Tenure and ‘Deadwood’ at UC

Bravo for a splendid analysis of teaching and research in our two university systems (“UC Tenure: A Forest of Deadwood,” Opinion, Aug. 13, by Jack Miles). Having taught at both San Diego State University and UCLA, I know that your facts are right and I concur wholeheartedly in your evaluation of the problem, except that I do not think that we need to refer to teachers who do not publish as deadwood. the attack should not be directed towards them. Not everyone is capable of lifelong research and most of us accept the benefits of our situation. The fault lies with the university administration, which tolerates this use of taxpayers’ money.

In 1974, I and a colleague at SDSU got a California law enacted that required that comparative data on the money spent per student in the UC and CSUC systems be presented to legislators. Before that, the striking difference in funding had been obscured by accounting techniques. Unfortunately, the passage of the law coincided with a downturn in funding. Moreover, Chancellor Glenn Dumke had no taste for fighting for his students. Disparities exist not only in the teaching load of the faculty but also in the counseling benefits for students. At that time the San Diego Union ran a story about a straight-A student at SDSU who was not accepted at a single medical school. Their reporter discovered that the student had had no help preparing his medical school applications while UCSD students 10 miles North of him not only got counseling on how to take the exams, but could participate in mock interviews as well.

Again, my congratulations to you for a splendid article.

JOYCE APPLEBY

Professor of History, UCLA