American Idol, Iowa (Higher-Ed) Style ...

YankeeFan has apparently taken up drafting legislation for the evaluation of professors at Iowa public colleges/universities. The (proposed) details ...

1) Every professor will teach at least one course per semester
2) Every professor will be evaluated by his/her students at the end of each course
3) If said professor fails to achieve a suitable evaluation score, he/she will be terminated

And now the juicy part ...

4) At the end of the year, institutions will publish a list of the bottom five among all professors who met the standard. Students at those institutions will then vote on whether or not to retain these professors. The professor receiving the fewest votes from the students will be terminated.

Culling the Iowa Faculty | The Academe Blog

Amusingly, the bill was sent to a committee, chaired by an Iowa State professor, whence its chances of escape are, shall we say, slim and none ...

 

Sounds like what some people want in grades k-12.

Reagan got that ball rolling 30 years ago.

 

I was not aware of this development...and I live here in Iowa. Once again, the bullshit circus agenda vs. the University of Iowa continues to be amazing. This is pretty much an attempt by dumb lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle (I know from experience...I dealt with a few), trying to figure out why professors take sabbaticals and not have to teach a class. And their target is always pointed towards the U of Iowa, because the good folks in Iowa City do whatever the hell they want there and tells the lawmakers in Des Moines to go fuck themselves silly.

Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the dynamic between the IA legislature, the Board of Regents, and the University of Iowa in particular. The U of I hates both entities with a passion; the BOR has it out for the U of I for a long time; and the Legislature thinks they control both of them.