Tag Archives: collegiality

Dark matters of the university

Dark matters of the university

A former university colleague once remarked on his practice of copying emails to an administrative officer to encourage her to feel a sense of ownership for his work. When the officer began to devote increasing time to helping him, he complained that she was getting ahead of herself: from the way she wrote, he said, […] … learn more→

Remove tenure for not being nice?

Remove tenure for not being nice?

The only reason for there being even some legitimacy, at some schools, is the old tenured faculty, a few of them, anyway. Admin knows full well these guys are getting in the way of their plundering, and has been steadily pushing them off campus, either through trumped up charges, expensive buyouts, or getting out of […] … learn more→

‘Collegiality’ has become an empty word

‘Collegiality’ has become an empty word

As we in the northern hemisphere inch past the winter solstice, the lure of the cosy log fire grows ever greater. Of course, such extravagances are rare indeed in your average academic office, but those bereft of nature’s elemental comfort could do worse than cuddle up around the glow of academia’s cosiest word. “Collegiality” conjures […] … learn more→

What is your campus’s approach to collegiality?

What is your campus’s approach to collegiality?

Another battle over collegiality is brewing: faculty in the four-campus Connecticut State University system involved in union contract negotiations are questioning, amongst other things, proposed collegiality rules. As I document in my online article in the current issue of Academe, “Grappling with Collegiality and Academic Freedom,” UW-Stout faculty were fortunate to be “on the same page” as […] … learn more→

Making a case for academic values

My recent experience as a jury foreperson highlighted the importance of collegiality, tolerance, deliberation, consensus building, and the unfettered pursuit of truth—traditional academic values under attack by those seeking to impose a corporate vision of “effectiveness” on the nation’s universities. This process of attack has been documented thoroughly in the past decade. Beyond sounding the […] … learn more→

Collegiality again at the fore

An AAUP report this month on the case of John Boyle, an assistant professor of linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University, raises once more the problem of using the vague term “collegiality” in questions of the granting of tenure. The NEIU president, an AAUP posting on the case says, ”cited only two reasons for denying tenure: […] … learn more→