His LinkedIn profile notes, way down at the bottom, that he is interested in history (along with soccer, golf, and outdoor activities). Is this really what the Administration thinks is a qualified substitute???
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Sunday, November 6, 2011
Meet Your "Qualified" Replacement
Some will probably find it unethical to share this screen capture (despite my efforts to blur all names and pictures of those not directly involved). I, however, find it even more unethical to pass Dean Winters off as qualified for the role he now so proudly claims -- being a professor of history! I bear no ill-will for Dean Winters, nor do I doubt his expertise in Endocrine Biochemistry. I also believe he is probably a good dean. But I don't think he is qualified for the role he is being asked (forced?) to take.
His LinkedIn profile notes, way down at the bottom, that he is interested in history (along with soccer, golf, and outdoor activities). Is this really what the Administration thinks is a qualified substitute???
His LinkedIn profile notes, way down at the bottom, that he is interested in history (along with soccer, golf, and outdoor activities). Is this really what the Administration thinks is a qualified substitute???
102 comments:
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Not sure why you are posting his Facebook page. It's not even legible at that size. What is it that we should see there?
ReplyDeleteClick to enlarge it (as the caption instructs). He is proud to be teaching in the History Department this week.
ReplyDeleteIf there is any indication that qualified substitutes may not be so easy to come by, this is it. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI'm coming tonight to my first meeting.
I'm not at all surprised. The university has done this many times before and they (the administration thinks nothing of it!). One time there was a person from history--many years ago --in the eighties-- who was asked to chair the sociology department and nearly ruined it; then there was another person from history who was asked by the Dean to chair Linguistics and he did the same thing. Then the former Dean of COLA brought in someone from Psychology with zero knowledge of linguistics to chair Linguistics; then most recently they brought in the Dean of Mass Communication (Gary Kolb) to be the interim or Acting Dean of the College of Engineering. Are you surprised that they would have someone from Agriculture substitute teach a history professor's class. This is the beauty of SIUC. Anything is possible. Oh what a wonderful university! And at the top we have Cheng from Accountancy who refuses to being held accountable and then there's Poshard who is the puppet master working behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteThis strike for sure has provided insight on who are the true leaders at SIUC. True leaders do not just follow the orders. They provide right advice to their supervisors. All the deans on this campus did not care about students (we already know that Poshard, Cheng, and Nicklow don’t care at all). Even though they knew that their actions are going to be detrimental to the people they serve, they knew that there is no way they can cover all the classes or guide research projects of faculty members, they just followed the orders. Not even a single one stood-up and said, I am not going to be a part of this BS. Our students are better leaders than these highly paid, unqualified administrators. They know what is right and what is wrong. They are not blindly following Cheng’s orders to go to the classes only to hear misleading information that “we will have qualified substitute teacher for you by the next class.” Do Poshard, Cheng, and Nicklow know that classroom instruction is just a fraction of overall educational experience we have promised to our students? I am afraid the answer is no.
ReplyDeleteSadly, this will be my supervisor. If he quotes the History Channel, I am walking out.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 12:10 PM:
ReplyDeletewell said! It appears that siu currently lacks true leaders at the Deans level. If Cheng, Poshard and Niklow cannot see reason then the Deans should wield their influence together to set the university in the right direction. Instead all we have are puppets! How will they be ever respected by the students and faculty in their colleges?
He says 'all week'. Does this mean the Administration is going to drag this out the whole week? Does that mean they aren't bargaining in "good faith"?
ReplyDeleteNew ad for SIUC. These are hard economic times.
ReplyDeleteI heard that one can earn a new degree here that is sure to get you a job anywhere and everywhere--The degree is called, "jack of all trades"....you can be a historian, philosopher, psychologist, engineer, chemist, biochemist,mathematician etc etc. How is that possible? SIU has a unique policy of hiring substitute teachers--for example you can have a person from English Literature teach Mathematics or electrical engineering....or vice versa!
So, do substitutes receive compensation? If so, how much? Or are their own job duties somehow reduced to avoid working overtime in their own positions? I am just curious about the financial logistics involved.
ReplyDeleteThis is known as the dark side of globalization, namely anybody can do anything.
ReplyDeleteRita's new sing song.
"Anything you can do, unqualifieds can do better.
"Anything this, you can do, an unqualified can do it even more."
"No, you can't!
