July 13, 2007

Handling the ‘Bad Apples’

Department heads, accustomed to running their own meetings, mostly listened along with provosts, deans and other faculty members during a training workshop in Seattle this week geared toward advising academic leaders in the science, engineering and math fields on how to manage their divisions while keeping diversity in mind.

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The first national conference, called Leadership Excellence for Academic Diversity, was held at the University of Washington and supported by a National Science Foundation program intended to promote the advancement of women in the faculty ranks. More broadly, the conference addressed departmental culture and professional development of faculty.

Amid discussions of unconscious biases against women in academe and ways to mentor young female faculty, a theme emerged that had less to do with gender and more to do with faculty life in general. Current and past academic chairs swapped horror stories and asked how to best handle academic bullies — generally older, tenured professors who are unwilling to take direction and can create what many described as a “toxic environment” in the department.

“I look at it like the classroom,” said Sheila Hemami, a professor in Cornell University’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and programming director for the institution’s ADVANCE program (which, like ones at Washington and elsewhere, focus on female faculty advancement). “One bad apple can spoil a class, just as one bad apple can spoil a department meeting.”

Faculty leaders said they can talk within their departments all they want about being inclusive, but one disparaging comment about race, gender or sexual orientation by a professor can poison a discussion and potentially sour junior professors on the department. Some said the thorny professor also plays a role in both scaring away potential female hires who can already feel unwelcome in male-dominated fields and convincing female graduate students at the institution to continue their careers outside of higher education.

Speakers emphasized that they are not interested in censoring what faculty members say in the classroom or in their personal lives, but rather changing the tone of some departmental meetings and events. The environment, they say, can shape how people perceive their field.

Suzanne O’Connell, an associate professor and past chair of the earth and environmental sciences department at Wesleyan University, said the problem is particularly acute in small departments where one voice can have even more impact. Most faculty chairs, she said, don’t have training in how to diffuse tense situations.

“I’ve seen a few people willing to marginalize faculty, and there just isn’t an all-for-one culture in academic departments that would lead to (the bullies) being confronted,” Hemami said.

Ana Mari Cauce, chair of Washington’s department of psychology and a professor of American ethnic studies, said chairs shouldn’t be afraid to tell a professor that a certain behavior won’t be tolerated during meetings. Rather than addressing the issue as an entire department, academic chairs should confront the professor in a one-on-one setting, added Terri S. Fiez, director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at Oregon State University.

Part of the issue is power, Fiez said. That’s why discussing privately comments that were made in a group setting deprives the professor the joy of igniting a larger fire. To that end, Fiez said academic chairs should do whatever possible to gauge departmental consensus on issues rather than letting a vocal senior member have undue say during votes.

“If schools are serious about promoting diversity, they need to get away from the hierarchical structure of departments,” she said.

But several department leaders said during the meeting that they didn’t seek out the chair position and don’t have an interest in policing faculty discussions. Many noted that they never had training in managing personalities, to which Fiez said she disagrees. “Everyone has had to manage graduate students,” she said.

Cauce, of UW, said more common than the overt bully is the well-intentioned faculty member whose subconscious bias against women in the sciences might lead the person to advise the student against declaring a major in a related field. (She cited such a case.) Speakers during several sessions pointed to implicit gender biases as one reason why more women aren’t faculty in science and engineering departments.

Even as data from the National Science Foundation shows that the proportion of women enrolled in graduate programs in the sciences increased in every category from 1994 to 2004, speakers at the conference expressed concern about the lack of women becoming professors in many of those fields. Data from 2005 that surveyed 100 top science departments (measured by research dollars won) show that while women and underrepresented minority faculty are slowly entering the professoriate in the SEM fields at a higher rate, they are still scarce in the highest-ranked departments and among the tenured. (Some conceded that women often choose not to apply to these faculty openings.) Speakers said it’s important to look at the net gain of female or minority professors, or else all that’s measured is which programs are stealing candidates from others.

