CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE.

Apparently, the people who are running the institutions of higher education are WINOs (Woke In Name Only.)  "The supports that make life in academe possible for so many of us -- especially those marginalized by race, class, gender, sexuality and disability -- are being revoked."

Because this is Montana, there are few, if any, nearby towns, cities or suburbs with cheaper or more available housing. For university faculty and staff, subsidized faculty housing has been essential.

And now? Faculty and staff members who reside in the university’s Family and Graduate Housing -- a group that includes many Black, Indigenous and people of color -- are being evicted. Confidential sources report this from personal experience and observation; the university’s housing office will not release demographic information on its residents. Originally, the evictions were scheduled for winter. The Faculty Senate has managed to change the eviction date to June 2021. Regardless of season, these evictions are imminent, in a town with no available rental housing, no affordable housing beyond the boardinghouses run by slumlords and pitched at students, and no homeless shelters. Faculty and staff may be sleeping in their cars at Walmart in sleeping bags they themselves donated.

Housing is a human right, but for many university employees, it becomes a privilege. Right now, some of my colleagues are facing eviction from the university housing. This housing, although never part of a formal contract, was central to their ability to move to a fully saturated housing market like Bozeman. Especially for faculty and staff relocating from out of state or internationally, with heavy student loan or other debt, and no nearby family or support networks, the subsidized housing universities offer is a lifeline. They are often the only reason people are able to relocate to take jobs. For many faculty members, the soft promise of university housing is essential.

A right? Provided by whom? Blank-out. Sooner or later you run out of other peoples' money.

Soft promises, like soft money, can be withdrawn at any time. And that’s what’s happening now, as the looming eviction crisis meets COVID-19 and the seemingly imminent collapse of the neoliberal university. COVID is accelerating the financialization of the university. The MSU example sits at the intersection of the pandemic, economic collapse, the housing crisis and the neoliberalization of academe, all of which can push institutions to put profits before people, remove safety nets and then blame people for structural failures.

For faculty and staff across higher education, the losses are staggering. Some people are furloughed. The historic protections of tenure are being weakened, if not revoked. Salary reductions are common. And the soft promises that make life in academe possible for so many of us, especially those of us marginalized by race, class, gender, sexuality and disability? Those are being revoked. The results are devastating.

We could file this report under "get woke, go broke," or under "higher education bubble update." The university's response suggests it's the latter.

As a land-grant university, the mission of Montana State University is to serve the sons and daughters of working families. As difficult as it may be for faculty and staff to find housing -- faculty and staff who are employed, receive a salary plus benefits and in some cases have lived in these below-market units for up to eight years -- it is orders of magnitude more difficult for our students.

Our students are the most vulnerable part of the equation: they are trying to get a start on their lives and they are paying tuition. Some of them arrive as single parents seeking family housing. Many come from other countries or other parts of Montana and the United States and they know little to nothing about the city. At MSU, we have called these units “Family and Graduate Housing,” because the units are intended for graduate students and for undergraduate students with children, including single parents, who may be first in their family to pursue a college education -- they could be … if the units were not being used by employees.

For eight years and more, a tiny minority of the university’s employees have lived in below-market rate housing that is only made possible by the fees students pay into the overall university housing enterprise. The other thousands of the university’s employees have never enjoyed such largess, nor have the more than 78 students who could have been living in those units. It is worth noting, the university gave this group of 78 employees nine months advance notice.

That's rich, the administration telling those contingent employees to check their privilege.

How many times, dear reader, must I tell you that our universities are being run by terminally stupid people?