"Yes, I can, yes I can, yes, I can!"
http://www.facebook.com/ToddAWinters#!/ToddAWinters?sk=wall
ReplyDelete"I'm going to be a History Professor this week!!!!"
Shame. Disgust. This displays a sickening attitude.
I wonder if Dean Winters would see a faculty member from History as a qualified fill-in for ANY course offered in his college. Odds are the faculty member has had sex at some point in their life, they are a biological system, and they might have a cat, so they could lecture on his areas of expertise (from his FB description "reproduction and other biological systems in animals and humans"), correct?
ReplyDeleteDid you see who that last comment was from?
ReplyDelete"Kimberly Leonard
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale"
She said: "And, many, many thanks for helping!"
The FA is responsible for the need for this. If you were doing your job, no one would have to substitute.
ReplyDeleteAbout Dean Leonard - I guess being a feminist scholar doesn't = pro-union.
ReplyDeleteWinters is pinch hitting to run out the semester if need be. If it goes much longer, look for job ads for history and other professors . . .
I disagree with the notion that someone in one department can't becomea good chair in another department, particularly if they have administrative expertise (the person who took over Linguistics managed the massive, mind-numbing job of accrediting the whole damn university!). Sadly chair work involves a lot more administrative bullshit but some people are better at it than others.
Mike: 1:10 PM--yes, that isn't at all surprising!
ReplyDeleteNone of these Deans are true leaders. They say they are frustrated by the bargaining process and are not allowed to lead their colleges--but hey why are they simply agreeing to everything that is dished out with no thought about the effects on the students and the faculty in their colleges. Self-preservation that is what it is! what kind of leaders do we have here!!! And this is the same Dean who has been on the BOT bargaining team that's negotiating with the FA bargaining team!!! Just puppets all of them. I guess next we'll hear that the Dean of COLA is going to be an engineering professor for a week. The FA bargaining team had better watch out--the administration is not really serious about negotiating--I don't think so!
George W. Bush was a History major. I'd pay to audit that class!
ReplyDeleteAbout the earlier Reagan analogy: Remember PATCO! What an idiot president, some said, surely he can't replace all those air traffic controllers. He did and the number of strikes nationwide plummeted 90% as employers realized that replacement workers were possible even in skilled positions. (They always had the legal right to replace strikers but that was a turning point).
Thanks go to Dean Winters. He is stepping up, under difficult circumstances, to assist our students. Good luck to both bargaining teams in resolving this situation as quickly as possible.
ReplyDeleteIt is marvelous to read the comments that blame the president and chancellor for hurting students as if they were the ones on strike. Wow, it's an upside down, topsy turvy world in which faculty strikers reside.
ReplyDeleteThe faculty will have a lot of work to do once they get back to work. They will have to spend time "unteaching" their students who have been taught by unqualified substitute teachers!
ReplyDeleteShame on Dean Winters and Dean Kimberley Leonard!
ReplyDeleteThis is degradation of academics!
Welcome Administrators and fans of Administrators. If you watch that video put out by the FA, you'll see Dr. Anne Fletcher state it was the Administration's position that she was so easily replaceable that motivated her to join the strike. It is sad that the Administration has such a low view of their faculty. Perhaps this is one reason we feel the need to stike -- to remind them who exactly is replaceable.
ReplyDeleteIf the Administration (or rather, its principle leaders) truly cared about the university and the students therein, they wouldn't have allowed these negotiations to come down to a strike -- and they wouldn't have lied to the students and the rest of the community to shore up their unreasonable and absolutist positions. The students increasingly cite this disruption as a failure of leadership. They are not wrong.
By the way, this recent posting by Dean Winters has now been taken off of his FB page. I know the Administration must hate screen captures. But you know, this is a little like closing the barn door after the cow has gotten out...
ReplyDeleteAnd Chancellor Cheng claims that she is "dragging" the faculty into the 21st century where technology is concerned. Yeah, right!
Does the Chair of History know and approve of this--having a person from the college of agriculture teach a course in the history department? Or is teh Dean of COLA not giving her any choice in the matter???
ReplyDelete"Thanks go to Dean Winters. He is stepping up, under difficult circumstances, to assist our students."
ReplyDeleteShould we also thank a local anti-unions small business owner for helping out by stepping into the classroom? He or she would probably be about as qualified.
I hope the history students walkout on Winters.
