Put teaching before research
Inspired by the situation of Religious Studies Lecturer Dr. Jerome Bauer, in it’s Sept. 29, 2006 issue, Student Life considered the position of lecturers at Wash. U. and concluded that they were a valuable part of a student’s educational experience (“Lecture positions valuable to students”). Student Life has already made the argument, then, that on principle, firing a lecturer in order to upgrade his position to that of a research position should be done only when it is necessary for the department and never when a knowledgeable and well-respected lecturer will have his term cut short. But, even if we ignore previous arguments about the benefits of having lecturers instead of research professors, there are compelling reasons, specific to the case of Jerome Bauer, for the University to reconsider its decision to eliminate this lecturer’s position and save itself from making a mistake that will cost the student body and the University community at large.
The University administration, no doubt, believes that changing Bauer’s position to that of a research professor will improve its religious studies department and views this move as an improvement that ought to be celebrated. In some ways, the administration is correct. The benefits of having a researcher involve potential opportunities for students and align perfectly with the criteria for improving the school’s U.S. News & World Report college ranking. But, while increasing the school’s ranking may be beneficial, the best education for students and best decisions for the University do not always fit into the rigid requirements of a ranking equation. These decisions are unique to each situation and instead of just considering Bauer’s career as a position within the school, the administration needs to look specifically at Bauer and determine whether or not releasing him is more beneficial for the school than retaining him as a lecturer.
Bauer is a special asset to the Wash. U. community. His past course evaluations are incredibly high, particularly in the areas evaluating his interaction with students and students having taken his classes report learning a lot. Even more impressive evidence of his effect on student’s lives has been the fact that a generally apathetic student body, (only a small portion of students take the time to log onto WebSTAC to vote in school elections) has circulated a petition, signed by around 500 students, to keep Bauer at this school. Students at this school believe he makes a difference.
However, Bauer is not only concerned with his students. He has shown his commitment and dedication to the school by concerning himself with several campus issues ranging from the Student Worker Alliance to the co-op to the University’s silence on an alleged sexual assault by one of its faculty. In a climate where lots of the faculty are either afraid or unwilling to engage in discussing campus issues, particularly when it is appropriate to be critical of the administration, Bauer has called for the University to change its course of action and has asked written letters in which he creates plans for an ideal University. Essentially, he has taken leadership in quest to change the educational practices of this school in ways that are beneficial to students. Those who disagree with his opinions are benefited at the very least by the stimulus he has provided the University community to re-evaluate its opinions on education.
Through his concern for students and concern for the University as a whole, Bauer has proven himself a valuable asset to the community. The benefits of such a voice seem to be overlooked and underappreciated within the confines of the administration’s current decision-making practice. While there may be value to adding another research position to the religious studies department, the value Wash. U. would lose in its loss of a unique member of its community, a member who has been actively involved in pursuing the good of the community in a way few others have been, negates the hard benefits of a researcher. For the sake of the University community as a whole, Wash. U. needs to re-evaluate its decision to remove the position of Jerome Bauer.
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On February 25, 2010 at 3:25 pm Jerome Bauer said
Thank you, Student Life, for your endorsement! When this was published, in spring 07, I lost no time in posting a comment to the discussion board, thanking the editorial board for their endorsement, but insisting that if it applied only to me and not to lecturer’s policy reform in general, little of lasting value would have been accomplished. This comment was deleted when the online format changed.
Also, the title should have been “Put teaching before publication of research,” because good teachers do just as much research as anybody else, for our students’ benefit. My students sometimes have a hard time getting used to me being their research assistant, and not the other way around.
Please see the Facebook group, “Reform Lecturer’s Policy,” http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3598950403&ref=ts
On November 8, 2010 at 5:04 pm Jerome Bauer said
Here is Student Life’s endorsement of my continued employment by WashU. I thanked the Editorial Board for their endorsement but insisted upon linking my special case to all other Lecturers, lest nothing of lasting value be accomplished (my comment was wiped when the studlife format changed, Autumn 08). I thus shot down my special case (as potential poster boy for partially disabled rights) and subjected myself to three years of living hell. I would do it all over again. We need a real teaching track. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, and make it happen this time.
A few weeks ago I received a polite acknowledgment of my application and CV, for the position of Director of the John Danforth Center for the Study of Religion and Politics, although the new ArtSci Dean knows perfectly well I did not apply for that position. I applied only for my Lecturer’s job back, with improved job security and my HEALTH CARE benefits restored, and a ten percent pay cut from my 06-07 salary, in emulation of the worthy example set by our Chancellor Wrighton, if I could be sure that the money saved would be used for low income scholarships. This has been my consistent position, as they know very well. Thanks for the courtesy! I will thank you even more for a paycheck.
