[CAUT] Faculty as Colleagues, was Steinway... The "Safe" Piano.

[Jeff Tanner]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu>

> Here we are entering the realm of mind reading, of worrying about  what 
> people say and think about us behind our backs.

Well, mind reading on the heels of what we've heard them say about their 
other colleagues does get one to thinking...

> I would rather be naive or deluded, and take people at face value  (accept 
> their friendly demeanor as real) than be paranoid and spend my  time 
> worrying about what they are saying behind my back.

And never know the real value of what others think of our work - just what 
we believe it is worth....

...or ourselves as individuals -- something more than a function.

> The question of money is another can of worms.

Is it?  Isn't that why we do what we do in the first place?  Would we do it 
for free and then have to find a way to finance life on the side?

> I have never found  that the distribution of wealth in the world had a 
> whole lot to do  with merit.

In reality, no.  But that isn't what I said, is it?

 One thing for certain, every single faculty member is paid
> less than his/her worth (at least in their own opinions).

One might could surmise that we will never feel as though we are paid what 
we are worth.  But now as a completely self-employed individual, earning by 
Tuesday at noon what I used to make in a week, I now feel that I am earning 
the true market of my skill.  That couldn't be done with music faculty as a 
glass ceiling.  I can now work harder and make more, whereas before, the 
harder I worked, the more that was expected of me for less and less 
compensation every year.

 The faculty
> in our college of fine arts is paid significantly less than the  faculties 
> in the other colleges (not to mention administrators and  athletic 
> coaches). The part time, adjunct, visiting faculty, who carry  much of the 
> load, and who all have doctorates, are paid starvation  wages 
> ($20-30,000/yr for what amounts to a full time teaching load).

And, as I have repeatedly held over the years, "that's why we chose not to 
pursue that career, when most all of us could have."


> Where's the justice?

What does justice have to do with it? We have a skill worth X and the 
department of education thinks it should pay X/2 when it requires 2X.  It's 
not about justice.  It's about market value.

 Where do I as piano technician fit into the
> scale? So what? Who cares? (The faculty, even the part timers, are by  and 
> large grateful to have a steady job in their field. There are  plenty with 
> doctorates who don't).
> Personally, I am delighted to have a profession in which I do work I 
> enjoy, and am paid well enough to live comfortably.

I must respectfully remind you that you are free to do with half your week 
what the FT CAUTs are not free to do.  You have admitted yourself that you 
are not interested in becoming the full time technician at your institution, 
and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand why.  The expectations 
go up and the money goes down.  No one can blame you.  I certainly don't. 
It is much easier to be comfortably compensated with the formula you have 
there.  In fact, it might be easier to be more respected as a part timer.

 If more money were
> the driving force in my life, I'd do something else.

Money being the driving force, and not being able to afford a very frugal 
existance in your community on your income are two very different things. 
Money isn't the driving force in my life either.  But you've got to be able 
to pay the rent or life can get really difficult, really fast.  And when 
you've poured all your effort into a career that takes care of that for 99% 
of the people in your field, after a while you start to look around and see 
what it is that is causing you not to be able to do the same.

 I can't think of
> a better recipe for a miserable life than constant worry about  "whether I 
> am paid enough or respected enough," obsessing over  comparisons, and the 
> accompanying envy and resentment.

That's never been the issue.

 Life's too
> short for that stuff.

It's also too short to waste going broke and sacrificing the welfare of your 
family for the sake of the "cause" of music education when one can do much 
better.
Tanner