Snoopy Supervisors

Many years ago, when I taught high school, I had an assistant principal who used to squat outside of classroom doors and press an ear to them, eavesdropping on what the teachers were saying in class. When caught, he would stand up quickly and act like he was looking for termites or something. It was hilarious.

Since then, I’ve seen deans who wander the halls checking on office-hour compliance, chairs who scour phone records looking for personal calls, and presidents who have accessed faculty e-mail accounts to look for discord.

Certainly there are times when legitimate investigations need to occur, but trolling for violations always has struck me as petty and an incredible waste of time. I suppose, as well, that supervisors aren’t the only ones who succumb to such temptations; colleagues can as well.

Do any of you have cautionary tales to share with us?