H. R. Pufnstuf:
Don’t laugh. That’s exactly what goes on and I speak from personal experience.
I used to teach at a certain post-secondary institution. It didn’t take long for me to make enemies in my department which, as it turned out was very easy to do. At least one of my colleagues was intellectually incompetent. Another acted like he was a well-informed genius but had no idea what he was talking about. I knew for sure that two of them were in heavy training for retirement and practiced that while on the job.
One of the latter hated me from the beginning and he soon was promoted into the newly-created position of assistant department head. The DH I started with retired and it didn’t take long for his successor to be informed by my detractor that I was a bad boy. Well, that new head soon had his reasons for disliking me, so the two of them waged a years-long campaign to have me sacked.
One day, the proverbial hit the fan and I spent that morning in sessions with the DH and the dean, the latter also wanting my head on a platter. In a private discussion with him, I explained that allegations had been made about me and I had no idea what I did. I was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be informed about what happened or who said those things to prevent me from getting even.
I was appalled at that. Not only didn’t he give me the benefit of the doubt, he disregarded any sense of professionalism I had. Worse is that by saying that, he was violating Canadian law, as both the constitution as well as documents such as the U. N. Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that I have the right to know what I’m charged with, who my accusers are, and can present my own account.
I eventually won that round and I stayed there for several years more. However, the campaign continued and the allegations against me became even more outlandish. Eventually, I looked at my financial portfolio and asked myself why I continued to put up with that abuse. Almost exactly 13 years ago, I submitted my resignation.
We’ve often discussed on this forum how women hate each other. You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Try teaching for a while. The sacred image of academics and educators levitating in the corridors, bowing to each other as they pass by and addressing one another as “Honourable Scholar”, or something equivalent, is absolute malarkey.
Let me give two examples. Shortly after I started grad studies, I attended departmental meetings in which there were times that the discussion became so heated that fistfights were close to breaking out. In the early 1990s, Prof. Valery Fabrikant took a loaded rifle with him to campus and shot and killed several of his colleagues. (He alleged he was bullied and harassed by them. The subsequent investigation found that there was indeed a problem in that department but that seems to be as far as things went. He’s now doing time in the crowbar hotel.)
The hallowed halls of academe…… Yeah, right.
– Deleted on Request – 4 years, 8 months ago.