If, God forbid, I was an administrator and was forced to teach a history class, I'd give a special lecture on labor struggles in the past and then put the Governor's phone number on the overhead.
ReplyDeleteI've been a faculty member at SIUC for enough years to see several Presidents, Chancellors, and Provosts come and go. Most have exasperatingly thrown their hands up instead of addressing issues in the early stages before they become crises. That's why we are where we are. Poshard, Cheng, and Nicklow realize this and are working FOR the university - and that includes the faculty.
ReplyDeleteI am troubled that the university I have always respected and loved has been divided by all of this conflict. However, I know that at some point we had to face the fact that past administrations have failed to address issues head on and resolve conflict early on. Now we are faced with a perceived false reality by faculty that they have authority that has never been theirs (... determining financial exigency).
Mature labor unions understand the division of labor and management. The faculty on this campus have been given a false sense of authority. Instead of dealing with the issue of financial exigency and BOT authority, past administrations have instead avoided it by putting in a clause stating that faculty would not be laid off during the duration of the contract - basically putting their heads in the sand.
Poshard, Cheng, and Nicklow are doing what they feel is right to get our university back in order - and to track a course for us to move forward in a positive way - for the students, faculty, and staff.
Let's get through this - and over this - and start working together again...
Is dean of the College of Science - Jay Means, teaching a math class? A couple of years faculty in three departments (Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science) "gave" him No Confidence vote. I hope administration keeps him away from classes offered by three departments listed above.
ReplyDeleteAs a professional historian, how dare a "history hobbyist" teach our courses!!!!!!! I would not pretend to have the expertise that Dean Winters has or even pretend to be qualified to teach any of his courses. How DARE he presume the same of my field. This is a new low for SIUC.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:30...I could believe this perspective except for the the chronic and continued administrative bloat on this campus. I don't think it is the faculty or the unions that are being unrealistic. The unions may be the last line of defense against unrealistic administrative bloat.
ReplyDeleteFor a rather cogent analysis and local commentary on this, see this post over at Occupy SIUC:
http://occupysiuc.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/growth-in-administrators-outstrips-growth-in-faculty-members/
Me again. My classes are meeting. As are my colleagues. None of us are happy about the situation at all. I read the last posted stuff from the Administration and the FA...I don't buy this is about tenure. I wish the FA would just sign this....it is a fair contract. But I have been ignored about absolutely everything I have ever suggested. The tyranny of a organized minority.
ReplyDeleteLike Jonathan Bean, I don't find any reason to strike. I feel betrayed by this union. It's all been about money. And anger. And power.
I am concerned about what happens after this. Will students who came to class and did the work the substitutes offered now pay for their choices? Will students who are supporting the FA going to be subtly penalized by faculty who did not strike?
Being a faculty member who did not strike, I fear the same kind of retaliation I've experienced in the past from a few unbalanced FA members. The majority of FA members will continue to be my friends, the parents of my children's friends, a co-coach with me, on the same church committee, running in the same benefit races, etc. But some are mean-spirited, and strengthened by the facade of power, will use their anger to hurt others -- students, faculty, alike.
I have been here a long time and watched and experienced a lot of meanness. I ignore it, focus on my work, my teaching, my students, my service, my research. I am honest and open.
Got bopped out a bit soon....to continue:
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have not been directly asked to cover a class, I am qualified to teach that class and will do so should that Chair ask me. And I will do it for the students in the course, who cannot continue to do their labs without supervision. In my field, leaving them unsupervised is an ethical violation for which I could lose my license. What would I be teaching my students then?
As a Graduate Assistant, and PHD student in the Department of History, I am most troubled by what little value the Administration places on my chosen discipline. I already have bachelors and masters degrees in history from SIUC, are they of such little worth that my own Administration deems it appropriate to use amateur historians to instruct me?
ReplyDeleteQuiet one: I for one do not believe in holding grudges. Once this nightmare is over, we faculty will have to get back together again and do our parts to make SIUC better than it is now. But there are those of us who feel violated today; who feel our academic training and disciplines are regarded with such low respect by Dean Winter and others. That has to be rectified somehow. As a professionally trained historian, I would never even think of stepping into a colleague's class in English or Political Science or Sociology (the three departments physically most proximate to mine in Faner Hall), let alone Endocrine Biochemistry. Indeed, I suck at science. History students: make up your own mind please about what kind of education you are receiving tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThis is the worst insult I have ever experienced working at this campus yet.
