ustxtxb_obs_1997_07_18_50_00029-00000_000.pdf

Teach for Food erases all such disciplinary distinctions. Only in a footnote does one find the information that striking TAs at Yale were from the humanities and the social sciences; not mentioned at all is the fact that each set of disciplines produces Ph.D.s for job markets whose robustness varies according to federal funding, ties with industry, and public perceptions of “practical value.” By treating disciplinary boundaries as social constructs and pretending that such differences do not have consequences in the real world, the book keeps intact its argument for academic unionism, which depends on a logic of lifeboat camaraderie. But insofar as collective action will include scientists, no essay addresses an audience of scientists and attends to problems particular to the natural sciences, where all’s not rosy eitherconsider, for example, the demise of funds for pure research. By not addressing these gaps, the humanists presume they share with their colleagues across the quad a sense of what’s right for Higher Ed, thereby risking the discovery that their brand of solidarity is neither wanted nor needed. But they’re right to show how academic unionism gets stymied by academics: they’re individualistic, loyal to disciplines rather than their institutions, disdainful of allying with cafeteria workers and secretaries, and perhaps most importantly, not given to seeing what they do as labor pure and simple, particularly in the corporate university. The isolation is retreating, however. After the recent tenure code battle at the University of Minnesota, some professors reported that they’ve discovered new strength working with their colleagues in other departments. In response to Senator Bill Ratliff s 1996 call for post-tenure review policies, some faculty senates of Texas universities, such as the University of Houston, developed researching and writing policies of their own, in order to ensure that their interests didn’t have to be negotiated tooth and nail into administrators’ proposals. GESO members, other graduate student groups around the country, and an increasing number of tenured faculty know that being in a union isn’t antithetical to being a scholar. Still, more widely shared is the view that individual performance at the podium, the library, and the lab bench is the sole determinant of whether or not you keep your job. Will Teach for Food is a book that every grad student, part-timer, and even full professor doesn’t want to read, but should. Urgent? Yes. Bleak? Surprisingly not. The collection offers arguments, analyses, and advice to those who are, in Aronowitz’s words, “agents of a new educational imagination.” Michael Erard is a freelance writer and a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches one section of undergraduate rhetoric and composition. CLASSIFIEDS ORGANIZATIONS EMPLOYMENT THE TEXAS OBSERVER is seeking volunteers to help with a variety of tasks. Volunteers need not live in Austin. If you can spare some time, call WORK for single-payer National Health Care. Join GRAY PANTHERS, intergenerational advocates against ageism and for progressive policies promoting social and economic justice. $20 individual, $35 family. 3710 Cedar, TEXAS AIDS NETWORK dedicated to improving HIV/AIDS policy and funding in Texas. Individual membership $25, P.O. Box 2395, Austin, TX REVOLTED BY EXECUTIONS? Join the Amnesty International Campaign Against the Death Penalty. WORK FOR OPEN, responsible government in Texas. Join Common Cause/Texas, 1615 Guadalupe, #204, http://www.ccsi.com/comcause. TEXAS TENANTS’ UNION. Member ship $10/six months, $18/year, $30 or more/sponsor. Receive handbook on tenants’ rights, newsletter, and more. 5405 East Grand, Dallas, TX 75223. END LOGGING OF ANCIENT FORESTS and roadless areas, stop clearcutting of our National Forests. Join the nationwide campaign to protect and restore America’s wild and natural forests. For a free brochure contact Save America’s Forests, 4 Library Court SE, Washington, D.C. CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER of the ACLU invites you to our noon Forum, the last Friday of every month, at Furr’s Cafeteria Banquet Room in Northcross Mall, Austin. For information call LIBERTARIAN PARTY Liberal on personal freedoms, but conservative in NATIONAL WRITERS UNION. We give working writers a fighting chance. Collective bargaining. Grievance procedures. Health insurance. Journalists, authors, poets, commercial writers. Forming locals in Houston, Austin, and E-mail: [email protected]. PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. Join the Texas Civil Rights Project, 2212 E. MLK, Austin, TX 78702. $25/year. Volunteers also needed. Contact Jim HarringTHE HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTA-TION EXCHANGE needs volunteers immediately to work 3-6 hours a week during regular business hours. Volunteers will clip, copy and file newspapers, as well as process human rights materials for library files. For more information, please call the Volunteer LEFT-WING LAW FIRM needs legal assistant or secretary. Must write well, be computer literate, hard-working, enjoy multicultural clientele. We emphasize immigration and consumer protection litigation. Salary, profit sharing, health insurance, NLG dues. Rsum to John Wheat Gibson, P.C.; 701 Commerce, Ste. 100; Dallas, TX SERVICES MARY NELL MATHIS, CPA, 20 years’ experience in tax, litigation support, and other analyses. 901 Rio Grande, HOUSEBUYERS, The Consumer’s Agent. Specialists in representing central Austin residential buyers. WORLDWISE DESIGN, awardwinning graphic design studio. For creative, effective and professional designs for your educational and promoTAOS SKIING AND MORE. Little Tree Bed & Breakfast. Authentic adobe hacienda near the slopes. See home page URL http://taoswebb.com/ CLASSIFIED RATES: Minimum ten words. One time, 50 cents per word; three times, 45 cents per word; six times, 40 cents per word; 12 times, 35 cents per word; 25 times, 30 cents per word. Telephone and box numbers count as two words, abbreviations and zip codes as one. Payment must accompany order for all classified ads. Deadline is three weeks before cover date. Address orders and inquiries to Advertising Director, The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th, Austin, TX JULY 18, 1997 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29