A Facebook group called The Professor Is Out, which has close to 33,000 members, aims to spirit dissatisfied U.S. college and university professors out of their profession and into other pursuits. It's just one of many markers that a significant number of professors are deeply unhappy with their jobs, their compensation and the general direction of higher education policy in the United States.
Many universities, saddled with construction debt and falling enrollment, have instituted budget cuts, salary freezes and program eliminations. Even at institutions not threatened with doom, many faculty saw an erosion in salary and benefits after the Great Recession. And then along came the one-two punch of Covid-19 and post-pandemic inflation. These developments have damaged "the ability of colleges and universities to attract and retain talented faculty members," the American Association of University Professors said in its 2022-2023 annual report.
Meanwhile, undergraduate college enrollments in the United States peaked in 2010, and a "steep drop in the traditional college-age population" will affect universities and colleges "in certain parts of the country starting in 2025," said Sara Weissman for Inside Higher Ed. This looming problem is known in education circles as "the demographic cliff."
That is the bleak landscape facing many university faculty who come to The Professor is Out for help. One recent poster, a tenured professor, asked for input, saying "the monotony, politics, budget woes, blank-eyed students, continual emails and ever-shifting priorities of the university" were leading to a search for opportunities outside the industry. None of the commenters recommended staying in academia. | 
