Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The Chronicle Comes to Florida







OK, this is really important. I mean What the Fuck. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education my dean uses profanities. We cannot tolerate this shit! Actually, to tell the truth, I can tolerate it and I want more.


 Today I did  read with some interest the long article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about UF Law. I'd provide a link but the article is in the premium section and you need a subscription. I actually do not have one but got a copy anyway.

According to the article, the Dean here yells at people and frankly I am really pissed off about that. What do you have to do around here to get yelled at? I have tried and it's beginning to look like a conspiracy to keep me from getting my fair share of yelled-at-ness. Is it because I am male?

Speaking of conspiracies as I was just in the last line, according to the article, the Dean has the Associate Deans spying on faculty. I've checked my office for bugs and other Jack Bauer devices. Nothing. Not a damn thing! What do you have to do around here to be spied on. I am beginning to feel that I am not getting my fair share on spied-on-ness.

No respect at all!

According to one person the reporter spoke to, the dean is "degrading" us. Now I could be catty and say "no, maybe you finally got the grade you deserved" but I am not saying that. Forget you read that.  I do not care to be degraded but I wonder if she could go over my paper and tell me what I did wrong so I could do better the next time (and, by the way, if you could raise my grade, that would be OK too.)

But there is even more bad news, according to one colleague, with a very short memory, this is the "most distressing" he has ever seen. Wow, I guess he fell asleep during the last administration during which everyone was respected, got their grade raised, and the ship was sinking with all hands aboard. (and which led to the highest bar failure rate anyone can remember.)

How about this one.  Allegedly, someone said it was like the Dean came into "your house" and moved everything around. First, since when did a law school belong to the faculty? Second, what if the house is falling apart?

When I think of the Dean at Florida and her actions so far I think of the saying, "It's not a revolution if you ask permission." I wonder why the sample of people who talked to the reporter (many of whom remained anonymous just as they do when spreading gossip  office to office as opposed to the Chronicle) think they were entitled to give or withhold permission.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"It's not a revolution if you ask for permission." Fine. I agree. But if you conduct a revolution without a care for the opinions of others, and if you lie about your justifications for making changes, then you can't expect people to just go along for the ride - especially at a law school, a place whose citizens are taught to argue for things they believe in. Do you sincerely expect people not to voice dissent to the "revolution," especially if they feel that the Dean is not listening to them?

Also, I'd think the sheer number of people who "resigned" after seeing the fallout from opposing the Dean would justify some of these sources in staying anonymous.

Jeffrey Harrison said...

I am not sure anyone resigned in response to their displeasure with the dean but maybe I missed some. Is so, the school will just replace them.

There is an law professor method of arguing that goes like this: If you don't agree with me you must not be listening. I think she listens to everyone (too much for my taste); she is just not going to give it to them when the students and taxpayers are not better off.

As for people being afraid, there appears to be a shortage of actual identifiable grievances. Instead people do not want to change what was a failing enterprise.

Anonymous said...

Isn't this blog a waste of taxpayer money? Shouldn't you be teaching more than 3.5 hours per week instead of spending your time throwing verbal bombs at people from behind a computer screen and demeaning them in person? And let's not pretend you've got a light fall semester to make up for a heavy spring semester. You only teach 2.5 hours per week then!

Jeffrey Harrison said...

If we want to go down the path of wasting taxpayers money, it is a long and winding path. You would have to write nasty comments to far more people than me.

I was not aware I was demeaning people in person. When the complainers, like you, are afraid to be identified that's hard to do. And, I would not do it anyway to anyone who is honest and devoted to the welfare of the law school and not a screamer. Drop by and we can chat.

Anonymous said...

Professor Harrison killen em