Cheryl R. Kaiser, an assistant professor of psychology at UW, pointed to research showing that faculty serving on hiring committees subconsciously react more favorably to a male name than a female name on a résumé when the gender of the candidate is the only difference. She also noted that evaluations written for male faculty in engineering and the sciences often focus on his prowess for research, while the note for a female candidate often concentrates on her teaching abilities. When tenure or hiring decisions are made largely based on money brought in through grants, that’s problematic for female faculty, Kaiser said.

The workshop, based on previous pilot programs, included little discussion of when a department knows that it has achieved its diversity goal, and instead focused more on how to open doors to non-traditional candidates and retain them. Among the topics:

Robert Page, director of the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, said department leaders have to get away from the idea of replacing a previous professor when making a hire and focus more on need.
Cauce and several other speakers said with the changes in STEM fields, it often makes more sense to hire in clusters, or at least think about how a candidate will handle team research. Along those lines, Mark J.T. Smith, head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, said departments need to think about the best fits, not just the best candidates, and then diversity will take care of itself.
Speakers underscored the importance of mentoring faculty in the sciences, saying that constructive feedback in the first 1-2 years (even if most of what’s happening is setting up labs) helps them feel connected. Smith said he meets monthly with untenured faculty members to talk largely about promotion and tenure.
Cauce said that as a dean, when she serves as a mentor, she is up front about the relationship with a faculty member. “I’m clear that I’ll go to bat for you and help negotiate with the university,” she said. “But I also say that as chair, I’m going to be evaluative in meetings and document everything, so for certain topics maybe it’s best to speak to someone else.”

— Elia Powers

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Comments

What happens when the chair IS the bad apple?

kgotthardt, at 6:50 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Bad Apples

Laura Nader (Ralph’s smarter sister) as a long time professor of anthropology at UC Berkeley often was ignored or told to be quiet by meeting chairs because, after all, she was so difficult and contrarian. Her reply was that as a professor her role was to be contrarian. But what would she know?

John Thelin, Professor at University of Kentucky, at 7:20 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Why not just hand scripts out to the tenured faculty prior to the meeting?

WilliamS, at 7:35 am EDT on July 13, 2007

The Chair as the BA along with individuals in the department who have tenure and NO Doctorates! Thus, creating a massive toxic environment for those of us with Doctorates and no tenue.

KRocha, at 7:55 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Bad Apple is a polite way of saying these people are academic bullies. Department chairs have a responsibility to stop inappropriate behaviors when they happen. You wouldn’t let your kids get away with this stuff. Why would you let the bully do it? Be the grown-up in these situations. You shouldn’t need specialized training. You just need common sense.

HR Executive Director, at 8:30 am EDT on July 13, 2007

another fad

HR Executive Director, I know that I might regret replying to someone in “Human Resources” but by the time someone becomes a university professor they can, should, and must know how to deal with difficult people. A professorship a position which is the culmination of years of hard work and schmoozing. It is hard to imagine that somehow, these socially skilled masters feel “bullied.” Moreover, “Common sense” is a piece of empty rhetoric. What is “common” to you, is not common to me. For instance, in my world “common sense” dictates telling people to never trust anyone in an HR-department. But some people disagree.

Yes, there are jerks. There are jerks everywhere. I think so. But, jerks are a fact of life, and if you can’t deal with them in your field – move.

And come on – one comment can ruin a whole department? Maybe the department was already ruined.

Larry, at 8:55 am EDT on July 13, 2007

What is sorely needed in academics is mandatory training for all department chairs in the following areas: legal requirements for managers, HR policies and procedures, conflict resolution, performance management.

If universities required this sort of training for their department chairs, then no one would hold meetings that under the guise of diversity proclaim ‘one bad apple’ can spoil the department.

If the one bad apple is publicly saying racist and sexist drivel, then s/he’s not spoiling the group, but establishing huge liability for the university. As ‘agents of the university,’ Chairs must be able to deal with these issues in a decisive manner.

