<p>I’m reminded of the rabid football fan, a spry man of some 65+ years, who sat next to me on an airplane ride about two years ago. </p>
<p>He watched as I put away the stack of manuscripts I’d been writing comments on. (I review for journals and presses, and work to get my grad students published, since publication is their only hope of ever earning more than $5000 per course, per semester, never mind their credentials, and the University simply could not function without their underpaid labor.) </p>
<p>As I was taking out the book that I would be lecturing on, the following day, my seatmate let me know he was a “a big fan” of the sports team for the university (very large, public) where I teach as a tenured professor. </p>
<p>“How about those X!” he exclaimed, referring to the name of the football team. “They sure are great,” etc. He told me how he also followed Y and Z local teams and never missed a home game, traveled to go to some games, etc.</p>
<p>After a while our conversation shifted. How did I like working for said university. I told him I really liked it a lot, many advantages, a certain openness to new ideas, quite a few very high quality students. I pointed out, however, that the professors’ salaries are at the very bottom of the PAC-10 in many fields, and that this had been the case for a number of years.</p>
<p>“PAC-10 and professor’s salaries! How can you compare! That’s ridiculous,” he said. “That’s a sports designation! That has nothing to do with how good a university is!”</p>