tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post1924597955578127010..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: RYS Flashback To Year One. 8 Years Ago Today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-67613577028355379122013-11-10T21:27:24.317-05:002013-11-10T21:27:24.317-05:00I hope you stick around. I like different voices a...<i>I hope you stick around. I like different voices and hearing from academics at all different levels with all different experiences.</i><br /><br />Just wanted to second this comment from Hiram. I know I express my unhappiness with various aspects of my contingent status more directly here than I would with most of my tenure-track colleagues, because I don't have to worry about the Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-18717642501853600772013-11-10T14:10:36.466-05:002013-11-10T14:10:36.466-05:00I'm fortunate in that our university has a new...I'm fortunate in that our university has a new provost who is what you might call a new broom, and I and the other academic staff, as well as junior faculty, are working as hard as we can to push for reforms before the poor guy gets burned out.<br /><br />Our biggest headache is by far the senior faculty in our own departments, who are able to cause the most trouble through threatening Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08119100121479821544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-44888126984300060392013-11-10T11:37:30.476-05:002013-11-10T11:37:30.476-05:00^ This this this this this this this this this thi...^ This this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this thisintrovert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-17525850933937702152013-11-10T07:32:10.526-05:002013-11-10T07:32:10.526-05:00Forgive me arriving late to the party, but I'l...Forgive me arriving late to the party, but I'll just offer an observation. The following two sentences are remarkably similar:<br /><br />"If your administrators are making terrible choices, find a way to change that!"<br /><br />"If your students are making failing grades, find a way to change that!"<br /><br />Both sentences are paraphrased from comments in this thread,Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59009215631778481942013-11-10T02:05:04.098-05:002013-11-10T02:05:04.098-05:00I agree that there's a difference in an empath...I agree that there's a difference in an empathetic "Courage!" to the miserians and the kind of courage Yuri was advocating, but I still don't think he deserves to be told he's the whole problem. <br /><br />Part of the problem with an online forum is that we don't know everything about each other (thankfully), and as a result, we make assumptions based only on what The Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-74596587641301861692013-11-10T00:29:13.933-05:002013-11-10T00:29:13.933-05:00Hiram, I love you. You're one of my favorites...Hiram, I love you. You're one of my favorites. <br /><br />And while "have courage" said with compassion and fellow feeling is a fine sentiment, "have courage, you dolt, and quit your job or march into the president's office, and do this, and do that, and do this, and do that . . . " feels a bit insulting. It assumes that all we do is this blog. Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-82066974988475153002013-11-09T22:45:58.599-05:002013-11-09T22:45:58.599-05:00Yuri, if you're still around, I hear you and I...Yuri, if you're still around, I hear you and I understand you. But I, too, have tenure and perhaps am on the outside of the most dispiriting misery that plagues the profession. Perhaps the mass of CM readers despise me as well for my good fortune.<br /><br />I think "have courage" is about the best goddamned thing you can say to anyone in any profession. And if this is a blog where Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-9035350553949960892013-11-09T21:03:16.931-05:002013-11-09T21:03:16.931-05:00It is not hard to read "Have courage!" a...It is not hard to read "Have courage!" as "You're all cowards!" Professor Chiltepinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10087270705989845484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71165676253204601302013-11-09T20:00:42.198-05:002013-11-09T20:00:42.198-05:00Whoa, whoa, Prickly Prof:
Yuri is not "the ...Whoa, whoa, Prickly Prof:<br /><br /> Yuri is not "the whole fucking problem." That's a pretty low blow. His experience may genuinely not be the same as some of our experiences, as he's pointed out. That doesn't mean he is the problem. The Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-85984161963204938142013-11-09T19:45:02.481-05:002013-11-09T19:45:02.481-05:00Yuri, you're the whole fucking problem. If you...Yuri, you're the whole fucking problem. If you can't see that, then you really are dense.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-18251214584182793152013-11-09T19:42:09.741-05:002013-11-09T19:42:09.741-05:00I'm tenured faculty now, with no official admi...I'm tenured faculty now, with no official administrative jobs. 2/2, full committee work, all the regular post-tenure responsibilities, unofficial mentor to a bunch of folks.<br /><br />I really don't understand how I'm seen so differently. Perhaps I'm too old and dense. <br /><br />If it's impossible to have courage because most readers here are part-time, and if it's Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59338047446701183912013-11-09T19:09:59.761-05:002013-11-09T19:09:59.761-05:00> I've seen competent and extraordinary adm...> I've seen competent and extraordinary administrators who <br />> came from the faculty and always remembered that.