There is plenty of blame to go around regarding who is teaching tomorrow. My personal feeling is that if you are concerned, you should come inside and warm up and teach your students. Then return to the picket line and support your colleagues.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:24, I think someone is a little vague on the concept of "strike." If the university cannot adequately replace us, it should not falsely advertise that it can. That is a failure of leadership and a failure to negotiate. That is the only real blame to go around on this point; the rest is an argument of false equivalency.
ReplyDeleteI taught on Friday, and it was horrible. If there no contract on Monday, I will join picket line. I hope we end the strike soon.
ReplyDeleteI figured it out today!
ReplyDeleteThe chancellor didn't mean "qualified" in the sense of possessing training or competent, she meant "qualified" in the sense of limited or modified.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/qualified
Anonymous 3:33 if you can, please let your chair or your dean know. We need the powers-that-be knowing that if they don't settle a fair contract this evening, there will be consequences tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAnd students in history courses: you should all stay home tomorrow and/or join us on the picket line. It is a rank insult to you - students in history courses, perhaps some of you history majors or minors even - than ANYBODY can teach your courses! It now appears that Dean Leonard thinks it is okay that history hobbyists without any professional training in their subject matter at all are qualified to teach those content fields.
Shame, shame on you for having so little regard for your colleagues in your college, Dean Leonard. Your predecessor Dean Vaux would never have done this!!!
Quiet One, I can assure you that I am on strike because of the tenure issue, not because of anger or power. No, I don't want the power to determine when there is "financial exigency." But I do want transparency and accountability in the event that financial exigency is declared. Right now I feel that I work at an institution that would lay off tenured faculty before even considering cuts to athletics. I want a process in place to ensure that doesn't happen, and I don't trust my rulers, Cheng, Poshard, and the BOT, to make the determination themselves given what their priorities have been.
ReplyDeleteTo those of you offended by inadequate replacements should not take it personally. The administration has the responsibility to try to cover your classes when you walk out. They didn't pick you, you chose to leave your class. That doesn't make inadequate replacements OK, but there is no need to be personally offended.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:58. Its not personal, its business (!)
ReplyDeleteFrom a letter sent to parents (like me) on Friday.
Nov. 4, 2011
Dear Parents:
"I want to reassure you that despite the SIUC Faculty Association’s unfortunate decision to stage a walkout that began Thursday (November 3), our priority remains that of ensuring a high-quality education and a supportive campus environment for your student.
Classes are continuing to meet as regularly scheduled and are being taught by qualified instructors. In the far majority of instances, classes are being taught by their regular instructor. In fact, at this point, only 125 of the approximately 2,000 instructional staff on campus are participating in the walkout and only 5 percent of classes have been affected. For those courses that are affected, the men and women who are volunteering to take over classes, when needed, are highly qualified, and many are fellow faculty members from the same department or emeritus faculty with years of experience in teaching those classes."
I'm offended as a parent because I am being lied to. explicitly.
Quiet One, no matter how eloquent your posts are you are still a scab. Also, if Leonard is a feminist scholar then this really proves how pernicious identity politics really are. Far from being progressive they really allow reactionaries into responsible positions like Condolezza Rice who is on the warmongering trail today.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:58 I beg greatly to differ. It is one thing if a historian teaches my classes; quite another if an endocrine biochemist wannabe does. Again, I do not even presume to teach a class in sociology just down the hall from my office, let alone in the sciences. He should have the same respect in return for my academic expertise. Obviously he does not. What is most glaring is that my dean does not, either.
ReplyDelete"Does the Chair of History know and approve of this--having a person from the college of agriculture teach a course in the history department?"
ReplyDeleteAny one know if the chair approved this? I looked the chair up and it is a professor Lieberman. Are chairs who teach some of the courses "scabs"? Or are they "scabs" if they get others to "scab"?
If FA is demanding FE "transparency, accountability and third-party appeals" does that apply to other work units (non-FA)? In other words, if FA demands that FE be proven to the FA's satisfaction is that binding on the whole campus? That would REALLY restrict the BOT. Any word on that? That certainly doesn't sound reasonable to me. Didn't even occur to me until the other unions went back to work.
ReplyDeleteThis is Anon 5:39. I read in the paper that the chair of Sociology is teaching classes in her department. What do you Sociology people think of that? Or, more generally, what does any one think if their chair teaches courses that they really are qualified to teach (particularly the surveys)???
