Imagine, a fable:
Underwater Basketweaving hired a new non-teaching person recently to do reed and materials work and preparation.
There were a surprising number of candidates, and some from our campus with similar jobs; someone in the regular basketweaving department, someone in underwater studies, another from agriculture and turf studies. They'd surely be able to do the job. Other campus candidates were less qualified.
UB hired someone from off campus, from another underwater basketweaving field, with good experience, a great attitude, and super references.
So, the search chair sent out an email to the candidates who didn't get the job, the usual regrets, many fine candidates, and so forth. All of it true.
And then one of the on campus people, one of the less-qualified on campus people, someone who'd worked in raising frogs for the biology department, emailed to ask who'd gotten the job.
What do you do with that? It seems wrong to ask, doesn't it? And yet, once the person starts, it's not like it's going to be a secret who they are.
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
Imagining Benefits
Back before the latest budget crisis, our union, the one that's not allowed to bargain collectively on our behalf, sent out a questionnaire about benefits. Basically, they were asking what benefits we union folks would want the union to argue for.
The thing about benefits is that they cost money, along with salaries, and so the balance here has been that we've had lower than average salaries (compared to our peer institutions in the region) for pretty decent benefits.
We're all mutually subsidizing our basic health insurance, for example, to the tune of $650 or more a year (that's the last number I remember, but it's probably gone up), though we also pay for our health insurance. Similarly, we're all covered by basic life insurance at the same rate, and only pay more if we want higher coverage. We also have a state pension (which we contribute to), and have access to a 403B plan (which the state organizes and makes available, but doesn't contribute directly to).
Some benefits are only available to some people, and so the rest of us subsidize those benefits. People who have a spouse or children covered on their health insurance pay a higher rate for that coverage, but it's still mostly subsidized. (That is, instead of the university putting in $650 for the second person, it puts in $550 or so. The second and more people added cost another $150 or so for the employee.) Those of us who don't have spouses or kids don't benefit, but we're contributing.
There's also subsidized daycare (more subsidy for students, less for employees), which only people with little children use. And so on.
Employees can also get spouses and kids a campus card so that they can use the facilities such as the swimming pool and such, and also take city buses that the campus pays the city so that campus people (students, employees, etc) can ride "free."
The list of imagined benefits the union suggested were mostly things like free or reduced tuition for kids and such.
Now I don't usually think about what benefits I'd like beyond health insurance, but here goes:
What benefits might one wish for?
Are there benefits one might wish for that would be accessible to everyone, and not just people who have spouses or dependents?
My idea would be to give every employee a "pot" of benefit money after basic health insurance and such, and let them decide which benefit to fund, health insurance for a spouse or dependent(s), day care, or a contribution to, say, a 403b type account or to paying off student loans.
Let's imagine that the additional money averages out to $400 a month. People with spouses or dependents could put that towards health insurance, though they'd have to also put in more than they do now. But people who don't have spouses or dependents and who now subsidize those who do could instead get help with student loans or retirement. (And for single people, who won't have a potential second income to help with such things, that can make a big difference.)
The thing about benefits is that they cost money, along with salaries, and so the balance here has been that we've had lower than average salaries (compared to our peer institutions in the region) for pretty decent benefits.
We're all mutually subsidizing our basic health insurance, for example, to the tune of $650 or more a year (that's the last number I remember, but it's probably gone up), though we also pay for our health insurance. Similarly, we're all covered by basic life insurance at the same rate, and only pay more if we want higher coverage. We also have a state pension (which we contribute to), and have access to a 403B plan (which the state organizes and makes available, but doesn't contribute directly to).
Some benefits are only available to some people, and so the rest of us subsidize those benefits. People who have a spouse or children covered on their health insurance pay a higher rate for that coverage, but it's still mostly subsidized. (That is, instead of the university putting in $650 for the second person, it puts in $550 or so. The second and more people added cost another $150 or so for the employee.) Those of us who don't have spouses or kids don't benefit, but we're contributing.
There's also subsidized daycare (more subsidy for students, less for employees), which only people with little children use. And so on.
Employees can also get spouses and kids a campus card so that they can use the facilities such as the swimming pool and such, and also take city buses that the campus pays the city so that campus people (students, employees, etc) can ride "free."
The list of imagined benefits the union suggested were mostly things like free or reduced tuition for kids and such.
Now I don't usually think about what benefits I'd like beyond health insurance, but here goes:
What benefits might one wish for?
Are there benefits one might wish for that would be accessible to everyone, and not just people who have spouses or dependents?
My idea would be to give every employee a "pot" of benefit money after basic health insurance and such, and let them decide which benefit to fund, health insurance for a spouse or dependent(s), day care, or a contribution to, say, a 403b type account or to paying off student loans.
Let's imagine that the additional money averages out to $400 a month. People with spouses or dependents could put that towards health insurance, though they'd have to also put in more than they do now. But people who don't have spouses or dependents and who now subsidize those who do could instead get help with student loans or retirement. (And for single people, who won't have a potential second income to help with such things, that can make a big difference.)
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Not Quite Random
Here's the smartest thing I've seen written about Thanksgiving this year. It's worth reading: "On Racism at Thanksgiving."
