I read with dismay the article “Students band together to save professor’s job” in your Jan. 25 issue. I do not know lecturer David Small, who, after 11 years, is being unaccountably dismissed from his post in UF’s department of computer and information science and engineering. Evidence suggests he is an excellent educator who is much appreciated by his students.
Such stories have become common in higher education, which has widely embraced an amoral corporate management model that shamelessly exploits a growing underclass of academic “temps” receiving negligible benefits and protections. My respect for UF is greatly diminished by such decisions. Others contemplating academic careers are advised to think twice about stepping on the temp treadmill. It typically ends badly for teachers and hurts students seeking references after a favorite professor has mysteriously disappeared from the faculty.