Earning a Ph.D. does not confer knowledge of management and leadership. Despite the fact that many academics resist ‘training,’ if one aspire to leadership positions, this training is critical.

Linda, at 9:30 am EDT on July 13, 2007

indoctrination or training

Linda, Yes, department heads need to know what is illegal. And, quite frankly, a lot of things that make people uncomfortable are perfectly legal. But, beyond that, people can and should fend for themselves. To do otherwise means that some ideas will be blocked in the name of “congeniality.” Moreover, there is nothing stopping people from censoring YOUR comments because someone thinks that they make people uncomfortable.

Resolving conflicts isn’t just a matter of a two-day workshop. It often involves understanding what the real issues are, and sometimes deciding that someone is just wrong or too thin-skinned. I think that you are seeking to indoctrinate PhDs into your way of thinking via “training.”

If one bad apple is saying racist and sexist drivel, I don’t think that they are subjecting the university to too much liability, unless their comments are pervasive and really preventing people from working. (On the other hand, if decisions are made for purely racist reasons we got another problem.)

Larry, at 9:50 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Effort at institutional control has little to do with diversity

I have yet to see senior faculty in my department resist hiring women or people of color. Rather, I have watched senior tenured faculty resist the dean’s or provost’s or president’s or major donor’s latest buzz-word “vision” for my university, department, and field of study. And, now that I have worked and aged myself into tenured seniority, to which the modern university managers like to attach the label “academic bully,” I relish joining other senior tenured faculty in “bullying” mediocre managers and resisting their half-baked notions and strategies borrowed from professional development conferences such as the one described in this story.

The tenured senior professor has become the last man or woman standing capable of resisting overpaid and dubiously qualified university managers more interested in looking good than being good, in ringing more revenue from faculty activities in the classroom or research facility, in bullying if they can’t manipulate faculty, in expanding their administrative staffs, in promoting themselves to their next position at an ever larger or more prestigious university, and more interested in pleasing corporate and foundation sponsors than maintaining academic quality, standards, or intellectual diversity on their campuses.

Joseph Bernt, Professor of Journalism at Ohio University, at 9:50 am EDT on July 13, 2007

I have always been amazed with the idea that having a college degree, particularly a PhD, seems to confer some kind of mastery of all-life skills. It does not. Just because one has a degree does not mean they know how to run a department. Terri S. Fiez is wrong...overseeing graduate students is not management. My institution is big on leadership training, but there are those one simply cannot lead. That being the case they will have to be managed, and few department heads, deans, provosts or college presidents have any formal management training. I have always wondered what the environment would be like if all those in leadership positions had even a modicum of some kind of management training.

Richard Baker, Associate Professor at Kansas State University, at 9:55 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Bad Apples

I have a friend in another state who has two or three “bad apples” in her department who lie, cheat, and manipulate things to make certain others look bad, to get those certain ones’ schedules upside down by taking their classes and to get admin. to think the others’ are the bad guys. The rest of the department goes through hell semester after semester. The troublemakersare repremanded and the situation has to be handled over and over every semester. My friend (who has been there for a long time) is losing her patience, but she is determined not to let these twits drive her away...So far admin. has supported her and the others whom these people have attacked, but who knows what will happen in the future??? Should there be limits on disruptive junk? Absolutely. Disagreeing when it is appropriate is fine, but when it becomes repeated attacks on a certain group, it needs to be stopped.

Judy Harris, professor at Tomball College, at 9:55 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Here to stay

Sorry, but there is absolutely, positively nothing you can do about bad apples due to tenure. If someone has a lifetime shield from accountability...I mean, protection of speech and thought, there isn’t much you can do but learn to live with it. Stop complaining, get over it, and do the best you can.

PS, at 10:15 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Such behaviour has already destroyed our own department. But in addition to “toxic meeting behavior” it is the scheming outside meetings — even after a relatively consensual meeting has agreed what is to be done and by whom — that causes more problems. Make ‘em go and sit in a playground for a couple of hours — that is where such behavior originates, after all.