ReplyDeleteFrom Alise up above:
ReplyDelete:. In fact, at this point, only 125 of the approximately 2,000 instructional "taff on campus are participating in the walkout and only 5 percent of classes have been affected."
Um. . .doesn't that mean they are hooking in the non-tenure track, and the other instructors who aren't covered by any unions?!
Gee, at least it will be refreshing this week to have someone at least try to teach instead of "treating" us to a week of pro-strike propaganda. Go Dean Winters...thanks for putting students first.
ReplyDeleteWell, Anon, 7:09, If you are quite happy to be taught by somebody not in your own discipline and unfamiliar with research, then you are really a very poor student, both intellectually and morally.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 7:09:
ReplyDeleteI know that you weren't in my class. I don't think my students knew what I thought about the strike or whether I was striking even after someone asked during the last class period before the strike.
I told them to come to the next class to see for themselves whether it was business as usual.
paranoid is the chair of the math department. Watch him!
DeleteWell, Anon, 7:21. FYI: I am an excellent student with a finely honed moral compass, but glad to know you are worried about my intellectual and moral character. Thanks Dean Winters and Dean Leonard for putting students first.
ReplyDeleteBy what measure are you declaring they are they putting "students first?" Does Dean Winters have any scholarly expertise in terms of publications or advanced degrees in history? Or is he just going to "fake it" tomorrow? I am a history professor because I play one on TV. Sorry, aint cutting it - and the jokester will be Rita Cheng and Dean Leonard when accreditation boards start questioning our credentials because of this.
ReplyDeleteIf on the other hand you think "putting students first" means having a warm body there monitoring the class, well go ahead waste your tuition dollars! If you actually wish to have what you came here for, you need to get Rita Cheng, Glenn Poshard, and the BOT to settle our contract.
ReplyDeleteThe worst people I know have all claimed to have "finely honed moral compasses." Funny how that works.
ReplyDeleteWow Anonymous 7:21. Now we have regressed to putting down students who don't want to be preached to about the strike?
ReplyDeleteI am joining the striking teachers tomorrow and not going to class. When anybody asks me why, i will show them Cheng's email promising me a good substitute and this facebook page. I am paying for a good education taught by good teachers. I don't know what FA or FSN or FE are, but I know what FU is and that is what I say to Cheng!
ReplyDeleteI smell desperation here among the FAers. They aren't going to strike for the entire semester and they know it. Real unions strike for REAL. One week of a strike is not a REAL strike.
ReplyDeleteSo "get REAL" or stop the pretense. Also try to look up some union slang other than "scab." All these professors citing labor's past without even knowing the language of us working men. . .
So now FA response to how they feel about their colleague-chairs teaching and/or finding replacements? It's the one management position elected by faculty so you would think FA folk would be reaching out to their chairs. Perhaps the chairs are forced to teach although I guess they could quit. . .
ReplyDeleteIt's very odd that people can complain about the students not receiving the best education and can act like they are campaigning for the good of the students while they themselves are actually on strike, denying the students that very same education.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:45: "Shame, shame on you for having so little regard for your colleagues in your college, Dean Leonard. Your predecessor Dean Vaux would never have done this!!! "
ReplyDeleteDean Vaux did much worse! it is obvious you do not know Dean Vaux!
Anonymous 8:44 Actually no, because we are fighting for something larger, which is the educational quality of this institution. And, moreover, some of us, myself included, have bent over backward to minimize the disruptions to our classes. For example, in my upper-level research seminar, I made the first drafts due last week, so I could get them completely graded and handed back to the students to use in working on htier final drafts. I am asking students to email me on my private home email address later this week about their weekly progress on their research papers if by that point I am still locked off campus. Otherwise, students and I have individualized meetings those weeks we aren't meeting as a whole class.
ReplyDeleteI submit that I am doing the best by my conscience and my students unlike some endocrine biochemist masquerading as a wannabe professional historian just because he happens to like Lincoln and the Civil War. I like photography and do it on my spare time. That does not mean that I am even remotely qualified to teach a colleague's class in Photojournalism or Cinema and Photography. I am outraged that Dean Winters and my own dean, Dean Leonard, have the same lack of due regard for my academic field not to properly staff the course where Dean Winter will be instructor this week with an actual trained historian.
