suspect. Ivy Tech is not unionized and does not offer tenure. No wonder the AAUP is 'concerned'... about those potential union dues. Their position on this issue reveals their true agenda."
Mr. T's snide comment that the AAUP only cares about union dues is both stupid and wrong. The AAUP rarely seeks to unionize at community colleges (I wish it did). But clearly, Ivy Tech faculty need a union to protect them from an administration this bad.

No comments: