CNN AGAIN DEMONSTRATES

the sublime objectivity of the wire story qua sound bite.

There are two quotes in this story about the end of the combined strike at Yale. One is from union spokesman Bill Meyerson. The other is from a random Yale sophomore who implies that grad students are spoiled because they are "treated pretty well by professors" and "paid well."

I understand that one can have different views on grad student unionization. I happen to think that it is a fantastic idea, mostly because I am persuaded by the union's argument that PhD's have been systematically overproduced and that this has, coincidentally (for university administrators) or not, driven down the cost of teaching labor. Instead of taking on the issue, though, CNN follows the wire story and goes for the closing quote from some random Yale student. The network is presumably looking for a punchy "hmmm" exit line.

That's why I can't watch CNN any more.

Not having a TV is a pretty good way to avoid CNN as well, of course, so I don't know if this story aired in a similarly ridiculous way.

For a much better take on grad student unionization, read the op-ed in yesterday's New York Times by CUNY-Brooklyn political science professor Corey Robin. Full disclosure: when I was a grad student in residence at Yale, Corey turned me around from a grad student union skeptic to a genuine (if not always organizationally reliable) member.

UPDATE: for another perspective on Corey's editorial, go to David Adesnik's acid commentary at Oxblog. According to David, Corey and other pro-union grad students "delude themselves into believing that Yale's undergraduates are the heartless scions of an American plutocracy, rather than the middle-of-the-road middle-class liberals that they actually are." And to be fair, I think that David is largely right in his criticism of the editorial: to the extent that it leaves the impression that Yale students are all GWB in training, then the editorial is harsh. Nonetheless, Corey's broader point stands: in negotiations with its unions, Yale has been exceedingly harsh, and that is hardly a good lesson for a shining star of the so-called "liberal academy" to be propagating. And whatever the source of his or her beliefs, any undergraduate who tells striking graduate students that they should just "get back to work" or "go teach a section" is basically mirroring the administration's approach. That's the real point of the article.