In regular circumstances, this sort of faking goes on quite a bit--especially by some faculty (chair included) in departments such as curriculum and instruction--in one program in particular!! faculty and chair Pretending to be what they are not! students are told point blank who will chair their dissertation committees (they have no real say in the matter)! and also who the members will be! Needless to say, typically not a single person on the students' committees is someone with expertise in the area covered by the students' research. I thought students at this stage in their education should think about such issues carefully and make a proper determination rather than have someone foisted on them.
ReplyDeleteDean Winters is stepping up here. Even if he is completely unqualified (and I'm not saying that he is by any means) I would think an unqualified teacher teaching this basic 101 class is better than the alternative: nobody teaching it at all.
ReplyDeleteHey you historians--stop complaining! It was not too long ago when your very own former chairs Dr. Morgan and someone before that was responsible for helping to impose two historians as chairs of the Linguistics department and the sociology department! we didn't hear any protests about that from any of the history faculty then! perhaps the history faculty were happy to get rid of those two people!
ReplyDeleteOne Ticked off Professor: I do not question your intentions or your resolve, but find it odd you refer to being locked off campus. Last I checked no one has locked you out.
ReplyDeleteWhat Chancellor Cheng and Dean Leonard do not realize is that I will be correctly teaching the content matter in my courses when I return to work. I owe my students that much; I am the only person with my subject expertise employed by this university. But right now I am on strike because Chancellor Cheng, President Poshard, and the BOT bargaining team, of whom my very own dean is a member, have declared war on the faculty and our professional rights. These things matter to the educational quality of this institution; very few of my colleagues have taken this decision lightly. I know I personally agonized over it the past two months and have lost much sleep.
ReplyDeleteIt is because I care deeply about my students that I am sacrificing potentially lost pay. I love SIUC and desire it to become a far better place than at present. But in order for that to happen, administrators need to collaborate with faculty, and yes the Faculty Association, rather than declare war on us.
I think One Ticked Off Professor meant "locked off campus email," which IS something that has happened.
ReplyDeletePlato's Big Toe - Not really. Just criticizing a student who is quite satisfied to receive a shoddy education and not be aware of the very good points made by 9: 27 pm and other posters. And isn't this student's post a blatant example of reactionary preaching by supporting an administration responsible for the inadequate (or no - education students are receiving in class by incompetent substitutes? Where are these qualified replacements. Cheng lied once again!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:18 I say he is completely unqualified to teach a history course. Why do I make such a statement lacking in nuance? Well, when I was hired at this university, two things occurred: 1) a national search was done for a particular research and teaching expertise that I met and I was chosen from a rather extensive pool of probably 100 candidates. (It is very typical for history searches to have at least this many candidates who are more or less qualified, in some fields like late 20th century U.S. history, it is often even more competitive). And 2) I had to earn my Ph.D. prior to taking the job, and that Ph.D. cannot be in any other field but history. That is what SIUC did under "business as usual."
ReplyDeleteTell me then, how is Dean Winters teaching a course in my department this week "business as usual?"
I am on strike and will email my classes now, to let my students know what is going on, as far as I know myself. If we strikers can all do this, I think our students will appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteFrom my private account, of course!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps Dean Winters' regular job (Dean of the college of Agriculture) is expendable! This probably applies to all the other Deans as well. There is no respect for disciplinary areas at siuc. This is not something new. That's the crux of the problem. Administrators and administrative bloat are more highly valued but disciplinary expertise is not. Similar things have happened in the past. Only now some folks are protestingg--including those who silently watched when it was not their department or discipline that was affected.
ReplyDeleteI am increasingly disturbed by the ad hominem attacks directed at our fellow faculty and our administrators (many of whom really are our fellow faculty). The deans and chairs are caught in the middle here and are just trying to make the best of an awful situation. I admit I don’t know Dean Winters all that well, but I think the FB post that led to this blog entry was just gallows humor, nothing more—and those who can’t see that may be blinded by their passions. I expect that if he took it down, it was because it upset people, not because some puppet-master orchestrated it. *Of course* the deans and chairs would prefer to have you -- their highly trained faculty -- teaching these courses! *Of course* they don’t want to be placing others in there (particularly themselves). There’s been a lot of childish attacks on administrators here and in the press and in my view it doesn’t do anything but diminish the attacker, the FA, and SIUC as a whole. Another example, in response to the posts of Quiet One (someone I seem to agree a lot with I think), Anonymous 4:23 pm said:
ReplyDelete“Quiet One, no matter how eloquent your posts are you are still a scab.”
