Follow the money, don't get lost in the clauses

I thought some not-very-coherent thoughts today about the labor supply at universities. There is a petition going around to support graduate funding for students which is apparently being worn away after five years, allegedly to the detriment of the whole function of the university. The idea falls in line with lots of current arguments about labor - the rise of part time benefit-less positions instead of permanent laborers in a valued workforce. Job security, worker quality, productivity, customer (or student) satisfaction. Concerns that every sort of company has to deal with to some degree, although some places are clearly much better at stifling conflict than others. While I see the point of the university (they do want people to graduate on time, after all) my instinctive sympathies are with the graduate students, if only because of recent strikes at other schools and my own impending matriculation in some such class. But I am wary of a blanket opposition. Aside from the concerns of undergraduates spending less time in classes with tenured professors and the potentially hazardous compression of what should be a detailed and in depth educational maturation, I wonder if the specific examples cited can't simply be exempted in some way. For example, there is the fear that only five years of funding would prevent students from applying for exterior programs or travel that are enriching yet would subtract time from the free bank limits. There are also concerns about families with the distractions of children (so they need more time to write dissertations) or with medical conditions or family crises etc. I am not sure exactly what solution might work for all, but surely some method of exemption or expansion of the application-based sixth (and greater) year funding could fill the gaps and still encourage people to write in a timely fashion. I suppose I could ask Ethan to help me figure out the incentives in this situation for all involved - faculty, universities, students, undergrads, hiring institutions - but I suppose it can wait for a while since Penn will be figuring out the current debate without me.

And I realize that this is rather dry and non-illuminatory, so for the sake of whimsy I would like to remark that 1) I really like the hot air balloon at the Philadelphia Zoo and 2) I am fascinated by the odd rubber-cement-esque adhesive that is often found on packaging connecting labels to plastic. It's rubbery and flexible and peels off easily and stays tacky and it really fun to roll around in your fingers. I wish I could get a giant box of it - I'd be entertained for years.