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Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

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By Gene C. Fant Jr.

At a recent regularly scheduled English department meeting, we worked through our agenda, joking as usual, somewhat giddy with the expectation of our summer freedom looming on the horizon. Our department is an unusually close group, having worked together through many crises, both personal and professional.

What my colleagues didn't know was that I was about to announce my resignation as their chairman and that I was leaving to take a similar position at a peer institution. I really don't think they had any idea; they had teased me about being absent during the previous week, but at this meeting no one seemed to have remembered that. I knew that they would not be too shocked, but I also knew that my leaving this late in the year would be a little unsettling.

In the midst of our discussions about general business, I stole long looks at each face: my dear friends. My colleagues. I was about to surprise them. Suddenly, I was transported to a hot summer night in high school when I was about to be dumped by a longtime girlfriend. I was in her shoes: I was about to break up with my department. I was like a cheating lover who'd been having a secret relationship. And I was about to make it public. I felt sick. I had second thoughts. Then, at the appropriate moment, I made my announcement.

It was met mostly with blank looks, and with a few tears, first on my end and then on a few others' faces. I turned the meeting over to my dean and left. After it was concluded, my colleagues came to my office one by one.

As I write this, I'm the lame-duck chairman, the one who is leaving in the middle of the summer and who is making what appears to be a parallel move. Lots of faculty members change jobs. For some people, a transition may be to a new teaching position or even to a private-sector job. For others, there may be personal issues that have precipitated a professional change. In my case, I am leaving to take a position that better matched my personal goals and my educational philosophy.

Like most literary types, I'm pretty reflective, so I've been making notes about my transition. Here are some tips on breaking up with your department, some of which I've followed, and some of which I wish I had:

Resist the urge to explain your departure in great detail. There is no way to get out without some explanation, but don't focus more than you have to on the positives of your new position or on the negatives of the position you are leaving. No one wants to hear about your big pay raise or your reduced teaching load. Your soon-to-be former colleagues aren't interested in your new faculty-development opportunities or your spring break trip to Europe.

Just tell them that it was an opportunity you couldn't pass up and be done with it; as someone wise once said, "more mystery, less history." An exception to this is your supervisor: If you have a large raise coming in your new position, a significant shift in workload, or a very personal reason for a change, let her know. It will help her to track any trends that may be developing in her unit. If three or four people leave for the same reason, that supervisor needs to find a way to make some changes.

Announce the change as soon as possible. Let the news come from your lips, not those of underground news sources. Higher education is a surprisingly small world; word of a change will get out unbelievably fast, so don't take a chance on keeping a secret for very long.

Leave as soon as possible. Obviously presidents and senior administrators need to provide time for decisions to be made about the search for their successors, but regular faculty members, department heads, and even most deans don't need to take very long. If you have some administrative duties and you announce early in the year, ask for an interim to be named and work with him or her as you prepare to leave. Being a long-term lame duck does no one any good, so be prepared to get out of the way.

Life will go on. Avoid being seduced by the idea that things will fall apart without you, despite how deeply entrenched you are in the life of the institution or the department. Don't bend over backward to be nice and considerate to "ease" the transition. Don't succumb to a messiah complex when you are leaving, and don't be surprised when things don't fall apart after you leave.

But things won't be the same. Realize that everyone will treat you differently from now on. Everything will change immediately. You will be treated politely at the end-of-term activities, but don't expect people to bend your ear about upcoming decisions or to ask for your advice about things. You no longer have political capital. You are dead to them. Don't let your feelings get hurt.

Be lavish in your praise on the way out. You have nothing to lose in praising folks. Express appreciation to your mentors (like my deans and the department's previous chairmen). Tell the good teachers in your department how much you respect them (the entire department in my situation). Reveal to your supervisors the hidden talents in others that they may not have noticed. Resist the urge to torch anyone, even those who deserve to be torched. Be positive, and be remembered for that.

Finish up gracefully. Every institution has end-of-the-term duties to be completed: forms, reports, and even incomplete grades. Try not to leave lots of loose ends for someone else to tie up. Perhaps the best thing we can leave behind when we do make a transition is a happy memory in someone's mind; leaving messes for others to clean up won't help the way you are remembered.

You'll still see each other at conferences. You'll still need to write letters of support for grants and tenure reviews. You'll still need advice on professional issues at your new place of employment. In high school, romantic breakups usually ended with that same blasted suggestion: Let's be friends. In our profession, it really is possible to remain friends after you leave.