The Role of Staff in a University

I was giving this some thought yesterday. Staff are kind of the unsung heroes of the education system. They certainly don't receive the glory and honour given to faculty and they're not treated with the sort of curious reverence that students are afforded; yet they fulfill a vital function and without them the university would grind to a halt in a hurry.

I would also add that although they receive very few honours, they do receive a great deal of the blame when things don't go the way people want them to. When things take a long time or it's necessary to put in place unfavourable, occasionally foolish, policies, staff are expected to enact, carry out, and defend them to students and faculty who are effected. They are often treated as second class citizens by both students and faculty.

Moreover, when it comes to furthering the cause of social justice staff contribute as much as faculty or staff in that they create the conditions under which social justice happens. They DO social justice by organizing and collaborating with students and faculty to make happen events and microevents of resistence against the neoliberal creep that is affecting all universities.