Fall Out

There were several follow-ups to the post about academics having a cushy job. The one being cited on Facebook is by http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/01/06/do-college-professors-have-less-stress/.

Ms. Emily Willingham, apparently also a recovering academic asserts that, "No one I know in academia is disengaged in this way from their work, and indeed, given the kind of intellectual commitment and mental engagement becoming an academic requires, why would they be?"

Really? I have taught at Oberlin College, Dartmouth University, and Florida International University. I now hold a visiting position (to assist in teaching the Galapagos Study Abroad course) at the University of Miami. So other than the community college experience, I have seen a lot different types of colleges, taught in at least three different regions in the US, and taught both graduate and undergraduate students. And Ms. Willingham doesn't know anyone who is is disengaged with their job in academia? Seriously? There are always burnouts in academia and because of unions (which I like) and other mechanisms in place to protect profs, the deadbeats are allowed to live out their career teaching basically nothing to non-majors while raking in a full salary.

And while I have experience grown men running down the hall yelling at each other, pounding their fists on the table and walking out of meetings, I find that type of bad behavior ridiculous and part of the problem of the misconception of what academics are doing. Since I have also been approached by an older colleague and kissed full on, then been made to think that I "gave him mixed signals," I can also tell you that that is stress. Yet no one came to my side to help when I complained.

I have also had younger staff members working for me in the Dean's office who complained that the Dean (yes, the chief academic and fiscal leader of the college) asked her to create "funny" pictures placing the head of a University Vice President on a Cialis ad. Hilarious, right? Isn't that harassment? No, apparently not according to FIU.

Let's talk about the "real world" Ms. Willingham. Isn't that hysterical when an older male dean talks non-stop about Pinus elliottii, emphasizing the word "pinus" time after time? The laughing and snickering in between pronunciations is something you'd expect out of a 5th-grade boy not the 60-year-old leader of an academic institution, right? Such puerile conversations are not considered harassment at all, but rather witty, academic discussion?

While I appreciate that I actually had to look up the word, "sinecures" which is used in Ms. Willingham's article, I don't believe anyone in the original article she's trying to rip apart used that term. Next time, figure out what is being critiqued before you go and defend the other side.

Spread Your Wings!