ABSTRACT
Those working within academia have heard some variant of the following complaint: “He’s never there during office hours, uses old yellowed notes, hasn’t done research since God was born, and hates students; and the dean can’t do a thing about it! Boy, I want to be a professor-what a life!” If such behavior ever existed, it is not the reality faculty members face today. Posttenure review, budget cutbacks, outcomes assessment, public criticism, “continuous improvement” and reengineering of review processes, legislated time on campus-all of these so-called reforms are helping to define the new corporate university. Heading the list is merit pay, a reform that has played an increasingly important role in academic life since the 1980s.