<br /><br />Yuri, your writing this makes me wonder how long it's been since you've served on the faculty. How could you not know that a trend over the past 20 years in universities internationally has been the rise of "professional administration"? TheseFroderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-88387778943912749972013-11-09T16:37:04.269-05:002013-11-09T16:37:04.269-05:00Yuri: I don't think YOU understand, either, th...Yuri: I don't think YOU understand, either, that just because people complain on here or are upset, that doesn''t mean they DON'T go to the Administrators to try to get something fixed. How many experiences on here have we seen where contributors did just that, only to be shut down and had their authority undermined by an Administrator who didn't give a fuck and sided with theThe Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64607115924010180002013-11-09T16:13:25.698-05:002013-11-09T16:13:25.698-05:00Yuri: Having done three postdocs and gotten "...Yuri: Having done three postdocs and gotten "real" teaching experience as an Accursed Visiting Assistant Professor, I've been from an Ivy to a quasi-Ivy to large public R1s to a small private R2, and I'm now at a teaching university, Middlin' State. I've seen many, many deans and other university administrators come and go, but then even at one university that's not Froderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-27316009273676609282013-11-09T14:59:05.909-05:002013-11-09T14:59:05.909-05:00Again, it just seems that everyone has decided tha...Again, it just seems that everyone has decided that these are all unwinnable situations. Every Dean is going to fuck me. Every chair is going to thwart me. Sometimes, absolutely.<br /><br />But not always, and not everytime. Courage, I say again. Even though this appears to be a land where encouraging that notion is something to be mocked. And, in my brief visit here, I am as sure of that as Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-41522064644312814272013-11-09T14:55:49.675-05:002013-11-09T14:55:49.675-05:00Froderick, yes, I've been in a university or t...Froderick, yes, I've been in a university or two. Your experience with Deans and such sounds like you've had one bad institution with serious problems, as you describe. That's unfortunate.<br /><br />Your experience, however, is not the same for every other academic, not even on this blog.<br /><br />I've seen competent and extraordinary administrators who came from the faculty Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-71083615045259865302013-11-09T14:52:32.991-05:002013-11-09T14:52:32.991-05:00Strel, I'm not talking about orders. I'm t...Strel, I'm not talking about orders. I'm talking about being invited to give your opinion, or having anything you say in conversation about policy taken seriouslyintrovert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-48558383494919281872013-11-09T14:21:48.846-05:002013-11-09T14:21:48.846-05:00Yuri, have you ever been in a university? Deans, P...Yuri, have you ever been in a university? Deans, Provosts, and Vice Presidents live in their own little well-insulated bubbles, which cannot be pricked by reality or even their own demonstrated incompetence. Even when tenured full professors like me point out quite serious problems to them, the way I do frequently, their vapid smiles fade from their faces momentarily, and that's about it.Froderick Frankenstien from Fresnohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11653942918068535424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81016690482426332362013-11-09T13:48:37.743-05:002013-11-09T13:48:37.743-05:00introvert.prof, that only holds to the armies &quo...introvert.prof, that only holds to the armies "in freedom"; in the RKKA, a bluecap lieutenant could give orders to a full field general, as long as those orders came from The Boss.Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-83025009999005363262013-11-09T13:16:25.073-05:002013-11-09T13:16:25.073-05:00At my SLAC, Enrollment and Admissions make decisio...At my SLAC, Enrollment and Admissions make decisions about who we admit to the college. That's where our problems start. Students who aren't prepared for college are allowed in. When I explain to the VP for Enrollment or the academic dean or president that we have had to add more Remedial Courses and that half of the students are not likely to pass even the lowest level of remedial The Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2976312977286007372013-11-09T11:54:04.450-05:002013-11-09T11:54:04.450-05:00Yuri, have you ever been in the military? Your opi...Yuri, have you ever been in the military? Your opinion (or grievance) usually doesn't mean shit unless you have advanced to a certain rank, typically pay-grade 7 for enlisted personnel (in the Army, Sergeant First Class; Navy, Chief Petty Officer) or grade 6 for officers (in the Army, Colonel; Navy, Captain). <br /><br />I'm a tenured full professor, so I know I'll be listened to and introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-16340292710557837502013-11-09T11:04:33.352-05:002013-11-09T11:04:33.352-05:00I think that's all reasonable, but then the ne...I think that's all reasonable, but then the next step is to take that barking to the right place, right to the door of your Dean, Provost, or Vice President. (The President is in Atlanta, scuffling for money.)<br /><br />Seriously, get whipped up and then change what's wrong!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-55857038993571264012013-11-09T10:01:29.202-05:002013-11-09T10:01:29.202-05:00This needs to go in the "what we're about...This needs to go in the "what we're about" file. If we had one.introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.com