By: Diane Benjamin
Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago Tari Renner was so overworked as mayor he wanted a full-time assistant? He must have been exaggerating since now he thinks he can take a leave of absence for some “medical related” reason for an indeterminate time.
Since the Council did nothing when Tari Renner declared himself king of the Liquor Commission, Bloomington now is without anyone with the authority to handle the job! Maybe Karen Schmidt can be Liquor Commissioner since she is acting mayor. Tari did appoint two assistants to the commission, Lindsey Powell and Jack Bataoel. Who is now in charge of hearing requests for a liquor license and handing out punishments to violators? According to Tari, State Law makes him the sole authority. Since nothing was mentioned last night, we don’t know.
Tari’s Press Release via Nora Dukowitz says nothing about Illinois Wesleyan. The Pantagraph story says Tari is going to continue his teaching job. Is that what Tari told them? If yes, you have to wonder when they will finally start fact checking his utterances!
The Illinois Wesleyan website says Tari is on sabbatical.
That’s strange since he is listed in the course catalog as teaching 3 classes this semester:
Didn’t Tari campaign on being the most transparent mayor ever?
Evidently that was also an exaggeration.
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I believe the class schedule was prepared and posted a while ago. Changing the IWU webpage can be done by the administrator at any time. the Pantagraph interviewed Karen Schmidt assuming she would know when Renner would return. Renner may or may not be in communication with Hales & Schmidt at this point in time. Anyone can formulate a “standardized,” vague press release.
Having taught at ISU sabbaticals must be applied for in advance and were not used for leave of absence for health issues. Wesleyan needs to explain. Is he teaching? Is he on sabbatical? Is he on medical leave? Where is this missing Mayor?
I was pretty sure that sabbaticals had to be planned in advance too. I found this – it’s from a different university but I think these are fairly stand practices.
SABBATIC LEAVES
“A sabbatical is granted to members of a faculty as a recognition of notable service
through teaching and scholarly contributions and as an aid and inspiration to further
achievements. Sabbaticals are intended to provide teachers with opportunities for
scholarly development and contacts which will contribute to their professional
effectiveness and to the value of their later service to Tufts University. A sabbatical may
not be used for the purpose of recreation.
Eligibility and Opportunity
Sabbaticals are granted only on the approval of the Dean.”
So, if Tarry is “on sabbatical” Tarry has has had this planned for a while – as usual – it sounds and looks shady.
A bit off topic–Karen Schmidt is teaching a class, “Engagement with the City.” I didn’t realize she was a member of the Political Science Department. I thought here degree was in Library Science.
Keep reading that instructor list. Others interesting.
I just saw that, as well as a person named Kelly Mathy leading an “Action Research Seminar.” I wonder if that Kelly Mathy is also the Downtown business owner and wife of BLM Council Member or just someone of the same name.
Same
“It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it!” George Carlin
What are their qualifications? I thought you had to have at least a Masters degree in a related field to “teach” at a university. You need a masters degree to teach full time at BHS if you don’t have a Bachelor in education. This proves a Political Science degree from IWU is worthless.
Skunk, it is possible that an instructor has a Bachelor’s degree and is working on a Master’s. Or it is possible to have a Bachelor’s and a certain amount of credits completed on top of that to be considered for a job opening. I doubt it is that way for high profile institutions given the competition to have a job and the prestige of teaching at such a school like Princeton, MIT, UCLA, etc. Not sure if there is a shortage of college instructors with advanced degrees.
@seriously–Anything is possible. The last I heard, Kelly Mathy was teaching at Washington school. Parents who spend big bucks to send their children to IWU probably expect they are being taught by experts in a given field. I don’t remember seeing teaching assistants listed as “faculty” at the universities where my children attended.
A PhD is almost always required to teach on a tenure track at any University/4 year college/university, it should also be in the field in which you are desiring to teach. Sometimes a master degree is accepted if it comes with other qualifications. Is Wesleyan just like a Community College now and people with masters degrees are called “professors”? You can teach at most Community colleges with a Bachelors plus a good deal of work towards a masters or other suitable experience but a full masters is nearly always preferred even for Community/Two year College.
The increase in adjunct instructors is nothing new. Overall, 50% of faculty appointments are part-time which includes adjuncts according to the American Association of University Professors. They tend to teach courses that broad and the full-time professors teach the courses that are more specialized. It makes sense on the one hand that you can hire someone with experience in the field like with Computer Science and not have to compete with another school for a doctorate level professor. You can theoretically offer more courses and money without paying out the salaries that full-time professors command. I think the quality of instruction depends on a variety of factors. I won’t get into that here. But there are great colleges that utilize adjunct instructors.
So, the University saves money paying less qualified people to teach while raising tuition. Brilliant.
Adjunct instructors or adjunct professors? There is a big difference. Adjunct instructors would be qualified to assist at a Community College–maybe, but probably not, at a Liberal Arts College–but not a University of any repute.
Mittenpaws, I am lumping adjunct instructors and professors in the same category. Yes there are differences but it is mainly around the responsibilties of each. Adjunct instructors or lecturers are usually non-tenured and can be full-time or part-time. They generally only teach classes and are not required to perform research or work in projects. A professor is required to publish books, studies, author papers, possibly serve in academic councils or panels. They are generally tenured or might be on track to be considered for tenure. There are also assistant or associate professors;they have their doctorate but maybe not the seniority or experience to be promoted to Professor. What you are saying was probably true 5-10 years ago, but some colleges decided to make contingent faculty (I.e. Masters degree, Masters Degree + credits, or even Bachelors with extensive real world experience in a field of study) to provide a way to increase their bottom line. I suppose if your funding is tied to a state budget, you can’t have all professors, but would you necessarily want that, is the question. You also have to have the reputation to attract great professors. Stanford is 7% contingent faculty because they have a lot professors that want to teach there. ISU, not so much. You do great work, you get more funding, you get idea.
I guess the bakery isn’t that busy and the wife needs a part time income.
Deborah Halperin: https://www.iwu.edu/action/Contact.html
Kelly Mathy: https://php.iwu.edu/directory/employees.php?id=3805
based on the above links, it appears neither has credentials in Political Science.
Diane, I wouldn’t say they are hiring less qualified people. The schools are gaming the system purely on profit margin, not on talent. Many adjuncts take on higher class loads for less pay (no doctorate, sorry!). They may not work enough hours at a school to accrue benefits (hey no need to match 401K) funds). The savings rarely get passed to lowering tuition. You have to pay for the new dorms somehow but don’t tell the college President he won’t get a raise to help pay for it. A lot of money going to administration positions.
Well, in order to pad the administrator’s salaries, IWU can hire any female of the human race to teach a course about Race in the Women’s Studies Department. Priceless!
Of course, I’m being silly but it’s sad that Universities have reached such a low level for education.
Maybe we should look at the credentials of their entire faculty!
Having looked through IWU’s website a little more, it appears that their directory information info on him hasn’t been updated since 2015, when was on sabbatical. So, he really is teaching this semester.
Isn’t the bike Blono guy their technology dude?
Not sure.