Charles Manning, chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents, acknowledged that adjuncts teach a large share of the classes at the board's institutions. "They are critical," he said. Asked if they were well paid, he said that they are "clearly not."

At the same time, he defended the decision not to raise the maximum [pay] level. "That would raise expectations when we don't have the money," he said.

It's not a matter of enlightening the suits. We know. The problem is deeper.

From Gene Lucas, executive Vice Chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, in response to this week's round of devastating midyear budget cuts:

"I've been at the executive vice chancellor position for six, going on seven years, and I've had five years of budget cuts out of that and no year of recovery," he said. "It hasn't been all that much fun."

Solidarity, brother. I'm right there with ya.

From Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard:

"Tradeoffs and hard choices that can be avoided in times of plenty cannot be averted now."

When even Harvard has to economize, it's time to stop pretending that this is anything other than structural.

From Rahm Emmanuel, President-Elect Obama's incoming Chief of Staff:

"You don't ever want a crisis to go to waste; it's an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid"

Exactly.