I know I’m prickly these days about my competence as a scholar, and riddled with anxiety about my soon-to-devour-me tenure case but … this just doesn’t seem appropriate.
Email from student I’ve never heard of:
“Hi! My name is X and I am a student in Dr. Y’s class. We are attempting to [do something that you know a little bit about]. She suggested emailing you, as you might have information on how we can get started. We were wondering if you could tell us [list of questions].
We understand that you may be too busy to answer all of our questions due to your tenure coming up. If that is the case, would you please give us the contact information of someone who may be able to do so? Thank you for your time.”
I’ve indicated the part that’s making me steam. What’s up with my colleague Dr. Y discussing my tenure case with undergrad students? Sure, Dr. Y was probably trying to be respectful about my heavy work load — but … but … it still pisses me off.
Grrr …
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 9, 2009 at 4:22 pm
squadratomagico
Oooh! That IS kind of startling — you have every right to be irritated!
I suspect you’re right that the colleague was trying to be protective of your time, but surely s/he could simply have said that you have a lot of obligations right now, without having to be specific. Your reviews and tenure situation really are not the students’ business, and it strikes me as a violation of your privacy for a colleague to be discussing it with them.
November 9, 2009 at 4:36 pm
servetus
Seriously. A definite violation of privacy, and disturbing, since students don’t really understand what is involved.
November 9, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Ink
I understand…during the entire tenure application process, I felt as if I were wearing my nerves on the outside of my skin. Just a mention of the word “tenure” and owwww. And to hear it coming from students rather than colleagues would have probably…I don’t know…exploded something. Hugs.
November 9, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Teri
I would be prickly, too, especially since there’s a nice reading of the student’s words (Dr. Y is trying to protect my time) and a less nice one (this is an implicit threat, with the subtext that good academics who Want To Get Tenure will help their colleagues’ students with their time-consuming projects). I was at a real hellhole for a while, where reading #2 would have been the obvious choice. I’m absolutely delighted that you are not!
At the same time, though, your tenure situation is none of their business AT ALL, and shouldn’t have been the subject of conversation between faculty and students.
November 9, 2009 at 6:51 pm
bsgirl
Okay, I’m glad to see I’m not overreacting. It does seem just *wrong*. And, somehow, patronizing — like the student was channeling a patronizing attitude from my colleague, that I’m not up for the simple task of responding to an email because I’m soooooooo overwhelmed with my tenure case.
Which, for the record, isn’t even due until next year.
Double grrr.
November 9, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Lucky Jane
That would freak me out, too. And I’ve been guilty of revealing stuff about colleagues. Last spring I corrected a sweet young man who meant no disrespect when referring to one of my most published, seniormost colleagues as “Mrs. X”: not satisfied with explaining how, like our male colleagues, we’re professors too, I added, “Besides, Professor X is divorced, so ‘Mrs.’ is definitely not cool.” At least I didn’t repeat the scandalous nature of that divorce decades ago, which became part of my department’s lore, but still, I wish I hadn’t said that. (Cringe.) I was tired; maybe your colleague was, too.
Also, is it possible that students at your uni are just really concerned and knowledgeable about their profs’ business? As with children, students’ survival depends upon them knowing a lot more about their elders than the elders know about them. At my first job “visiting” at a SLAC, I recall being taken aback to read on my evaluations endorsements like “Can we keep her?” and “Put Jane on the tenure track.” I’m currently at a very different kind of institution, where I’ve already taught more students than there were students at that SLAC, but every semester I get at least one eval that says, “Give Dr. Jane tenure!” As an undergrad, I had only the vaguest idea about the conditions of my professors’ employment, so these sorts of evaluations—and what they connote about the students’ power, real or perceived, over us—still make me queasy. All the same, they are probably well meant.
November 11, 2009 at 2:28 pm
moria
I’m with Jane on this – the student is probably just trying to be really supportive, but your colleague is maybe being what we in my department call too close. Chin up, BSG, chin up.
[Also, I seem to have missed out on the password thing - if (and only if!) you're happy to share it with me, e-mail me at moriainexcelsis at the google.]