Date:         Wed, 10 Dec 97 20:05:56 EST
From: Alan Davidson <DAVIDSON@UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU>
Subject:      time limits
To: socgrad@CSF.COLORADO.EDU
Message-Id:   <971210.201820.EST.DAVIDSON@UConnVM.UConn.Edu>
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I do think that if this drags on much longer, maybe it would be more
constructive to take the discussion off the list (the delete key factor
might be entering in here).

How many sociologists the world needs can be a very crucial issue.  I
don't know how many folks on this list remember the early to mid-1980's,
but there are memos in our departmental archives from even relatively
progressive faculty questioning the morality of having a graduate program
if the total number of tenure-track jobs listed in the employment bulletin
in a given year is 40.  On the other hand, some folks might be interested
in learning for learnings' sake, but then there is the additional moral
question of whether taxpayers ought to be subsidizing the intellectual
interests of such people and furthermore, whether that warrants the
reduced teaching loads and better leave time packages of those faculty
in graduate departments -- this is the discursive environment in which
we operate, folks, and 1971 is as far away as 1871 in terms of the mood
of the country towards higher ed.

On the other hand, there is also a departmental responsibility to get folks
through in a timely manner.  I would agree with the sentiment that if
a department is letting folks get to year 3 or 4 post-BA without some sort
of test of one's research acumen -- either in terms of ability to do
research or conceptualize how research might be done -- they are failing
the student just as much as the student is failing themselves.  In UConn's
case, the goal is a reasonable one -- assuming successful completion of
6 credits per semester, you should be done with courses in 3.5 years post
BA -- and you (and the department) have 3.5 years beyond that point to
get one finished -- if a department is structured to get folks out, that
should be very doable.