Here is another weird twist in the debate over state funding for universities: academic research is what professors do for themselves and not for the university. Increasingly this strange claim has seeped into the public discussion. In today's local paper, a dean is quoted as saying that some faculty have adapted their schedules "to their own needs rather than the needs of the university." As I read this I was waiting for the other shoe to drop--did we have a scandal in the making, another shot across the bow of the great ship decadence? What have those faculty members been doing with their personalized schedules?!
I held my breath and read onwards...they have been "freeing up days for their research." Shocking news. I thought that research was one of the primary jobs of professors. Publish or perish, remember that familiar refrain?
For the sake of collegial decorum, and on the off chance the quote was in error, I won't belabor the statement and instead offer you the link to read for yourselves:
In all the political posturing, let no one imagine or insinuate that research is personal free time, a time to watch old movies and eat bon-bons on the sofa.
Research is one of the things we do here at the university. We read books and articles, we listen to lectures, we scour the world for new ideas. It serves the university and society at large. We are the grunts who pump out articles and books. Research is not a perk, some special privilege that academics get to indulge in.
Just ask the assistant professor who has been denied tenure because their book came out too slowly, or the middle aged professor who has not produced a research agenda in the last decade. They are judged first and foremostly by their research productivity. Research is not contrary to the university's needs, it is one of the university's primary functions, along with teaching and public service.
So let us not create the illusion that intellectual endeavor in its most intense form is just personal time, it is work.
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