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wildcaat:fall2015:wildcaat3



No Laptop For You

Jack Urowitz

First there was the precipitous 46% parking fee hike.

Then there was the Hoteling of office space at HMC.

Both of which required damage control and Executive reflection.

Now it’s no laptop loans for Partial-Load Profs.

I see a pattern being spun, like a spider web in the mouth of a flower. What’s the next short-sighted number shuffle that will disgruntle our front line professionals?

Once again, bean counting superseded proper research and preparation before making drastic changes in our workplace routine. Now this laptop austerity measure has been instituted - without foresight into the consequences to pedagogy or employee morale.

Fiscal projections look good on paper, but what of the educational outcomes and People Plan’s promise of transparency and consultation? Were the curriculum experts consulted? Was our Human Resources Department asked to research and advise on the ramifications to employee morale of the onerous parking price gouging, kiddy musical chair offices and high tech austerity cut backs.

Revoking the partial-load loans of laptops for classroom readiness is another executive decision that takes no count of what a teacher needs. And it follows upon the earlier ill-researched decision to place computer towers in every lectern across the college.

Only someone who has never taught would think a third party computer, with many different users and many different setup preferences, could be as teaching friendly as a personal laptop. That was a bad decision; and there are probably more of those podium computers at the college than the number of laptops we would need for our partial-load contingency.

Sheridan was once kinder to its part-timers. How the weakest amongst us is treated is a testament, to borrow a biblical word and theme, to the society in which we work.

wildcaat/fall2015/wildcaat3.txt · Last modified: 2017/09/05 20:36 (external edit)