Ohio legislator: public education is socialism, so let’s privatize everything

In a blog post, Ohio state representative Andrew Brenner (R) asserts that “public education is socialism.”  Insofar as he uses the wikipedia definition of socialism and notes that public education is publicly owned, he’s not necessarily wrong.  Brenner goes on to blame public ownership of schools for what he perceives as the evil of teachers’ […]

More than neglect: an era of partisan attack on higher ed

A week later, some folks are still stunned by the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s “An Era of Neglect,” which offers a long-term view of states’ retreat from funding higher education.  Two thoughts come to mind.  The first is that anyone who really was shocked, or even surprised, probably hasn’t been paying attention much.  But what’s […]

Privatization: Not “cutting costs,” merely externalizing them

One of the continuing myths of the privatization craze in higher education is that outsourcing functions results in lower costs.  Here’s BGSU my august university’s president on the recent deal to privatize flight instruction, as reported in the Sentinel-Tribune: President Mary Ellen Mazey told the trustees that this is the kind of collaboration with outside […]

One way to make privatization pay: cheat

In my previous post, I noted that my august university has decided to boondoggle outsource privatize another teaching function, in this case, aviation instruction, through the hiring of North Star Aviation and, presumably, moving university employees to North Star. Part of how outsourcing can be economically feasible is through paying employees less.  Of course, it […]

Q: When is faculty not faculty? A. When universities privatize teaching

BGSU (my august employer) is once again privatizing teaching.  This time, it’s flight instruction for the College of Technology’s aviation program.  In this case, a company call North Star will be building and maintaining facilities and doing flight instruction; BGSU faculty will continue the classroom functions, credentialing, etc.  There are the usual quotes from bigwigs […]