Sex and Drugs and Guns and Code Restart

Many years ago I was briefly part of a university group trying to get better working conditions for grad students, post-docs, adjuncts, and other members of academia’s petite bourgeoisie. (And yes, we were the sort of people who used terms like “petite bourgeoisie” to show each other how clever we were.) One Tuesday evening an older gentleman showed up to one of our meetings. He listened patiently as we talked, then cleared his throat and said, “You know, there’s probably an easier way to do this. If you can get a meeting with the dean, he might—” “We’ve already tried talking to dean,” someone said dismissively. The guy nodded. “I understand that, but I think that if you say you want to talk about retention rather than—” “The problem isn’t just retaining people,” someone else immediately said, “We need to broaden the intake.” I think he tried to speak one more time, only to be cut off in the same way. As we all went in circles saying, “Well actually, the real problem is…” he quietly…