What's going on here?
Begin with Harvard's Clay Christianson's notion of higher education having evolved from an industry with high entry levels to one with a core technology that lowered the bar by several magnitudes. This, if he is right, was tantamount to the shift from the age of craftsmen with its masters,journeymen and apprentices to to Henry Ford's assembly line.
Next, note the impact on the tenured faculty. In the 1970s they made up 65% of the professorate. Today they make up only 35%. This is the equivalent of replacing the master craftsmen with the assembly line workers. When that happened in heavy industries, these industries were ripe for unionization.
Add to this mix organized labor... whittled down from 33% to 7% of the private-sector workforce, as America's heavy industries moved offshore... and under heavy attack in the public sector by Republican governors and legislatures.
Thus: a labor movement hungry for new members and a potential constituency that is bright enough and liberal enough to embrace unionization.
College administrators: Grab your heads between your legs, grab your ankles and brace for a wild ride.
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