Sometimes I really have no desire to become a professor. Although I love research and enjoy teaching in practice (I dread it in theory), there are times that I want to run screaming from the ivory tower. Today was one of those days.
I won’t go into the details of what happened. I know that my anonymity is barely shielded here, and have little to no hope that it always will be. As such, I don’t think it’s a good idea to spread dirty information about a department which can be traced back to that department (or will be able to be traced back at some point). Suffice it to say:
Politics are inherently a part of academia. Put a whole bunch of Type As on committees together and you are going to get ruffled feathers. Hell, I’m just a graduate student and there are one or two other graduate students that I wouldn’t mind never ever ever having to be in the same room with again. But, why does this lead to bullying? To pettiness? To backstabbing? I know my department is not the only one that faces these issues. And, honestly, mostly it’s not that bad. But sometimes, it just affects me and makes me angry, frustrated, and sad.
Kieran has some covered in this edition of Grad Skool Rulz over at orgtheory.
There also seems to be some newer books on it. Like this one.
So questions for all of you out there: Are there university types where this problem is less pronounced? How do you deal with the bickering? How do you not get involved?
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oooo now i have a new book to add to my reading list. i haven’t had any problems at my current school, but i did at my master’s institution.
Comment by anomie April 23, 2008 @ 7:11 amWhat do you think the difference is between your MA and PhD programs?
I don’t think my MA institution had much going on. I heard some things, but nothing too terrible. But lately I’ve been wondering if I think my MA institution had fewer issues was because I commuted for part (being one of those evil drains on the economy), because I was relatively new and didn’t have all the relationships with faculty I do now, and also simply because I wasn’t as aware of these issues when I was a MA (spent most of my time overwhelmed… I do now too, but in different ways). I guess if there really was less incivility it may have been because:
Comment by pitse1eh April 23, 2008 @ 10:09 am1. MA institution was much smaller, fewer faculty and grad students.
2. Environment gave more support to all as there was a lot more money around. This also contributed to support of graduate students (program had guaranteed funding for all graduate students for at least their first year, most had longer contracts, and we all knew we would get more as long as we were competent and worked hard).
3. More financial support for faculty. With some incredibly large required courses (I think one had 1200?) with fewer faculty, a ton of undergrads were still supported, giving the department university support, which did trickle down to the professors. So, resources may have been less scarce and fewer things to get all up in arms over?
You’re touching on stuff that I’m really, really concerned about as I’ll be going from MA to PhD next year, theoretically. I really dislike mean-spirited pettiness, and some of the stories I hear freak me out mightily. I have nothing useful to offer, though, because my current program is seriously amazing in this regard. It is a stated goal that all the faculty (including non-tenure track) are included and supported. This positivity trickles down to the students. There is a pleasant family-ish atmosphere.
In other news, I wanted to mention to you that I love the name of your blog. How clever! I’m a big Goffman fan.
Comment by kristina b April 23, 2008 @ 6:53 pmGotta love intradepartmental pissing and moaning. No one else is happy unless all the other professors are in peril and on their heels. Because we all know, if someone acts like a decent human being, they must be doing something wrong. In the long run this will either help you deal with these issues in the future, or you’ll end up just as jaded as your faculty now and operate within the same manner.
Comment by jmsdonaldson April 23, 2008 @ 9:08 pmKristina, I’m not sure, are you changing departments? I’m guessing so. I would think the best thing to do would be to visit? Yeah? Grad students at the current university should be pretty honest to you, and the way the word things even more. But, you’ve probably already got it covered. The great thing about the pettiness in my department is that it usually doesn’t affect graduate students (usually we don’t even know about it until way after the fact, and probably some of it never sees the light of day). I’m wondering if lots of departments try to do that?
JMS, jeeze, what a depressing thought.
Comment by pitse1eh April 23, 2008 @ 10:27 pmoh, now that i think about it, we do have some pettiness at my phd institution. i commute, so i probably don’t hear the bulk of it. but from what i can tell, it ALL boils down to jealousy.
Comment by anomie April 23, 2008 @ 11:11 pmI was talking to our department chair who said that the idea was out there that the reason there was so much pettiness was because rewards are so small. I wonder if there is something to that.
Comment by pitse1eh April 23, 2008 @ 11:13 pm