When I was an undergraduate, we had more or less annual alcohol crackdowns on campus. My sophomore year, it was a series of “open container” stings, with cops hiding in the bushes outside various dorms, and leaping out to arrest anyone who walked outside with an empty keg cup. My classmates and I were outraged.
My junior year, there were a couple of arrests for underage drinking, and a significant tightening of the alcohol policy. My classmates and I were outraged.
My senior year, the police got hold of a college-approved party plan for a couple of freshman entires that included kegs of beer, and swore out arrest warrants for the Chief of Security, a couple of Deans, and the President of the college. The entire campus was dry for a week or two– no parties with alcohol were approved until after the college brought in its high-priced lawyers to find some compromise to get the local police to lighten the hell up.
My classmates and I said “Wow, that sucks. If you need us, we’ll be in the Pub.”
The difference, of course, is that somewhere in the course of junior year, the vast majority of us turned 21, and could legally drink at the one bar in town (and eventually at the second bar that opened later that year). suddenly, the depradations of the local constbulary didn’t seem like quite such and urgent problem.
I was actually a little startled when I realized how quickly I’d turned into That Guy– the unsympathetic 21-year-old who didn’t really care about the ability of underclassmen to get beer when they wanted it. I hadn’t changed my basic opinion of the drinking age laws (and I still haven’t, for that matter: the 21-year-old drinking age is one of the very stupidest laws on the books, and has done more harm than good), but I wasn’t personally affected any more, so it slipped down the priority queue a bit.
I was reminded of this by Peter Woit’s comment in the ongoing tenure discussion at Cosmic Variance:
While anybody who wants a clear picture of how the tenure system is working should take into account the difficult situation Rob is in while reading what he has to say, they should also take into account the fact that getting a permanent position in the academic system tends to come with a pair of rose-colored glasses. You might want to take this into account when getting career advice from senior people.
I’m basing this not just on observing the behavior of others, but also my own. When I had to worry about my employment prospects, I was pretty appalled at the way senior people in particle theory seemed to think that a system that trained ten times more people than there were jobs for, subjecting them to an ugly game of musical chairs which produced a lot of personal carnage, was something that worked well. After I entered a permanent (although un-tenured) position, this all of a sudden started to seem like a much more theoretical problem, not one worth getting worked up about.
I don’t think I’ve done this, but it’s really hard to say. I don’t recall ever being of the opinion that the current tenure system is hopelessly broken because of the negative effects it has on junior faculty– I think the stress is bad, and there are some things about the process that elevate the stress level to no good end, but even in the middle of the process, I think I was generally ok with things. Kate might be able to say better than I could– she’s the one who has to listen to my rants about whatever is frustrating me at the moment.
It’s possible that there’s been some re-ordering of my priorities in the past few months. I tend not to think so– I’ve always been more positive about the academic system than many others, as my Letter to the Editor back in my post-doc days indicates– but it’s possible.
If that’s the case, well, um… sorry. I’ll be down at the Pub, and I’ll buy you a beer if you think that’ll help.