In this episode, we talk to John Buckley, a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Michigan. John is a member of the lecturer’s union at U of M, the Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO), and was on the bargaining team throughout the effort to negotiate a better contract with the University in 2017/18. We talk about the precarious situation of so many academic workers and what it tells us about the state of higher education today. We also talk about John’s family history and about growing up in Michigan always feeling, as he puts it, “on the bubble.” We talk about our religious upbringings and we talk about being a theater geek and almost joining the military. We also talk about the winding road that took him to the West coast, teaching in different kinds of schools and programs, and that eventually led him back to his alma mater in Michigan.
Additional links/info below...
- University of Michigan Lecturers’ Union website
- Phil Christman, Inside Higher Ed, “A Season of Strikes”
- Heather Ann Thompson, Detroit Free Press, “A Sad State of Affairs for Lecturers at the University of Michigan”
- Grace Kay, Michigan Daily, “LEO Members Ratify New Contract after Months of Bargaining”
Working People goes to Harvard…
- Sound Education conference website (https://www.soundeducation.fm/)
- Ministry of Ideas podcast (https://www.ministryofideas.org/)
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
- Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall" The Prefab Messiahs, “College Radio”
- Snake Oil Salesmen, “Sierra Nevada Torpedo”
- The Mint Chicks, “Life Will Get Better Someday”