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[theritas]

Seems so ridiculous.  And yet often people are ridiculous. 

[fast_and_bulbous]

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.

Or maybe it's true but he deserved it. Guy could be a raging a-hole and the mockers could be happy to not have to put up with him anymore. Imagine your most evil, awful colleague - who knows, this guy could be worse than that person, and perhaps denial of tenure is the best thing to happen to his department since they got a new copy machine. We'll just never know.

[the_honey_badger]

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.

Yep, better "ten witches be set free than one innocent person hanged" (paraphrasing Mather...)
I had a chair and his henchman a few years back who absolutely WOULD have done something like this. They did similar things in worse situations so, I don't find it unbelieveable.

(Oh, new Dean and the chair was actually *fired* but that didn't help his victims)

[profrach]

Or maybe it's true but he deserved it. Guy could be a raging a-hole and the mockers could be happy to not have to put up with him anymore. Imagine your most evil, awful colleague - who knows, this guy could be worse than that person, and perhaps denial of tenure is the best thing to happen to his department since they got a new copy machine. We'll just never know.

Well firstly, I'm a gal not a guy i.e. (ProfRach = Professor Rachel).

In terms of the collegiality bit like most assistant professors I tried extra hard to attend functions, chat in the corridor etc. I don't know any openly truly awful junior faculty (its career suicide).

Thanks for you positive comments. In many ways having such a bad experience has made accepting denial easier, because as a few of you pointed out who wants to be around such colleagues for the rest of your life. That being said, giving up a slot in a R1 top 10 school in my field will be tough.

[prof_smartypants]

You're a gal?

Have you spoken to the dean or trusted senior faculty? Were there any witnesses to these shenanigans?

I have trouble believing this, too, but should it be true, I'd be on a rampage to get these clowns fired.

[corvus_caurinus]

If the story is true, stop posting here at once before you undermine your own case, and lawyer up big time.

[dellaroux]

Ditto to the above, and I could believe it, having attended a Big Ten (well, now, Eleven, or is it Twelve?) school myself and witnessing how the sports metaphors affected all kinds of things, including humans who should have known better.

I'm very sorry to hear of something like this, but concur that you're best out of such an inconsiderate, cruel setting.

Enjoy your successes as you go on to some other, better place, and let them continue to wither where they are.

I don't know enough to know, but if you're female and they're both male, you might have another dimension to any court case you might choose to bring as well--or maybe that is what was implied above.

And I do know of someone very highly respected in their field, who got a tenured position at another school AND brought a case against the school they were denied at--I haven't heard of the outcome of the case, but the tenure went through on their acceptance of the position at the new school.

So don't let your thinking about what is possible be limited by any understandable dismay in the behavior of your current...um..."colleagues?" (I barely want to call them that).

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

Uh, yeah. If this is true, you've got a clean lawsuit. But, stop posting, and busy yourself finding anyone who saw those two in your office.

Wow, just wow.

[bookishone]

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.

Or maybe it's true but he deserved it. Guy could be a raging a-hole and the mockers could be happy to not have to put up with him anymore. Imagine your most evil, awful colleague - who knows, this guy could be worse than that person, and perhaps denial of tenure is the best thing to happen to his department since they got a new copy machine. We'll just never know.

It's certainly true that there are faculty out there whose colleagues would delight in seeing them leave, but the behavior described is not excusable. No one deserves that kind of mockery at what could be the end of their career.

OP, if you are in this position, think of people in the department who might help you find a new position. Surely a chair like that would have made enemies among his faculty.

[john_proctor]

Uh, yeah. If this is true, you've got a clean lawsuit. But, stop posting, and busy yourself finding anyone who saw those two in your office.

Wow, just wow.

One: I'm not at all sure I think it's true.

Two: a lawsuit for what?  What are the actual monetary damages that have been incurred? Last I heard, being a dick wasn't, in and of itself, actionable.

[imawakenow]

One: I'm not at all sure I think it's true.

Two: a lawsuit for what?  What are the actual monetary damages that have been incurred? Last I heard, being a dick wasn't, in and of itself, actionable.

Agree with you on point 1.

On point 2, maybe intentional infliction of emotional distress?

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Two: a lawsuit for what?  What are the actual monetary damages that have been incurred?

You mean, besides the loss of a job?

Assuming that the poster has a credible record of accomplishments (which at a "top 10" department means exceptionally strong, independently-verifiable research record) then this behavior, if it can be proved, is pretty much prima facie evidence that the chair's tenure recommendation was capricious.  Since these two were men, OP was a woman, and the behavior was a classic form of male-aggression, there is nontrivial (if not conclusive) evidence of sexual discrimination, which is illegal (as more generally is a hostile workplace).

At the very least, there is enough here to horrify an HR person, make a University's legal counsel squirm, and scare a Dean into dressing down this Chair.  If OP doesn't want compensation, she could nevertheless regain some of her self-esteem by writing a letter to the Dean relating this behavior, and cc it to HR and the Provost. - DvF

[corvus_caurinus]

Two: a lawsuit for what?  What are the actual monetary damages that have been incurred?

You mean, besides the loss of a job?

Assuming that the poster has a credible record of accomplishments (which at a "top 10" department means exceptionally strong, independently-verifiable research record) then this behavior, if it can be proved, is pretty much prima facie evidence that the chair's tenure recommendation was capricious.  Since these two were men, OP was a woman, and the behavior was a classic form of male-aggression, there is nontrivial (if not conclusive) evidence of sexual discrimination, which is illegal (as more generally is a hostile workplace).

At the very least, there is enough here to horrify an HR person, make a University's legal counsel squirm, and scare a Dean into dressing down this Chair.  If OP doesn't want compensation, she could nevertheless regain some of her self-esteem by writing a letter to the Dean relating this behavior, and cc it to HR and the Provost. - DvF

Exactly.

If this story were true, any dean in his or her right mind would be very eager to settle, even for a large sum, without it letting go to court. Both the likely legal outcomes and the negative publicity would be a catastrophe for the university in question.

[fast_and_bulbous]

One: I'm not at all sure I think it's true.

Two: a lawsuit for what?  What are the actual monetary damages that have been incurred? Last I heard, being a dick wasn't, in and of itself, actionable.

Agree with you on point 1.

On point 2, maybe intentional infliction of emotional distress?

If the story is true (I don't believe it) then I think she has a weak case, and potential future employers could find evidence of any lawsuit enough reason to give her a wide berth. It's not fair, but it's true.

There is no nice way to learn about tenure rejection anyway. What difference does it make if people relish your failure? You still are without it. Time to move on, or troll another list.

[august_leo]

If it is true and you file a suit, you might want to keep the basketball hoop and basketball.

I even wonder if there is a way to put it in a bag or something to preserve fingerprints, but then, I have an active imagination.