I received last Spring a polite letter from Daniel Bornstein, new Chair of Religious Studies, acknowledging receipt of the same material, and thanking me for my continued interest in “working for us,” but expressing sincere doubt that the Administration would be likely to give them another Lectureship. Thank you, Professor Bornstein, for your honest assessment of your political situation. You abused the last Lecturer you had, didn’t you? And the one before that? Not you personally, but your predecessors. Please see http://www.cfu-lc.com/victory.htm
Please support a reformed Lecturer’s Policy and fairer deals for adjuncts, here and everywhere.
Lecturer Dr. Jerome Bauer
Acting Chair (officially “point person”), Program in Religious Studies, 2002-2003 (as the war began…)
per veritatem vis
On November 24, 2010 at 12:35 am Jerome Bauer said
“…letters in which he creates plans for an ideal University” probably refers to this letter, not published by Student Life but widely distributed as a flyer posted all over campus, and as a discussion post on the Facebook group, “Washington University of Utopia,” http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13991699510&ref=ts
Washington University of Utopia (originally submitted as an op-ed for WashU’s student newspaper, Student Life, in Autumn 2006)
Washington University in St Louis is in turmoil, over harassment scandals, unjust termination of faculty and staff, and student complaints about our complex, politicized, computerized curriculum. One faculty member has called for mass resignations, from Chancellor Wrighton on down. Let’s seize this opportunity for renewal and fundamental reform. Let’s all come down from our castles and apologize to each other for all our transgressions, as the Jains do each year. Let’s then submit our resignations, and reorganize, as Washington University of Utopia.
Let’s grant all faculty and administrators in the College equal rank. Everybody would have three titles: Lecturer, Assistant Dean, and Advisor. I look forward to clasping hands with Assistant Dean Wrighton, Lecturer in the College, as an equal! Let’s abolish tuition in the College, Let the alumni pay, and let students make voluntary donations, with a money back guarantee. Let’s abolish grades in all the ideological disciplines, replacing them with detailed letters of evaluation (public or private, according to the students’ choice). Let’s abolish Departments in the College, to eliminate petty turf wars. We could replace them with four Divisions: Humanities, Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, and a fifth Division for Individualized and Cooperative Studies. Everybody would be expected to take some courses in each Division, as a matter of courtesy at least, but most courses would be cross-listed with at least one other Division. Let’s expand the existing Focus programs into divisional Common Core courses, required for all students before anyone is allowed to specialize. Let’s rededicate our College to the liberal arts, putting education above professional training.
Let’s keep the Graduate Schools hierarchically organized, and divided into many autonomous Departments, in order best to teach disciplinary culture, politics, and professor craft. These Departments would be free to fight turf wars, and anathematize each other, for the greater glory of Washington University of Utopia, and for the entertainment of the whole community. Tuition would be charged to discourage students with no true vocation for scholarship. However, generous fellowships would be available, especially for students of special talent and limited means, and every PhD would come with a money back guarantee. Graduate students would be free to arrange their own classes, in consultation with the faculty, who would always be accessible to their students.
This may sound utopian, but most of these proposals work well at other schools. Many Bible Colleges, for example Central Christian College in Missouri, have abolished tuition for students living on campus. When this was announced, enrollment doubled and alumni donations surged. Many European universities, and Penn’s Sanskrit program, use a tutorial model, allowing students to arrange their own courses in close consultation with their professors. Robert Maynard Hutchins organized the College of the University of Chicago in four collegiate divisions, plus a fifth New Collegiate Division for experimental programs (the graduate schools also follow this model). His books, including The University of Utopia, describe his educational philosophy, “the life of the mind.”
Utopia means “no place,” but we can make “Washington University of Utopia” a real place, a topos, just by working with the system we have. Why double major? This is usually just asking for frustration. Why not take what interests you, using the ‘pass/fail” option freely? Why not create your own Special Major, formally or informally? I was an informal “Civilizational Studies” major in college, and I asked noboby’s permission. Be creative! This is a great school, with potential to be much better if we all take the initiative. Don’t ask permission, you don’t need it. It’s your education.
NOTE: in Spring 07 this flyer, posted outside Holmes Lounge, directly in front of the security camera that everybody knows about, was twice defaced. The first time the phrase “Start with Hitler in the library” was scrawled in the margin next to my call for mutual apology and reconciliation in the Jain style. This was probably a reference to our Social Thought Reading Group’s selection of William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, discussed in the WashU CoOp Library, based in my house. I pulled it down and replaced the flyer, and a week later the fresh flyer was defaced with “Fire Hitler in the library.” My call for enhancement of the Focus program provoked a “Yes” in the margin. I complained to the University and claimed the right to view the surveillance tape. I received no reply.
On November 24, 2010 at 2:11 am Jerome Bauer said
PS to my comment about “Washington University of Utopia”: I sent that op-ed to several colleagues, Vice Chancellors, and Chancellor Wrighton himself, before I posted it all over campus just before the Christmas break, Autumn 06. I received at my home address a Christmas card from Chancellor Wrighton, addressed to “Jerome Bauer, Lecturer.” No job title could be more honorable. I have received no such card before or since. That was a special courtesy, especially appreciated. Thank you!