Quickies: Academic Poverty, Fighting Ableism, and Vocal Coaches for Women

• Smash Bros. Player’s Sexual Consent Guide Ignites Debate In Community – “The Smash community’s reactions to Chhetri’s article were polarizing. On social media, Chhetri and her report were excoriated. Top comments describe the guide as ‘ridiculous, inflammatory propaganda’ ‘unrelated to Smash’ or ‘biased.’ Her Twitter mentions are scathing, riddled with ad hominem attacks. She was called a ‘liar’ and a ‘hostile misandrist.’ An army of critics went to work fact-checking the sexual misconduct guide, quibbling over statistics in Chhetri’s feeds.” From Alex.
• Telling Myself the Truth: 5 Strategies for Fighting Internalized Ableism – “Let me say that again: in my left-wing dream of a liberal arts education, the kind that prides itself on exposing and unpacking prejudice, no one told me ableism existed. That’s because it’s still completely acceptable for disabled people to hate ourselves. Expected, even. Most discussions of ableism prioritize its external forms: staircases without ramps, misguided offers of help, applauding disabled people for being ‘so brave.’ “
• Life in academic poverty as an underpaid university teacher: “They just don’t want to pay” – “As an adjunct, Wangerin is employed on a casual basis and earns somewhere between half and one-third of what a tenure-track professor would make for teaching the same courses. That is significant, because non-tenure track teaching staff – commonly referred to as adjuncts and contingent faculty – now make up approximately 70% of all teaching staff in American higher education. This means that roughly three out of every four courses a student takes are taught by someone without job security who is working on minimal pay.”
• Do Women Have to Talk Like Men to Be Taken Seriously? And Should They? – This is a profile of a vocal trainer in Washington who teaches women (usually politicians) how to talk so that people will listen. Which is a really sad description for a job that our society apparently deems necessary.
• How ITT Tech Screwed Students and Made Millions – “In interviews with Gizmodo, dozens of former students and faculty have come forward to tell their stories about the school’s predatory recruiting and lending practices, and the inner workings of a pervasive scam that affected tens of thousands of students across 136 campuses in 38 states.”

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