OMG Politics, I'm over it already.

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GomezAddams said:
Colin Powell? ( I know he has rejected a political run in the past, but you never know)
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:thu:

as stated before, if there were someone who comes out as an "independent" or what ever third party name you want to use, it would have to be someone that could get votes from both sides, in large numbers, or it will only split one side and the other side would win.
 
Smash the control images

Smash the control machine

Burn the books

Kill the priests

Kill! Kill! Kill!
 
yabba said:
These are two entirely different things... not entirely sure how academia comes into what you're talking about.
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Because colleges and universities are arranging for politicos to rake in a steady stream of money from paid speeches on campus. It makes running for president a means to a end that has little to do with real leadership.
 
jp_nyc said:
Because colleges and universities are arranging for politicos to rake in a steady stream of money from paid speeches on campus. It makes running for president a means to a end that has little to do with real leadership.
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The shenanigans that administrators and university presidents and big donors with political connections get up to has little to do with real scholarship. It's not like actual academics get consulted before Albright or Kissinger or Cruz or Obama or even Ron Paul get booked into a lecture hall.
 
Peen Simmons said:
The shenanigans that administrators and university presidents and big donors with political connections get up to has little to do with real scholarship. It's not like actual academics get consulted before Albright or Kissinger or Cruz or Obama or even Ron Paul get booked into a lecture hall.
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True, but aren't administrators and university presidents part of academia?
 
I'd like to see some stats on how much money candidates actually make from colleges and universities. typically honoraria are <= $1k, which is nothing in this context.
 
Peen Simmons said:
Aren't roadies part of the Beatles? Isn't craft services part of Star Wars? Aren't the people working the navy mail room part of the war on terror?
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Meh, I suppose that was an ok try at deflecting, but that argument doesn't come anywhere close to holding up to scrutiny. All of the people you mentioned have no influence on the actions of the organizations they are part of unless you want to come up with extreme examples, like poising the sandwich tray or whatever.

University administrators and presidents however do have a great deal of influence over academia, which should not to be confused with academics.
 
rhino said:
Meh, I suppose that was an ok try at deflecting, but that argument doesn't come anywhere close to holding up to scrutiny. All of the people you mentioned have no influence on the actions of the organizations they are part of unless you want to come up with extreme examples, like poising the sandwich tray or whatever.

University administrators and presidents however do have a great deal of influence over academia, which should not to be confused with academics.
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Given that the highest paid administrator in many schools wears a whistle and pats dudes on the ass for a living , let's not pretend like the administration is all that interested in the nuts and bolts of academic research/scholarship. They're looking to put butts in seats (literally and metaphorically). And most academics (tenured and otherwise) are usually not too happy with their "do more with less" and "run it like a business" schemes. Heck, non-faculty support staff (librarians, housing and dining, etc.) are usually pretty "wtf?" when it comes to administrative efforts...and given that many, many executive level university administrators are sourced from the revolving door of public/private inflence jobs, it's not like a lifelong devotion to scholarship is at the top of their résumés.

These are often folks who are in academia like the CEO of Walgreens is an leading member of the health care profession.
 
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Peen Simmons said:
Given that the highest paid administrator in many schools wears a whistle and pats dudes on the ass for a living , let's not pretend like the administration is all that interested in the nuts and bolts of academic research/scholarship. They're looking to put butts in seats (literally and metaphorically). And most academics (tenured and otherwise) are usually not too happy with their "do more with less" and "run it like a business" schemes. Heck, non-faculty support staff (librarians, housing and dining, etc.) are usually pretty "wtf?" when it comes to administrative efforts...and given that many, many executive level university administrators are sourced from the revolving door of public/private inflence jobs, it's not like a lifelong devotion to scholarship is at the top of their résumés.

These are often folks who are in academia like the CEO of Walgreens is an leading member of the health care profession.
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You're exactly right, which is why there is a distinction between academics and academia, at least that is my understanding.

In the post from @jp_nyc that started this, I read academia as the business side. If they get a big name politician to come in that looks good for the school. Donations go up or they can charge more to attend, they generate more revenue. They aren't in the business of educating. They are in the business of making money and higher education is a means to that end. The big name politicians know this and aren't coming for free.

As @yabba said, I would also be curious to see a breakdown of how much money is being made. I did find this, https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=w04. It doesn't talk about that specifically but does give some stats on campaign contributions from folks associated with higher education.
 
Here is an article on what politicians are making giving speeches this season.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/money/which-presidential-candidate-earns-the-most-speech

From the article:

Since leaving her post as secretary of state in 2013, Clinton has earned about $2 million alone in delivering speeches at universities. The University at Buffalo, for example, paid Clinton $275,000, though the fees were put toward the Clinton Foundation. Since 2014, over eight universities have paid Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches. Among these schools were:

  • The University of California, Los Angeles, which paid $300,000 in March 2014
  • The University of Connecticut, which paid $251,250 in April 2014
  • The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which paid $250,000 in October 2014
While Clinton contends these speaking fees at universities are put toward philanthropic work at the Clinton Foundation, other presidential candidates haven't been shy about calling Clinton a hypocrite for advocating for more affordable education while charging high speaking fees at schools.


Trump makes the most per speech, but his isn't coming form Universities.

Bernie Sanders makes the least. The three paid speeches he did averaged out to $622.00
 
rhino said:
They aren't in the business of educating. They are in the business of making money and higher education is a means to that end.

As @yabba said, I would also be curious to see a breakdown of how much money is being made. I did find this, https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=w04. It doesn't talk about that specifically but does give some stats on campaign contributions from folks associated with higher education.
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Maybe I'm not quiiiiiite as cynical as that, but I'd put that the other way around. (I'm talking about non-profit colleges/universities; I don't know anything about for-profit places)

Thanks for that link, I'm curious what contributions from individuals really means - I would interpret that as an individual donor who is employed by an academic institution donating their own money, not the school donating money (which, for non-profit institutions, is generally verboten)
 
No words since a picture is worth a thousand.
030516-trump-orlando-fl.jpg

87895-700x.jpg
 
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mongooz said:
only thing left for DT are the brown shirts and the pointy hats.
:facepalm:
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Oh, things can always get worse.

Which way I flie is Hell; myself am Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
 
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