Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Work Drama and the "Ivy Tower"

I don't usually engage in conversations about how tenure track faculty treat non-tenure track faculty or how T-T faculty often live in an ivory tower.  Why?  I'm not entirely sure, but mostly because these conversations, in my estimation, tend to become heated very quickly and are often filled with vitriol.  On any given week, I have enough drama in my personal life (thanks to my extended family and in-laws) that I don't really want to engage in drama in the blogosphere.  This week, however, I am the target of the ivory tower.  While I am not the target directly, I am being directly affected by several T-T faculty members belief in "the system" and their placement in the ivory tower of academia.

Dr. English stopped by my office earlier this week to tell me that my job talk will have to be pushed back again.  It seems that at least three members of the department have come to him and expressed concern over a non-competitive hire.  This department has never made a partner placement.  Yes, you read that correctly; while there are a number of couples in the department and several members have partners in other departments or faculties, this department has never hired a partner of a department member in a non-competitive hire.  There is, however, a slight caveat to that truth.  At least two members of the department (one of whom has a partner on a T-T line in the department and the other has a spouse on a T-T line in a different department) have threatened to leave if their partners weren't considered for T-T positions within the university.  Suddenly, there were T-T positions open specifically in these individuals' spouses' areas, and miraculously, each search committee interviewed and selected these individuals for the open positions.  At no point whatsoever did either committee discuss the fact that these individuals were partners with prominent members of the English department, I'm quite certain.  Incidentally, both of these individuals have been hired in the last 5 years. 

As a result of never having hired someone purely through a partner placement, the department does not have a specific policy on this.  Therefore, to address all the talk, as Dr. English put it, he wants to push back my job talk to discuss department policy on non-competitive hires.  This conversation will take place at the next department meeting, which he specifically asked me not to attend.  Following the conversation, we will set a date for my job talk and interview, and we will move forward.  He assured me that he is certain everything will be fine; he can't, however, make that promise.

All of this annoys me for several reasons.  First, even though Dr. English has assured me that this "isn't about me," it is very hard not to take this personally.  The three people who have expressed concern over a non-competitive hire have made no attempt to meet me, to learn about my work, or to learn about my teaching.  They simply assume that if this is a non-competitive search then, well, I must be below the standards of the department.  Second, none of these individuals cares that I've been teaching in their beloved department since 2009 (or that my teaching scores are a full point higher than the department average, but whatever).  Thus, I'm apparently worthy of teaching their students in both intro level courses and upper level courses, but I'm not worthy of being their colleague.  Third, they seem to have no understanding of how a partner placement could benefit a department.  In this case, specifically, they will have hired a person who does something that no one in their department does--in fact, this was a topic of conversation at a faculty meeting last year, as several junior members were appalled that a department of this size at a major research university does not have a T-T faculty member in this particular field.  Well, not only am I'm firmly in that field, but I also have a historical perspective on said field, something all major research universities in the States have started recognizing is crucial.  Further, I am the only member of said department who has been trained to teach underwater basket weaving, a field that this department is beginning to realize it will have to move into if it is to stay relevant.  Oh, and I'm already here.  They don't have to sell me on CU Land; and if I'm being totally honest, for a young, hot scholar in my field, CU Land would be a hard sell indeed.  Finally, I volunteer for committee work, I show up for meetings, I do my job and I do it well.  So what is the big friggin' deal?

The big friggin' deal is that these three individuals are so far out of touch with reality that not only do they simply not understand how all universities need to have a partner placement policy in place, but they also don't understand that keeping their faculty members happy (even if said faculty member works in another department) is crucial to keeping the university running.  They actually seem to believe there is a difference between them and me because I've worked as a lecturer in their department before earning my current appointment, which is a research based appointment.  And these are the people I was so excited to consider my colleagues only 3 days ago.

7 comments:

rented life said...

ugh, I'm so sorry. This week I was also teh target of a tenured faculty member's...uh..hostility is a nice was of putting it. I've been on and off hir radar since I arrived.

While I've encountered some differences in how tt/tenured treat temps/adjuncts etc, it's usually pretty minor and easy to brush over. (The larger problem tended to come from how many letters you had after your name, adjunct or not.) This school I'm not at, however, seems more in line with the stories I've read/heard from others, complete with theft and hazing techniques. God forbid you point out this problems (hey we're adults, let's act like it), then you increase the target placed on your back. It's a mentality I don't understand.

M said...

RL, what pisses me off the most about this is that one of the three faculty members apparently confronted Dr. English directly and said, "Who is this person? I've never met her. I'm a tenured professor in this department, and I should have met her." To which Dr. English apparently said, "Well, M has been in attendance at every single public department meeting this year. Further, she has attended every single public department meeting since she was hired to teach in our department, and that was 2009. She has also volunteered for Open House and attended over half of the job talks for the three positions we're currently hiring. If you haven't met her, clearly you haven't made an effort to do so." Yes, that's right. The person bitching about me hasn't attended a single department meeting this year. And I'm the one who isn't qualified to be a part of this department?

I don't get the whole target thing either. I've worked in settings other than academia, as I know you have, and I find that people with experience outside of academia are much better at playing with others than those who have never had to wait tables, work retail, or be someone's admin assistant. It's called being out of touch with reality, and it's irritating.

rented life said...

Never been to a meeting? That's absurd. Glad Dr. English said that.

I keep hearing that everyone should have to work in the service industry for a little while no matter what...that increasingly sounds like a good idea.

M said...

You know when students come to me asking me to write letters of recommendation for grad school, I start the conversation by saying, "Why do you want to go to grad school?" If the student says, "Well, because I don't know what else to do," I refuse to write the letter. That isn't a reason to go to grad school. I tell these students to go wait tables for a year--that will help them figure out what they want to do with their lives.

L said...

wow... that's just so awful! I hope everything ends well, but this is very upsetting and, I imagine, nerve racking. Sigh... I'm sorry you're going through this! :(

Anonymous said...

Seems to me this is completely typical. I've decided contingent faculty positions are the academic equivalent of being in the friend zone.

M said...

then I guess I should count these 3 people as my frenemies.