Zooze the Horse roams around the pasture near Lamar State College. Zooze thinks about problems in academia. Zhe wants proffies to submit posts (blog posts, not fence posts).
Monday, September 3, 2018
at the very tail end of Labor Day in the U.S. . . .
Are you a laborer?
Are you fortunate enough to have supervisors not abusing their power over you?
One of the reasons I came to my present institution was that at my previous institution, the attitude between the administration and the faculty was positively feudal. Any faculty complaint was answered with "You can be replaced"; the sentiment was "Be grateful we allow you to farm the feudal estate, and if we pull the drawbridge up with you on the outside, it's your problem." The first time I saw a poster on a door that said “THE BEATINGS WILL CONTUNUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVED” I burst out laughing: it suited that place so well.
During my first few years here, there was a genuine feeling that the administration and the faculty were on the same side. It was very refreshing. Then, in 2009, we got a new provost who had the unfortunate habit of acting in major ways, before consulting or apparently thinking very much. By 2013, he did manage to get enough line items on his resume for him to get a job as a university president, mercifully far from here.
During those four years, he hired a disastrously destructive dean, who begat a diabolical associate dean and a dishonest department chair. We gave the department chair a vote of no confidence and removed him from office, not without a fight. The associate dean got a job as a dean at some other university, mercifully far from here.
Getting rid of these people took 7 years, a long process reminiscent of passing a kidney stone. We got a much-improved administration, and so far it’s been great. Cherish the good administrators, for they are rare.
And of course, our provost has now moved on, and will be replaced with a new one next year. I am trying to get on the selection committee, since passing another kidney stone would be NO fun.
I was a laborer. It was awful.
ReplyDeletehttps://collegemisery.blogspot.com/2013/12/hi-from-wombat.html?m=1
December, 2013. Thanks for making me feel old!!!
DeleteOne of the reasons I came to my present institution was that at my previous institution, the attitude between the administration and the faculty was positively feudal. Any faculty complaint was answered with "You can be replaced"; the sentiment was "Be grateful we allow you to farm the feudal estate, and if we pull the drawbridge up with you on the outside, it's your problem." The first time I saw a poster on a door that said “THE BEATINGS WILL CONTUNUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVED” I burst out laughing: it suited that place so well.
ReplyDeleteDuring my first few years here, there was a genuine feeling that the administration and the faculty were on the same side. It was very refreshing. Then, in 2009, we got a new provost who had the unfortunate habit of acting in major ways, before consulting or apparently thinking very much. By 2013, he did manage to get enough line items on his resume for him to get a job as a university president, mercifully far from here.
During those four years, he hired a disastrously destructive dean, who begat a diabolical associate dean and a dishonest department chair. We gave the department chair a vote of no confidence and removed him from office, not without a fight. The associate dean got a job as a dean at some other university, mercifully far from here.
Getting rid of these people took 7 years, a long process reminiscent of passing a kidney stone. We got a much-improved administration, and so far it’s been great. Cherish the good administrators, for they are rare.
And of course, our provost has now moved on, and will be replaced with a new one next year. I am trying to get on the selection committee, since passing another kidney stone would be NO fun.