Disability Studies Chair Article and a Little Ranting

So here's a great story on the new DS program head at the University of Toledo: Disability studies chairman chosen - News A couple of things stand out here to me; first, if the University of Toledo can have a DS program then I believe the University of Idaho should too. There is such a huge need for DS scholarship in the West. We have a unique heritage in the West that creates a certain complexity that is not always reflected in urban-based DS programs...and most DS programs in the U.S. are in large urban universities.

The second item of note is his starting salary, noted at the end of the article. Why are Idaho faculty salaries so low? What is wrong with the state and it's inability to adequately fund education at all levels? You wanna know why Idaho schools are having a hard time retaining teachers, higher ed faculty, and other education professionals? Because the Legislature and the rest of the state think that you can get a quality education at a discount...a massive fallacy! They also seem to believe that you can retain quality faculty by gutting their benefits package and retirement plans...another huge mistake.

I was driving around Moscow this evening after my daughter's soccer game and we were counting the number of houses on the market. When we moved to Moscow two years ago we had a hard time finding a house to buy; there was nothing available. Now there are hundreds of houses on the market as faculty leave the university like rats off a sinking ship. When the University of Idaho gutted our benefits package earlier this year they touted it as an "incentive" for new hires and that it would make it more attractive to stay here...but I know for a fact that there are many faculty leaving because not only do they not get a cost of living increase from year to year, they are required to cover the majority of their health insurance on their own. Many of the lower paid faculty and staff just can't hack the burden of the new "benefits" package. In fact, I can barely handle the burden...I've had a significant health event this year and just had surgery to remove my gall bladder last week and I've paid over $7000 out of my own pocket and, still, my insurance coverage hasn't kicked in. It was supposed to kick in once we reached our family deductible at $3500...but we keep getting massive bills that our insurance isn't covering...it's a joke.

So that brings me to my final rant for the evening: Americans had better start paying attention to the health care crisis in this country. It's a bigger deal than gas prices...although you wouldn't know it from the media coverage nowadays. If we don't get someone in the White House who can stand up to the money gluttons that run the insurance and healthcare industries in this country we're going to start seeing people dying too young, homeless, and bankrupt...oh, wait we are already doing that: see here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, ad nauseum....

I mean even Ireland is holding us up as a bad example: "In the US, the majority of people depend on health insurance. One in six, 50 million people, have no insurance at all because it is so expensive. Probably another 100 million are insured with policies where the insurance company regularly refuses payment for treatments. So they have to pay out-of-pocket for proper care or go without. As a result, health bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy for workers in the US."