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skeptical
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« on: January 19, 2012, 02:13:15 PM » |
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Recently, I had to solicit advice from one of my "betters" (i.e., higher up the chain of command) about a problem I was having with a certain un-tenured faculty member. The problems have been increasing as the time for a tenure decision grows nearer. The faculty member has been acting out in ways I can only describe as delusional and, when anyone attempts to recall this colleague back to reality, lawsuits are threatened. (And, of course, in a risk-averse environment, threats of lawsuits are quite effective.) After listening to my tales of woe about the situation, I was told that that chairs sometimes found among their colleagues a faculty terrorist. Anyone else got one?
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digger
Itinerant ne'er-do-well and scurrilous
Junior member
Posts: 88
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« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2012, 04:08:13 PM » |
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You find sociopaths in just about every line of work. If you have been giving this person positive reviews up until the tenure question is asked -- and then decide to turn them down - you are asking for (and probably deserve) trouble. Truculent behavior, unfortunately, is contagious and spreads through a department like cancer. Best to deal with the problem swiftly and be sure your university legal team will back you in the event things get hot.
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2012, 04:12:50 PM » |
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If this guy is as bad as you say you must deny him tenure or put up with THE CRAZY (which is indeed contagious) for decades.
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oatmeal
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« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2012, 04:53:04 PM » |
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OP--sorry this is happening. If the faculty member is acting like this now, they will be truly terrible after tenure. I assume that there is some sort of paper trail here? If not, start one. If you are tenured, talk with your chair or dean--and you do not need to be subtle, be candid but fair. Others may have done the same thing already. I have seen truly toxic faculty members do a lot of harm to a department and even a college, especially at smaller institutions. Toxic faculty are, as larryc notes, contagious and the ramifications can last 20 years or more. Is this person highly productive and an excellent teacher? A tenure denial will end the contagion, but you need to have your ducks in a row for that, if it comes to it. Be ready for an appeal and possibly a law suit. It is important to have everything in writing. That is how you deal with it as a Chair. The person sounds like a bully. Every time hu threatens a law suit, make note of it and share with the Chair or Dean. If hu makes such threats in writing, then tenure denial will be easier (not easy).
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digger
Itinerant ne'er-do-well and scurrilous
Junior member
Posts: 88
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« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2012, 05:17:08 PM » |
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>> Every time hu threatens a law suit, make note of it
A lesson learned the hard way. You represent the university. You are not (I assume) an attorney. When anyone, for any reason – upset parent, student, colleague – indicates they will get a lawyer or file a law suit you shut down the conversation, explain since they used the "Lawsuit/Lawyer" word this has become a matter for counsel to handle & you are not qualified to deal with litigious issues and send them to your attorney’s office to sort out the matter. You don’t want to add fuel to a bad situation – its easy to do with a poorly turned phrase and high emotions. I have found most people will back down “uh, I really didn’t mean I was going to sue you” and you can continue the genteel discussion.
But Oatmeal offers great advice -- write down everything.
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brixton
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« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2012, 07:15:32 AM » |
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+1
If someone so much as mentions lawsuit, I move immediately to my script: oh, then you don't need a dean. What you need is a lawyer. Here is our general counsel's number. Law suit language usually means they want to intimidate, and frankly I don't have time for that sort of abuse. If you want your problems-solved I'm here to help. If you want to threaten, go to the back of the line and take a seat.
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tuxedo_cat
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« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2012, 12:13:42 PM » |
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Who exactly introduced the phrase "faculty terrorist" into this discussion? The person who made this observation to you? Your own phrase? I'm not sure that's the most helpful language here for addressing a serious problem.
It is an unfortunate reality that some faculty do suffer from significant mental health problems and/or personality disorders that make their presence truly disruptive to the proper functioning of a department. Your assessment that this colleague's behavior seems delusional seems pretty important, especially since you see this problem progressing and getting worse.
Yes, there are some disciplinary approaches through the tenure process that can sometimes be used to deal with such a colleague. But does this person have any allies or trusted colleagues on campus? Is there someone who could approach him or her in a non-confrontational way (since we know what a confrontational approach evokes) to find out if they really need some intervention and assistance.
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The only protection from zombies is a good friend who runs slightly more slowly than you do.
