Actually, many things internet related seem to be kind of wonky here at the start of the term.

1. Should the primary output of university faculty be research, articles, etc. or should it be education of students? My sense (as someone outside academia) is that at most (all?) universities, the primary output of faculty is research, but perhaps a shift is brewing?
2. If the primary output is — or should be — student education, how best to measure that?
3. My sense is that faculty incentives generally center around research, so if the primary output should be student education the incentive structure must change. Assuming that student educational outcomes can be fairly measured (which may be a false assumption), what is the best way to incentivize teaching without a total disruption of the tenure system.

I think the second and third issues are ones that K-12 schools have been struggling with for a while, but because of the emphasis on faculty research, universities haven’t considered them as much, and perhaps are just now considering the first question.

Like I said, however, I can’t read the entire article so I’m extrapolating from the first paragraph and the quote you gave, and my career has always been outside academia, so maybe I’m misreading the current state of affairs.

I might be wrong about this, but I was under the impression that at U of M, at least some of the concession stands were run by various local groups trying to raise money for some cause– you know, a local soccer league, a women’s shelter, whatever. Maybe even church groups, I’m not sure.

Anyway, it might cost EMU the $200 they make selling stuff, but if they could figure out a way to get it approved for outside groups to come in to sell hot dogs and such and use it as a fundraiser, it’d probably be better food and a great community building gesture. Just saying.

Somehow, for most of the campus, that standard is achieved, but year after year, not true for football and other athletic events. We’ve made hundreds of fans sick over the years with the kind of food Alum describes, and nobody thinks, fondly, of going to an EMU game and enjoying the food. The negative consequences for the University are not trivial. Local school groups have been brought to EMU games, and made sick by the food, and then have talked for weeks about how “bad EMU is” because of the “gross” food. Marketing people should take notice of this, if they are serious about increasing game attendance or about protecting the university’s reputation. Games are supposed to represent the University well, not at sub-standard levels of performance on such things as food service even non-athletic levels.