next »

[profrach]

So it happened, in the most bizarre circumstances I can think off.

After nearly six years of working 70 hour weeks at a public R1 in the midwest it all came to personalities. My chair and vice-chair have never warmed to me, so I was not thrilled when I came back to my office and saw them in there smiling.

What follows was the most humiliating situation I can think.

The school I am at has a great basketball program and the chair and vice-chair are huge fans. When I entered my office I noticed they had placed a small basketball ring and backboard on the back of my door. They asked me to sit down as they wanted to "talk to me about my tenure case". I sat and then they gave me the ball that went with the basketball ring and suggested I take a shot. I figured after nearly six years of not being confrontational one more day was not going to kill me but what follows just floored me.

As I shot the ball towards the ring, the chair jumps up and swats the ball away while saying "REJECTED". The vice-chair then asks me to take another shot and then he proceeds to swat the ball away while saying "DENIED". At first I didn't make the connection between their words and my case, but when I asked if they were telling me my tenure case was denied they confirmed it had been.

And thats folks is how I learn the fate of my tenure case. I spent the afternoon in tears.

[systeme_d_]

You have got to be kidding.

These people are not even human.  They're the ones who should be humiliated, but unfortunately, they will likely not be, because they are among the most awful and hateful people I've ever heard of.

You are well rid of those two.  Getting out of that department will be a blessing and a boon.

My best wishes to you, Profrach.

[queserasera]

Seriously? Please forgive my skepticism, but this is absolutely absurd! If it be true, you have my sincerest condolences, for those people are true bullies and barbarians and I second the wise systeme_d's statement: you are truly better off without them. Life is too short and academia is too time-consuming to spend it with monsters such as the ones you have portrayed. Best of luck to you in the future!

[fast_and_bulbous]

I call shenanigans. I'm sure you'll get plenty of bites though.

[yellowtractor]

Document, document, document.  And good luck with your appeal.

[august_leo]

This is hard to imagine being real.

If it is true, I'm very, very sorry. Does the Dean like you? There must be someone who can smack some sense into talk to these two.

[lottie]

I call shenanigans. I'm sure you'll get plenty of bites though.

This.

[valent]

People who are denied tenure only *wish* they had a shocking story like this one to tell. Usually tenure denial is absolutely anticlimactic and non-confrontational.

But good job in coming up with an absurd story that was fun to read (knowing that it couldn't be true).   

[systeme_d_]

Perhaps the OP is having us on.

But on the chance that the OP is perfectly serious, s/he deserves sympathy.

I'd rather be sympathetic to someone with a sad story and be mocked later for my gullibility than to be dismissive of someone with a sad story and have my callousness proven right.

[spicoli]

I want the names and places.

[profrach]

Hi All,

Yes its true. It's hard to believe (I still can't believe it), but its just an example of faculty gloating over others' failure which we've all seen. I read in this forum that someone's colleague waited by the mail boxes so they could see the expression on their face when they read their denial letter. My situation is a step up from that to be sure but the basketball reference is because we are in the Big Ten conference and everyone loves basketball here and basketball parlance is common.

I've got another year and two months here so I won't be naming names now, no point making my life difficult.

I can't really do much since they were just crass and insensitive in delivering the message. Faculty do that all the time and its bad form but not illegal.

Better to have been denied tenure than never to have tried to borrow a quote.

[systeme_d_]

Faculty don't do that all the time, Profrach. 

I really hope your next job is in a department filled with the kind of really terrific folks with whom I have had the good fortune to work over the last several years.

[pink_]

Faculty don't do that all the time, Profrach. 

I really hope your next job is in a department filled with the kind of really terrific folks with whom I have had the good fortune to work over the last several years.

This.

Part of my still really hopes that you are making this up, because it is the flat-out ost obnoxious kind of behavior that I've heard. I cannot imagine any of my colleagues being such complete jackhats.  On the upside, you're better off in a different department where you might actually work with human beings rather that tools.  And I'm guessing that anyone who knows these colleagues of yours wil not be at all surprised that you want to leave.

[bluezebracat]

I think of myself as having a fairly rich evil imagination, but this story is really something.  I couldn't have dreamt of anything this cruel in a million years. 

[bwwm1]

I admit I can't believe this story. But if it's true, take it as an expression of sympathy because it's simply incredible that people can be that callous and cruel.