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bud04
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« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2012, 01:09:18 PM » |
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OP, I have to ask a couple of questions. When the "terrorist" threatens a lawsuit is it because a crime has taken place and they feel they must defend themselves? Are they a member of a protected class (race, gender, disability, etc) and must defend themselves?
Just because a person stands up for their rights and/or the law doesn't mean they are a terrorist. Is it wise for a non-tenured person to stand up for themselves? Probably not, but that does not make them a terrorist.
Since when does it make a person a "terrorist" when they stand up for themselves?
Perhaps I am missing something here......
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skeptical
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« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2012, 07:35:33 PM » |
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A few clarifications. First, I did not use the term "faculty terrorist." It was one of the administrative folk at my institution; someone who was aware of all of the facts surrounding this individual. The description applies (at least in this case) because of the disruptive nature of hu's behavior--every other member of the department has to walk on tip-toes to avoid being a target of loud (and public) verbal attacks. Second, I have indeed been keeping documentation of every event and working with the higher ups to make sure that things work out the way they ought to. So, I am covered on that end. I submitted the original post just to vent.
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tee_bee
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« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2012, 07:53:48 PM » |
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+1
If someone so much as mentions lawsuit, I move immediately to my script: oh, then you don't need a dean. What you need is a lawyer. Here is our general counsel's number. Law suit language usually means they want to intimidate, and frankly I don't have time for that sort of abuse. If you want your problems-solved I'm here to help. If you want to threaten, go to the back of the line and take a seat.
Wow, this is really great advice, actually. My usual response has been, in a much kinder but equally definitive way, to say Get Out of My Office. But I like the "oh, jeez, we've gotta get counsel involved yet. Who's your lawyer again?" appraoch. |
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zharkov
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« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2012, 07:17:45 AM » |
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While the term "faculty terrorist" is pretty extreme, I have worked with and known about people (in academia and in industry) who were just very very difficult to work with. Case in point, I know of at least two or three cases where faculty members had offices on separate floors from the rest of the department b/c they did not get along with their peers. Sometimes, these difficult people hire or threaten to hire lawyers, which frighten the powers that be into putting up with their difficult behavior.
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__________ Zharkov's Razor: Adapting Zharkov a bit to this situation, ignorance and confusion can explain a lot.
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amlithist
How did I get to be a
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 3,734
This is just my day job.
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« Reply #11 on: January 25, 2012, 04:35:03 PM » |
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You find sociopaths in just about every line of work. If you have been giving this person positive reviews up until the tenure question is asked -- and then decide to turn them down - you are asking for (and probably deserve) trouble. Truculent behavior, unfortunately, is contagious and spreads through a department like cancer. Best to deal with the problem swiftly and be sure your university legal team will back you in the event things get hot.
+1. And this is the clearest rationale for being HONEST on those faculty evals. Yes, it's easier and nicer to be lukewarm, or to give "satisfactory" or "good" evals rather than take the time to be honest. But they can also lead to you being stuck with somebody you really don't want. (I had a terrorist/major league bully that I inherited, and now my dept. is dealing with one that I'd actually been on the SC that hired her, and now we can't get rid of her because of a record of "good" and "excellent" evals that were lies when they were written.) |
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Hell is other people at breakfast.
--Jean Paul Sartre
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tuxedo_cat
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« Reply #12 on: January 25, 2012, 04:53:19 PM » |
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I don't really have much else to offer on the question of how to deal with this sort of colleague. But it would be just super if we could maybe not proliferate the phrase "faculty terrorist" -- if simply out of sympathy for anyone who works on a campus where a mentally ill faculty member has come back to campus with a loaded rifle and murdered his or her colleagues. And I'm not even sure the label applies in that case.
I agree that this is a frustrating and serious problem that many of us have faced. Inflated rhetoric probably isn't going to help us think through effective responses to it.
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The only protection from zombies is a good friend who runs slightly more slowly than you do.
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username2
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« Reply #13 on: January 25, 2012, 05:01:22 PM » |
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I vote for "holy terror" or "that guy".
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untenured
On far too many committees
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 5,626
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« Reply #14 on: January 25, 2012, 05:20:00 PM » |
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Can you give us more specifics about why this person is so bad? I hear some really strong language (faculty terrorist?) but don't see what it is exactly this person does.
More details can help us help you.
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You are among the Pure and Truthful, however small their Number.
My goodness, that was an exceptionally good analysis of the forum. |
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