1 These findings are reported in “The Dover Project,” a joint paper submitted by Ann Atkins, Darla Bradley, Kathleen Mize, and Greg Taylor in April, 1983.

2 Ironically, the political position of the secretaries has been improved by the financial crunch. A good full-time secretary is a treasure beyond measure and anyone who can type with more than two fingers could earn more money elsewhere. Faculty, knowing that staff people are financially exploited, feel guilty about asking for anything out of the ordinary. The demand for typing services is also so disproportionate to the supply of typists that the secretaries can choose which project will or will not be done. Non-typing faculty are in particularly vulnerable situations.

3 The costs of the current chalk policy are actually higher—and the cost-benefit ratio lower—because these calculations do not factor in the time required for both forgetful and organized faculty members to obtain and transport the chalk between the departmental office, their private offices, and the classrooms. This time could have been employed in more productive pursuits. Such time loss would be partially offset by the effort required if the janitors were to place chalk in the rooms. One suspects, however, that the janitors would do this job more efficiently, and in any case costs of this procedure would necessarily be lower because the salaries of maintenance personnel are even more depressed than those of the faculty.

4 Etheredge, Lloyd S., The Case of the Unreturned Cafeteria Trays (Washington, D.C.: American Political Science Association, 1976)Google Scholar.

5 My apologies to Hardin, Garrett. See “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science, December 13, 1968, pp. 1243–1248Google Scholar.

6 I am speaking here of what Diesing, Paul calls technical-economic, as opposed to social, legal, or political rationality. Reason in Society (Urbana: University of IIIinois Press, 1962Google Scholar; reprint ed., Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1975).

7 None of these theories relates to even the obvious point of where to place the tray stacks or conveyor belts in relation to the exits. Nor do they discuss the characteristics of a large urban high school, which in some respects resembles a prison. As in prisons, attendance is mandatory and the labeling of individuals as failures is common. Glandularly unstable young people are forced to do and eat what is good for them. This is a good formula inciting rebellion. McDonald's is different in every respect. It is voluntary, egalitarian, and you can stuff yourself with all the sugary drinks, salty meats and hot fudge sundaes you can hold and pay for. It is open at most hours of the day and night, and best of all, it is totally predictable. Liver and onions will never be plopped on your plate unexpectedly. Given the extra-ordinary socialization and advertising effort propping up the Golden Arches, it becomes understandable that McDonald's is the place for happy family fun, while the high school cafeteria is often the place for “fun” of the Animal House variety. The authority and incentive structures of the two types of organizations are also worlds apart. Getting the kids to return their cafeteria trays will not make the principal, vice-president and teachers rich, for example.

8 One argument for departmental control over the chalk supply is that some faculty prefer different colors of chalk. This is not persuasive, however. The departments would remain free to purchase whatever chalk they wished out of general commodity funds. Pieces of both yellow and white chalk could be placed on the boards by the janitors. It should be noted that the chalk problem is most evident in classrooms used by more than one department.

9 One informant to whom I mentioned the paradox of green blackboards described an even more striking phenomenon: green blackberries are red.

10 lnterviews with janitors. In some settings, the language of union contracts is so specific as to require negotiations for the type of change we have proposed. This seems not to be the case here.

11 One means of bridging the gap between faculty and maintenance personnel would be the Maoist/Castroite solution of having faculty members periodically serve as janitors. This would presumably impede the development of social-economic class distinctions. Some would argue, however, that the farsighted compensation policies of the state legislature have precluded the need for such action, since some faculty already work as house painters and shopping mall clerks on a part-time basis— to take but two current Schroeder Hall examples.