I have two courses this semester where the final project is the last grade and there's no final exam. In both of them, I feel like my job right now is to help the students do a really great project, and not to try to teach them much new stuff. That means conferencing rather than holding class, to some extent. (Not totally, since we also have peer revision work and such.)
My other course has a final project coming due, but also a final exam, and we're still working on learning new stuff. And that's fine.
I did a good bit of grading over the break, and plenty of goofing off, and a few house chores, and it was all in all very good. I'm very happy I didn't travel far.
I applied for that thing I mentioned before, the special thing. I'm not hugely invested, which is good, because around here a lot of special things end up being decided long before actual applications are invited, and inviting applications is just a formality. It's one of the reasons we've had a steady stream of good old boys moving up into positions through other positions.
NPR this morning is running two stories very capitalistically interested, but so very different. The first is a story about, basically, what a bummer it is for small oil producing businesses that the price of oil has dropped. There's no mention of how that drop makes some other businesses more profitable (those who transport goods, for example), or how the drop helps people who buy gas for their cars.
The other is a story about, basically, what a cool thing it is that some folks are buying US produced grass rather than Mexican produced grass, and how the US grass is of higher quality, and now that grass is legal in some US states, the prices of grass have dropped, and that's hurting Mexican producers.
My NPR takeaway: It's bad when US producers are hurt by dropping prices, and good when Mexican producers are hurt. It's good when regular-joe people can get grass more cheaply, and unnoticed (read: bad) when regular-joe people can get gas more cheaply.
I recognize there are lots of complications to both stories. The gas price drop is, as I understand it, partly driven by frac-sand oil production, which is scarily bad for the environment. And gas being really cheap means people tend to drive more. Pot growing has also been traditionally bad environmentally, especially when it's done illegally. I don't know if it would be better if grass were so legal (and cheap) that it were farmed like soy or something. And then there's the drug cartel problem. That's scary as hell.
In a perfect world, run by Queen Bardiac, gas would be expensive enough to incentivize other forms of energy production and use, and we'd somehow find ways to make those forms more environmentally sound.
And pot would be inexpensive enough to make farmers need to do math to decide whether to grow it, or hemp, or soy, or whatever other crops they might grow, and inexpensive enough that no one would be willing to go to jail by growing it on National Park lands or by being violent about it.
I have two courses this semester where the final project is the last grade and there's no final exam. In both of them, I feel like my job right now is to help the students do a really great project, and not to try to teach them much new stuff. That means conferencing rather than holding class, to some extent. (Not totally, since we also have peer revision work and such.)
My other course has a final project coming due, but also a final exam, and we're still working on learning new stuff. And that's fine.
I did a good bit of grading over the break, and plenty of goofing off, and a few house chores, and it was all in all very good. I'm very happy I didn't travel far.
I applied for that thing I mentioned before, the special thing. I'm not hugely invested, which is good, because around here a lot of special things end up being decided long before actual applications are invited, and inviting applications is just a formality. It's one of the reasons we've had a steady stream of good old boys moving up into positions through other positions.
NPR this morning is running two stories very capitalistically interested, but so very different. The first is a story about, basically, what a bummer it is for small oil producing businesses that the price of oil has dropped. There's no mention of how that drop makes some other businesses more profitable (those who transport goods, for example), or how the drop helps people who buy gas for their cars.
The other is a story about, basically, what a cool thing it is that some folks are buying US produced grass rather than Mexican produced grass, and how the US grass is of higher quality, and now that grass is legal in some US states, the prices of grass have dropped, and that's hurting Mexican producers.
My NPR takeaway: It's bad when US producers are hurt by dropping prices, and good when Mexican producers are hurt. It's good when regular-joe people can get grass more cheaply, and unnoticed (read: bad) when regular-joe people can get gas more cheaply.
I recognize there are lots of complications to both stories. The gas price drop is, as I understand it, partly driven by frac-sand oil production, which is scarily bad for the environment. And gas being really cheap means people tend to drive more. Pot growing has also been traditionally bad environmentally, especially when it's done illegally. I don't know if it would be better if grass were so legal (and cheap) that it were farmed like soy or something. And then there's the drug cartel problem. That's scary as hell.
In a perfect world, run by Queen Bardiac, gas would be expensive enough to incentivize other forms of energy production and use, and we'd somehow find ways to make those forms more environmentally sound.
And pot would be inexpensive enough to make farmers need to do math to decide whether to grow it, or hemp, or soy, or whatever other crops they might grow, and inexpensive enough that no one would be willing to go to jail by growing it on National Park lands or by being violent about it.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Friday, December 14, 2007
Time to Relax!
Yep, all done! I'm hopping in my Porsche and heading for the mall, where I'll buy many pairs of death stilletos so that I can properly stomp all those in my way. Then I'll buy a couple new big screen TVs for the viewing rooms and watch some first run movies in the privacy of my own home, while groups of buff young people, all scantily clad, shovel snow in my yard into artful patterns. Then off to Vegas, where I'll hobnob with the divine Miss M in the high rollers' rooms.