SP, at 10:35 am EDT on July 13, 2007

“But, jerks are a fact of life, and if you can’t deal with them in your field – move.”

Yes, Larry. That’s exactly what people do when their departments are poisoned by jerks and bullies. The people who can move, move, and the people who are stuck with the jerks stay stuck with the jerks.

And then, like clockwork, the jerks and bullies turn to complaining about how everyone is getting external offers except for them, because their fields have lowered their intellectual standards and have adopted trendy new blah blah blah. Really, one would pity these tiny people if they weren’t so bitter and vicious.

Mobile, at 10:35 am EDT on July 13, 2007

professors are fragile flowers (and censorship)

In looking at the above comments, it seems that roughly half of the commentators want to “stop” comments and impose “limits” on discussion. Why is this? Are professors really that fragile flowers that they need someone to step in and censor what other people say.

If people are really “stealing” or “cheating” it can be dealt with via normal, extant procedures. But, if someone has some ideas you don’t like, just deal with it.

Larry, at 10:35 am EDT on July 13, 2007

Chair as bad apple

Since this NSF workshop focused on diversity, I’ll take kgotthardt’s question a step further:

What happens when the DIVERSE chair is the bad apple?

Like my diverse chair who declared during a recent department meeting: “Academic freedom only applies to research, not teaching!”

Dr. RingDing, at 10:35 am EDT on July 13, 2007

On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation

On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluationhttp://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/collegiality.htm?PF=1

Brian Manhire, Professor Emeritus at Ohio University, at 12:10 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

I am a very young professor, 25.(So I am new to the politics) So, I was assigned to take notes during the faculty meetings. I took very accurate notes, wrote down everything that was said. And for the next meeting another faculty asked that a paragraph be removed because there was a statement that was said by another professor truthfully describing his absence from not assisting a student for his recital, when I said but this is what was said and I am just taking notes. I was ignored with no explanation. So maybe I should have “Selective hearing"?

James, Professor of Music, at 1:35 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

Right on, Larry!

Here we have on display the pathetic simpering and sniveling by the behavior modification zealots of Human Resources units at the modern university.

Larry’s rebukes and poignant responses are exactly accurate.

The inability of faculty to develop thicker skins, better retorts, more effective senses of humor or merely common sense is another testimony to the culture of victimhood that is so pervasive and mockable thanks to the obsessive social engineers of political correctness.

The endless demands for compulsory niceness simply perpetuates the sexist and racist stereotypes of women and ethnic minorities as needing coddling, protection, and huggles from the big bad wolves of academia.

Thank you again Larry for pointing out the infantilization of the faculty. I share your disgust with those folks.

Chuck, at 1:40 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

What Am I Missing?

What am I missing here? This sounds like it was to be a conference on leadership with the intent to foster greater number of women faculty. Instead it sounds like it was hijacked by Department Heads to fit their own agenda — who is the bully here? Sounds like there might be some good reasons for people to be “difficult.”

AC, at 9:50 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

Disgust?

Dear Chuck,

I’ve read a lot of Larry’s comment’s here at ISHE and while I often disagree with him, I find him to be a thoughtful and fair-minded contributor—a far cry from some of the knee-jerk prof haters that populate this forum. So I’m not at all sure that he shares your blanket disgust with the professoriate. Larry, please correct me if I’m wrong.

Cacambo, at 9:50 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

Handling Bad Apples

I think it is very SAD that our children/students are being taught by individuals of this ilk. These people who profess to be educated adults at universities and colleges are simply children themselves. What a shame!!! Is this what we are paying for? Is this the reason we are becoming indebted (with student loans) in order that our offspring can receive a higher education from these boors? Fancy being absent so that you do not have to help your student with his/her recital? How do you sleep at night? You people are sickening!!!

Judith, at 9:50 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

Its always hard to capture subtleties in stories like this. This workshop did not endorse any one model of leadership, nor did it offer chairs pat solutions to complex issues. It was primarily a forum for the discussion of issues that play a key role to the health of our institutions and departments, but that we generally consider peripheral, so we seldom talk about them. It was about sharing solutions we had each found helpful in our own work.

This wasn’t about silencing people with “different” positions and it was anything but prescriptive. The example I mentioned when I made my comments was attending a workshop for women of color, run by a respected national organization, where a speaker said she felt it was perfectly reasonable (indeed, practically a necessary good) to eliminate gays or lesbians from the list of finalists for presidencies in certain (non-liberal) parts of the country. The comment was never directly addressed by the panel organizers, suggesting this position was ok with them, which I continue to find appalling. I noted that I would not allow such a comment to be said at a faculty meeting I was chairing without a very clear response as to how it was unacceptable.

It is very hard to judge the tone of the workshop without the context of specific examples that went with the comments. But, I can assure you the workshop did not encourage a victim mentality, censorship of varied ideas and styles of expression, or a narrow view of acceptable discourse.

Ana Mari Cauce

Ana Mari Cauce, at 9:50 pm EDT on July 13, 2007

Absolutely insane

More than 80% of academia is owned and financed by taxpayers. The level of waste described above would never be tolerated outside academia.

This is just one more rationale for privatizing public academia, taking it off the public dole. Once off the public dole, the idiocy described above would either end or the college would go bankrupt.

Buzz, at 6:25 am EDT on July 14, 2007

Before assuming that this is a P.C. mafia diversity rampage, you guys should talk to some female grad students in a science department about screamingly inappropriate comments by people in positions of power and prestige. (I don’t mean just sexual advances, but pigheaded stuff like demanding them to choose between career and family, saying there’s no point in giving women PhDs because they drop out to have kids, and so on.) I’m sure it happens in other departments too, but science departments are the ones I know about — and the ones with the biggest retention problems, to my knowledge.

Telling the objects of abuse or disparagement to brush it off and develop a thick skin is B.S. It is excusing petty tyrants who have nothing better to do than play big-fish/small-pond and lord it over underlings. Lots of behavior happens that has no place in an educational institution.

Benjamin W., Enormous State University, at 6:25 am EDT on July 14, 2007

80%?

Buzz,

I’d be very interested to know your source for the 80% figure. Smells like BS to me. At my university the figure is closer to 30%, and believe it or not, some taxpayers around here think they get a pretty good return on their investment. The university is the single largest employer in a very red state, brings in many many millions of dollars of grant money every year to boost the local economy, enriches the cultural and intellectual atmosphere of it’s home city in countless ways. Some taxpayers are even grateful that world-class experts in their fields (that’s right—those evil profs you love to hate) have chosen to make this state their home and have dedicated their lives to educating it’s children.

Cacambo, at 9:05 am EDT on July 14, 2007

Heard of Google?

” .. I’d be very interested to know your source for the 80% figure .. At my university the figure is closer to 30% ..”

A few silly things called “facts:”

* Government-subsidized academics like Ward Churchill think “well, tuition is only 30% subsidized, so we’re really not gummint.”

WRONG! Who holds title on the buildings? Who provides the working capital? Who owns the copyrights? The work contracts?

State colleges haven’t been “communized” to the faculty. Even Mao and Stalin never allowed that — but Mao did provide free farming experiences for academics.

* The 80% figure (state-owned v. 20% privately-owned) has been used on this posting board for months.

Hint: there’s this groovy new thing called “Google” that hip cats use to look up information. Look it up yourself, if you can. I doubt you can, but miracles happen.

Your obvious sensitivity about taxpayer subsidy and fear of accountability from privatization proves the obvious flaws of goverment-subsidized employment (e.g., overblown sense of entitlement, sloppy thinking, sloth, sub-marginal performance, waste, etc.).

Vedder (Ohio U.) has already strongly challenged the questionable theory that high taxes for higher ed results in higher economic performance.

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=8175

If your high-tax state had deluded itself into thinking high taxes will result in a high-profit blockbuster invention — good luck. That’s more a function of randomness. Plus, once invented, Michael Moore starts criticizing the invention and your state.

Buzz, at 1:40 pm EDT on July 14, 2007

replies

Mr. Cacambo, Of course I don’t hate professors. I have the greatest respect for the profession. Like all groups of people, they have their good people, and people I want to avoid.

Judith, The people that choose to become professors know what sort of atmosphere exists in academe. In general, they like it. But, the fact that someone is a jerk to his colleagues doesn’t make him a bad professor or even a bad scholar. At some point pure jerkiness might interfere with scholarship, but most academic-level jerkiness doesn’t rise to that level.

Chuck, Every time you agree with me it gets a little less painful.

Ms. Cauce, Ignoring a comment doesn’t mean that it is endorsed. People might not have been paying attention (as is common at these discussions) or they didn’t want to dignify it with a response. On the other hand, the selection of a present of a university requires that people be convinced that he WILL be liked by even irrational and evil people. So, there might be a little more to this vein than meets the eye.

Buzz, I don’t know where you get your 80% figure from, but the level of “waste” in academe, to me, has always seemed on par with the private sector. The problem is determining what constitutes “waste” Anyway, I think you made up the 80% figure. Whatever the case, anyone that lists a private university as a credential is regarded with suspicion.

Benjamin, There, indeed are tyrants. But I don’t see being a tyrant as a male trait. I have run across plenty of female tyrants. Even minority and lesbian tyrants, exist, too.

Larry, at 1:40 pm EDT on July 14, 2007

If the Chair is The Bad Apple

When the chair is the bad apple, expect massive demoralization. Best recourse is to implement a system of checks and balances where an independent committee can have oversight powers over this fellow- and perhaps recommend his removal.

Aye?

Joseph Plazo, Ateneo, at 4:05 pm EDT on July 14, 2007

Larry, my BFF

From this —

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_170.asp

In 2004, percentage of college students in taxpayer-owned & operated public institutions 75%, private 25%.

Even though U of PHX grew significantly — still looks like a monopoly to me and DOJ, Lar.

Have a nice day, littl’ buddy.

Buzz, at 4:05 pm EDT on July 14, 2007

Pathetic Professoriate

Yo’ Cacambo........ who cares whether someone like “Larry” or anyone else agrees or disagrees with me? This is an open forum, mate, not a popularity contest.

The key question is who can provide a better, more accurate, believable, evidence-based descriptive analysis of the woes, weaknesses and strengths of higher education.

From my vantage point, nowadays the American professoriate — (outside of the natural sciences and engineering) — is more into political advocacy, social reformism and behavior modification than it is committed to conveying and critiquing the great cultural and historical traditions of the world.

Merely a look at the subjects chosen for display on HigherEd.com should convey that fact.

This whole thread merely validates that observation. It shows how unctuous and intrusive Human Resources minions are and why so many faculty happily use contempt and vituperation to denounce such non-academic do-gooders and charlatans.

That was really all I meant to say. Got it?

Chuck, at 4:30 pm EDT on July 14, 2007

My chair was/still is the bad apple. I walked away last year from a university and students that I loved with 12 years of service and started over elsewhere. However, that wasn’t possible for the other female faculty whose careers he destroyed. As long as he has the support of the chancellor and vice chancellors, he will retain power. There is nothing particularly ethical within the university hierarchy.

Ilene P., at 9:30 pm EDT on July 14, 2007

Wow!

Where to start...

Buzz, you claim that

“More than 80% of academia is owned and financed by taxpayers.”

When challenged on this point you bloviate about “facts” and then the best you can do is link to a chart that shows that %75 percent of students attend public universities (or “state owned” as you like to say). The figure in question here is not what percentage of students attend public institutions, but rather what percentage of the revenues for these public institutions comes from state tax dollars.

I took your very helpful advice about this new technology you call “Google” and came up with the following link:

http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=818

“In 1965, UM-Ann Arbor received 70 percent of its funding from the state, but by 2003, had reduced its reliance on state funds to 10 percent of total revenue.

In Arizona, state appropriations constitute 31 percent of Arizona State University’s budget and 28 percent of UA’s budget, according to university officials.”

Granted, it’s just a one link, but the 30% estimate in my earlier post doesn’t seem wildly off the mark. Now, of course, there are other, federal tax dollars that find their way into state university budgets, but I think we can all agree that state universities are closer to public/private partnerships than “gummint” schools, as you so eloquently put it.

As far as who owns the title to the physical plant, that is an interesting question. At my university most of the dorms are owned by private corporations that build and maintain them for a profit. Strangely, this magic fairy dust of private capital does not seem to have significantly improved the quality of residential life.

Chuck,

You insist that:

“The key question is who can provide a better, more accurate, believable, evidence-based descriptive analysis of the woes, weaknesses and strengths of higher education.”

Touché. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your evidence and analysis. I’ve seen precious little of it in your contributions to this thread.

Oh, and by the way, I don’t care if you agree with Larry either. I was merely making a distinction between those who bring professional expertise and sound argumentation to this forum and the tiresome, trollish, one-trick-ponies who lace every single post with the same set of lame talking points.

Got it?

Cacambo, at 1:15 pm EDT on July 15, 2007

Staying on Point

Wow. How far off the track can we get here?

I attended this workshop. It was run by professors and for professors. I think there were a couple of HR folks in attendance, but they were not involved in any of the plans. The speakers were all academics — all professors — all folks in the trenches juggling teaching, research, service, and personal lives.

The target was science, math and engineering department chairs and heads. All particpants attended of their free will because they wanted strategies to help run their departments better. Many were there on their own nickels, taking extra time from alrady jam-packed schedules to try and do their jobs better.

Although toxic tenured profs were the topic of one discussion, and the topic of this article, we spent most of our time sharing strategies that will lead to the most productive department possible.

I sympathize with the minority of respondents to this thread who are looking for actual strategies to help with toxic department chairs. Keep trying. Visit the website given in the article and contact the organizers of the conference for help. And good luck.

MA, at 3:15 pm EDT on July 15, 2007

Becoming boring ..

This —

“We are a University that is owned by the people of North Carolina,” he said.

From —

http://media.www.dailytarheel.com...p;MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

Anytime the faculty unions want to be relieved of public review by privatizing — bring it on.

The taxpayers will buy that in a New York minute. Because it will relieve them of the pending pension crises.

Keep complaining! The taxpayers want you off their books! You go, guy! Brilliant!

Buzz, at 7:25 pm EDT on July 15, 2007

Ground Rules for meetings

Setting ground rules is a best-practice technique used by facilitators to ensure that discussions stay civil...there is a primer on the web at http://www.uiowa.edu/~cqi/2002BasicFacilitationPrimer.pdfand many other resources available on the web and in facilitation books.

I discovered this in a Cultural Competency Express workshop two years ago...why I had worked 20 years in academe before encountering ground rules and seeing them put to good use in the workshop seems telling. How slow academe is to adopt well-known best practices that could save a lot of time and energy!Ann

ann viera, librarian at UT Knoxville, at 9:05 am EDT on July 16, 2007

“unacceptable”

Ana Mari Cauce wrote

“I noted that I would not allow such a comment to be said at a faculty meeting I was chairing without a very clear response as to how it was unacceptable.”

Does a comment being said unacceptable by a department chair mean that a junior facultymember risks his tenure if he doesn’t agree that the comment was unacceptable to him? It would be less intimidating just to disagree.

