(Pix from here)

Here's something worth reading if you haven't handed out your evaluations in class yet. Before opening that envelope, before finding a student with a need to please and is willing to carry the envelope back to the department, before handing out those brand new #2 pencils the department will never see again, read this piece by the Onion, titled "Professor Deeply Hurt By Student's Evaluation."

You tell me, is this is comedy or reality?

“Students and the enormous revenue they bring in to our institution are a more valued commodity to us than faculty,” Dean James Hewitt said. “Although Rothberg is a distinguished, tenured professor with countless academic credentials and knowledge of 21 modern and ancient languages, there is absolutely no excuse for his boring Chad with his lectures. Chad must be entertained at all costs.”

The balance between keeping faculty and attracting students from a monetary perspective is not as easy as it sounds here,

"Keeping tuition low in the face of diminishing support from the state erodes and limits access when quality and access are vital to the state and the prospects of our graduates. UW–Madison has no desire to charge private tuition rates; we want only to get closer to our public peers. ... We will educate and graduate more Wisconsin students in four years, providing them with what they need to flourish and reducing their costs."

Discuss.