Sunday, February 22, 2009

Fears of a red state lesbian

As a Jewish feminist lesbian in my 10th year of teaching in my third red state, it is hard for conservative (fundamentalist Christian) Republicans to surprise me. They are consistently looking for ways to go after the "liberal academics " at public institutions...

The most recent Crusades are being mounted by Georgia Representatives Byrd and Hill, who are out to stop queer academics at the state's colleges and universities from using taxpayers dollars to teach the state's young adults about gay and sexuality stuff. The latest tack--to use the economic crisis to fire these professors--is quite inspired. "'Now that the state budget is under considerable reform, I believe the timing is perfect to eliminate positions of professors and staff who are paid to provide such services in these so-called special interest areas,' Byrd said Feb. 6"(SoVo, 2/20/09).

I have been at several schools where the conservatives were after us. At one school, the legislature requested a list of all courses with women, sex, sexuality, homosexuality, gay, and lesbian in the title. Academics responded by changing course titles to put those "taboo words" after the colon... e.g., History in America: The Gay and Lesbian Experience. At another school, the person teaching a class on human sexuality was called out for showing "pornographic videos" in class. The poor university administrators had to sit in a room and watch all the videos back to back, no pun intended, to see whether they were appropriate and of educational value--for adults, I might add. I'll bet that was an interesting exercise! (Popcorn, anyone?)

One issue in the Georgia story, which is new for me, is that they are attacking the schools for having faculty who have areas of specialization to which they object.
Byrd condemned two Georgia State University professors for being experts in oral sex and male prostitution. ...Dr. Kirk Elifson, the university’s expert in male prostitution, retired from teaching in 2005 but continues to research drug abuse, HIV prevention and male prostitution. Dr. Mindy Stombler, listed as an oral sex expert, is a sociologist who studies gender and sexual issues and has authored a widely used sociology textbook. (SoVo)
The Georgia legislators are also twisting reality to play on the fears of citizens. To wit:

In an newsletter Byrd posted on her website, she wrote, “There is a professor
in charge of Queer Theory actively recruiting young teenage gays to accompany
him on international trips.” She then linked to Dr. Bob Hill’s website.

Hill is a founding member of UGA’s Safe Space program, and is an internationally known scholar on adult education. ...Dr. Andy Horn, dean of UGA’s College of Education, said while Hill travels internationally, it is as a result of his scholarship, not study abroad programs. Hill does not take young male students to different countries to the best of Horn’s knowledge. (S0V0)

As someone who has listed my areas of specialization (as my university requested) so they could be posted online for reporters and students alike, it is a little scary to think that someone would come after me for the LGBTQ focus of my research. And as one of the ONLY people here who lists gay or lesbian topics, it is even a little more anxiety-producing. I do believe that I would be supported by my university's leaders and my dean, but I sent a copy of the story to them just in case.

Even as the NIH seems like it will be more open to LGBTQ-related research under this administration, we have to be concerned about the legislators in our own states. And the threat to our public universities is real--these legislators can withhold our funding in a time when we are facing real financial exigencies. As conservative columnist Martha Zoller notes, they see queer courses, women's studies courses, and other sexuality-related courses as "fringes," designed to titillate and not educate. Never having taken one of these courses or read a stitch of recent theory or literature, these legislators and their supporters have no idea about the level of challenge or critical thinking, not to mention reading and writing, demanded by these courses.

I would argue that this latest power move in Georgia is part of keeping the culture war alive in the time of national Democratic dominance in politics...

Rep. Hill is not introducing legislation to make this happen. He and Rep.
Byrd are encouraging a grassroots effort for students and parents who pay the
bills at state universities to pressure the administration to look to the
fringes of what they teach to find the cuts needed to make the budget
work.
I am keeping my ears open for similar rumblings in my red state as we confront our shrinking state revenues, even as I leave my "areas of expertise" listing on my university's website. Hopefully, you won't see my name in the next big story.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Where the (unmarried, sometimes accommodating, nonparenting) grrrrlz are...

Well, a story in today's Inside Higher Education discusses a recent survey by ACE of Chief Academic Officers (otherwise known as Provosts), and the findings are interesting. The focus of the IHE story is that most Provosts don't want to be Chancellors/Presidents when they grow up. In fact, most of them (66%) don't find the top job all that appealing.

That isn't surprising to me, as I also find myself more interested in becoming a Provost than becoming a Chancellor or President. The Provost is the on-campus person, the one who helps shape the vision for the school's academic and financial houses and keeps them in order. That looks like the fun job to me. The top job is too focused on fundraising, gladhanding, media and government relations to be all that fun to me. Of course, some people in the Chancellor/President's position really do want more leadership in the School's vision, and they find the time to make that happen. But, all in all, Provost seems better to me.

What I found interesting about what ACE is calling it's Census of CAOs is who the CAOs are and what they have had to do to get there. IHE notes that "Women hold 40 percent of the CAO positions, with the greatest proportion (50 percent) in community colleges and the lowest (32 percent) at doctoral universities. Questions about family responsibilities and characteristics of chief academic officers show that women respondents are {about 20%} less likely than their male counterparts to be married, have children, or to have had someone alter a career on their behalf." As usual, most of these leaders are white, as well. While the numbers aren't surprising regarding gender, race, and status of institution, they are a little depressing.

I was more surprised to see that 3.7% of women CAOs had a "domestic partner," as compared to 1.6% of men. While not all of these women are lesbians, you wanna make a bet that a good number are? And some unpartnered queers are probably in the divorced and unmarried categories, along with some married queers in CA and Mass.

So, should you be wondering where the academic dykes are--many of us with no kids--look in the CAO job. Maybe someday in the future, I will be there as well!

Monday, February 09, 2009

Reading for....fun???

I just finished some marathon fun reading. Fiction, real trashy fiction, that I read nonstop for almost 2 whole days. (Kudos to the gf for not getting angry at being ignored.)
Yes, I should have been writing.

Yes, I might have gotten some incredible work done during that time.

Instead, I read 4.5 trashy novels and basically spent 2 days in various positions of repose. And it was glorious. (I still have to finish book 5, but work intrudes. Sigh.) I started with the first 2 books in a series on Friday night and Saturday, and then left on mid-day on Saturday to pick up the last 3 books. They were recommended by a co-worker, and I have enjoyed them thoroughly.


I won't tell you which trashy novels I read (Borders classifies them as horror, but I would say they seem a lot like crime novels with supernatural characters). But I will say that a NYTimes book reviewer wrote that s/he wanted to read bad novels, not just good novels, and mine were some of the bad ones listed. ;-)


I used to read a lot for fun. I read like I write, for the most part-- in long, uninterrupted bursts. None of this "1 chapter a night" for me. I want to get through the whole damn book. I don't want to lose the frame of mind as the reader and have to try to recapture it again. When I go on vacation, I can read for days. And I actually didn't read my blogs, or the news websites, or even really look at my email. I just focused on the books.


Hope your weekend was fun, as well. And now I head back to the daily grind...