Okay, not really. That's a fantasy. What's scary, is that it's someone else's fantasy.
Alas, I'm not done. I have three massive stacks of grading staring at me right now.
Porsches are nice to look at, but my all wheel drive wagon carries stuff really well.
Anyone who knows me would be laughing at the death stilletos; if there's death involved in my shoes, it's from me tripping over the laces. I have vices, but they don't involve heels.
And while I do have a television, it's only a big screen if you're a bug being squashed against it.
And while I wouldn't mind if anyone cleared the excess snow off my drive, that anyone will be me, and I'm not buff, nor do I plan to be scantily clad while I dig. There will be no artful patterns involved, unless I trip on my laces and decide to make a snow angel while I'm down there.
And finally, while I think Bette Midler would be lots of fun, I can't imagine a worse much nightmare place than Vegas (unless it involves CIA questioning), nor anything that would be less fun than hanging out in a high roller room, especially if it involved hazarding what money I have. I've been to Vegas twice, once for a pilgrimage to the rotating bar where Dr. Gonzo got the fear, followed promptly by an early morning escape to the desert where my friend and I saw a big horn sheep!!!!!!! (The ONLY reason to go to that area is beautiful desert wildlife and such. Early morning works best.) The second time involved the co-pilot seat in a small jet, a single keno ticket, and going to a movie for the rest of the afternoon. We flew over Mt. Whitney (the highest point in CA) and the part of Death Valley that's the lowest point in CA.
My personal fantasies right now involve temperatures above freezing, hot cocoa, and well-written papers that are interesting and exciting. If I get two of three, I'll be a pretty happy person.
Here's the hope: We did proofreading exercises before students handed in their final essays. So things were relaxed, pretty much. And here's what students had to say (paraphrased from memory):
"This is the best paper I've ever written."
"My roommate just started her [writing class] paper on Monday, and I told her she was nuts! I'd finished my draft a week before she even started!"
"I'm going to start my paper for Monday now."
"This was the least stressful term paper I've written. And it's good."
"I had a nightmare about bibliographies!"
"I always work to deadlines and procrastinate, but I this time the deadline was early, so even though I procrastinated, I had time to work more."
In all my classes, I've taken the whole writing process thing really seriously, and built in question forming and research stages, and set up peer revision. When I looked at the drafts for peer revision in one of my classes, they were about half done as drafts. Still, that's half done over a week before the paper's due, and not the night before the paper's due. So I have high hopes for my students' papers this term. In my real fantasy, the students write wonderful papers.
If they do, I'll totally credit myself for being a great teacher. That's the way fantasy works.
Okay, not really. That's a fantasy. What's scary, is that it's someone else's fantasy.
Alas, I'm not done. I have three massive stacks of grading staring at me right now.
Porsches are nice to look at, but my all wheel drive wagon carries stuff really well.
Anyone who knows me would be laughing at the death stilletos; if there's death involved in my shoes, it's from me tripping over the laces. I have vices, but they don't involve heels.
And while I do have a television, it's only a big screen if you're a bug being squashed against it.
And while I wouldn't mind if anyone cleared the excess snow off my drive, that anyone will be me, and I'm not buff, nor do I plan to be scantily clad while I dig. There will be no artful patterns involved, unless I trip on my laces and decide to make a snow angel while I'm down there.
And finally, while I think Bette Midler would be lots of fun, I can't imagine a worse much nightmare place than Vegas (unless it involves CIA questioning), nor anything that would be less fun than hanging out in a high roller room, especially if it involved hazarding what money I have. I've been to Vegas twice, once for a pilgrimage to the rotating bar where Dr. Gonzo got the fear, followed promptly by an early morning escape to the desert where my friend and I saw a big horn sheep!!!!!!! (The ONLY reason to go to that area is beautiful desert wildlife and such. Early morning works best.) The second time involved the co-pilot seat in a small jet, a single keno ticket, and going to a movie for the rest of the afternoon. We flew over Mt. Whitney (the highest point in CA) and the part of Death Valley that's the lowest point in CA.
My personal fantasies right now involve temperatures above freezing, hot cocoa, and well-written papers that are interesting and exciting. If I get two of three, I'll be a pretty happy person.
Here's the hope: We did proofreading exercises before students handed in their final essays. So things were relaxed, pretty much. And here's what students had to say (paraphrased from memory):
"This is the best paper I've ever written."
"My roommate just started her [writing class] paper on Monday, and I told her she was nuts! I'd finished my draft a week before she even started!"
"I'm going to start my paper for Monday now."
"This was the least stressful term paper I've written. And it's good."
"I had a nightmare about bibliographies!"
"I always work to deadlines and procrastinate, but I this time the deadline was early, so even though I procrastinated, I had time to work more."
In all my classes, I've taken the whole writing process thing really seriously, and built in question forming and research stages, and set up peer revision. When I looked at the drafts for peer revision in one of my classes, they were about half done as drafts. Still, that's half done over a week before the paper's due, and not the night before the paper's due. So I have high hopes for my students' papers this term. In my real fantasy, the students write wonderful papers.
If they do, I'll totally credit myself for being a great teacher. That's the way fantasy works.
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