John McCarthy, Professor emeritus at Stanford University, at 9:30 pm EDT on July 18, 2007

The Bullying of Academics

Bullying of Academics in Higher Education

The bullying of academics follows a pattern of horrendous, Orwellian elimination rituals, often hidden from the public. Despite the anti-bullying policies (often token), bullying is rife across campuses, and the victims (targets) often pay a heavy price. “Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence.” Leonardo da Vinci — “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men [or good women] do nothing.” Winston Churchill.

http://bulliedacademics.blogspot.com/

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, at 11:45 am EDT on May 8, 2008

Jobs Related to Handling the 'Bad Apples'

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Research Coordinator/Exercise Instructor
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

The University of Minnesota is a premier employer and a talent magnet attracting leading faculty and staff from around the ... see job

Partnerships & Grants Coordinator
Plymouth State University

Plymouth State University (PSU) invites applications for the position of Partnerships & Grants Coordinator in the Center for ... see job

Academic Advisor
Temple University

The Academic Advisor will assist students in making decisions affecting their academic progress at the University through ... see job

Associate Director for Research
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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Externship Coordinator
Corinthian Colleges

Everest Institute, a respected member of the Corinthian Colleges’ network of schools, is dedicated to helping students ... see job

Ujima Scholars Counselor (112065)
Northeastern University

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Technical Operations Manager
Montana State University

The Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) was established in 1990 as a National Science Foundation Engineering Research ... see job

Chief Research Compliance Officer, University Research Office
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Professional Academic Advisor, Mathematics
University of Colorado

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Handling the ‘Bad Apples’

Related stories

Comments

Bad Apples

another fad

indoctrination or training

Effort at institutional control has little to do with diversity

Bad Apples

Here to stay

professors are fragile flowers (and censorship)

Chair as bad apple

On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation

Right on, Larry!

What Am I Missing?

Disgust?

Handling Bad Apples

Absolutely insane

80%?

Heard of Google?

replies

If the Chair is The Bad Apple

Larry, my BFF

Pathetic Professoriate

Wow!

Staying on Point

Becoming boring ..

Ground Rules for meetings

“unacceptable”

The Bullying of Academics

Jobs Related to Handling the 'Bad Apples'

Research Coordinator/Exercise Instructor
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Partnerships & Grants Coordinator
Plymouth State University

Academic Advisor
Temple University

Associate Director for Research
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Externship Coordinator
Corinthian Colleges

Ujima Scholars Counselor (112065)
Northeastern University

Technical Operations Manager
Montana State University

Sponsored Programs Specialist (Sponsored Programs Administrator)
University of Idaho

Chief Research Compliance Officer, University Research Office
University of Idaho

Professional Academic Advisor, Mathematics
University of Colorado

Handling the ‘Bad Apples’

Related stories

Comments

Bad Apples

another fad

indoctrination or training

Effort at institutional control has little to do with diversity

Bad Apples

Here to stay

professors are fragile flowers (and censorship)

Chair as bad apple

On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation

Right on, Larry!

What Am I Missing?

Disgust?

Handling Bad Apples

Absolutely insane

80%?

Heard of Google?

replies

If the Chair is The Bad Apple

Larry, my BFF

Pathetic Professoriate

Wow!

Staying on Point

Becoming boring ..

Ground Rules for meetings

“unacceptable”

The Bullying of Academics

Jobs Related to Handling the 'Bad Apples'

Research Coordinator/Exercise Instructor University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Partnerships & Grants Coordinator Plymouth State University

Academic Advisor Temple University

Associate Director for Research University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Externship Coordinator Corinthian Colleges

Ujima Scholars Counselor (112065) Northeastern University

Technical Operations Manager Montana State University

Sponsored Programs Specialist (Sponsored Programs Administrator) University of Idaho

Chief Research Compliance Officer, University Research Office University of Idaho

Professional Academic Advisor, Mathematics University of Colorado

Research Coordinator/Exercise Instructor
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Partnerships & Grants Coordinator
Plymouth State University

Academic Advisor
Temple University

Associate Director for Research
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Externship Coordinator
Corinthian Colleges

Ujima Scholars Counselor (112065)
Northeastern University

Technical Operations Manager
Montana State University

Sponsored Programs Specialist (Sponsored Programs Administrator)
University of Idaho

Chief Research Compliance Officer, University Research Office
University of Idaho

Professional Academic Advisor, Mathematics
University of Colorado