Well Anonymous, I think one clearly cannot say the same about your eloquence. Here’s my (low-eloquence) take: *I* teach *my* classes. *I* do *my* research. *I* do *my* committee work. I am not a scab if I continue to do these things (even more so since I am not in your union). If I teach *your* classes, if I do *your* research, or if I do *your* committee work (ok – bad example, you may not mind that one) then I would be a scab. I have been asked, and have turned down, such “opportunities”. You wanna call me a scab? That dog won’t hunt, but go ahead – I’ve heard worse. Sticks and stones…
Whether one is “qualified” to teach a class is not black and white. No one is more qualified than you to teach a class you are teaching. Everyone knows that. Some classes are easier to find adequate substitutes than others (e.g. intro courses versus upper level courses)—that doesn’t mean you are replaceable (nor does it mean that if you find you have a stand-in for your class, that *any*one in the administration believes in their heart or mind (yes, I believe it can be medically proven that all have both) that this is a happy long-term solution or that you aren’t wanted back by them (as well by as your students). Indeed, I don’t think that there is any doubt that the longer this drags on, the more damage that will be done (in terms of your students’ education, as well as to the perceptions of the faculty and SIUC by students, parents, and the public at large). In my view both the administration and the FA are accountable for this damage, and what will be “won” by the FA when this settles is unlikely to be worth this damage.
Amen to beezer! Posters really need to chill out. FA had some rightful issues but this blind "us-against-them" rhetoric is totally out of control--and it is hurting the FA's image. I know I have students who read this blog. Don't be fooled: only one or two students may post but many do read this Deo Volente. I haven't expressed my opinions to the students but they say negative things about the tone here...
ReplyDelete"If on the other hand you think "putting students first" means having a warm body there monitoring the class, well go ahead waste your tuition dollars! If you actually wish to have what you came here for, you need to get Rita Cheng, Glenn Poshard, and the BOT to settle our contract."
ReplyDeleteYou strikers leave your students in the middle of the semester and then when one expresses gratitude that an administrator is willing to help make sure he is getting what he already paid for, you degrade him for it and then suggest he should fight your battles for you! That's not what he's here for. Ugh... Disgusting.
Anon 10.58
ReplyDeleteIts you who are disgusting, and a coward for not standing up to Cheng, et al, and letting the FA do the dirty work for you, fighting the battles for your benefit. I bet you have reaped many rewards over the years from the FA's good contracts, and probably not paid a dime for them.
Good night and good riddance.
If it were Jim Allen (professor of French history) teaching that class, or even emiritus professor David Wilson, former dean of the graduate school and a professional historian by training, I would not be complaining. You miss the point. Not just ANYBODY can do my job, just like not everyone can do Dean Winters'. His arrogance in thinking contrary to that is exactly what is wrong with this place at present!
ReplyDeleteTicked Off Prof:
ReplyDeleteI don't think that dean Winters is being arrogant at all, he's trying to help. I have no doubt that if somebody more qualified than himself stepped up to teach your class that he would gladly let them teach it. He's simply attempting to be of assistance to the university any way he can.
I don't doubt his good intentions: I doubt the wisdom of the administrators here who think he is a qualified replacement for my striking colleague teaching that particular course. Thank goodness that the GAUs got a clause prohibiting the administration from forcing them to teach the classes of striking tenured faculty. We were a bit worried for a while about that mean-spirited possibility of sowing dissension in our programs.
ReplyDeleteSo, again you miss the point. But as teaching is my avocation (and does not change), I will continue trying to reach you.
Anon 11:13 PM,
ReplyDeleteBe careful with that bet. Chairs and deans are not part of the FA bargaining unit.
Very Ticked Off Professor, I think that the administration by no means believes he's a perfectly qualified replacement for you, he's only temporary relief. I believe dean Leonard has something like 48 striking faculty. Were I in her position, I would take all of the help that was offered. I'm sure she was just in a hurry to fill up classes left open by these striking faculty members before Monday rolled around. There are probably many more classes being filled with professors just as qualified (or less) than dean Winters, the only reason this has caused such an uproar is that he is of course a dean. Were he still a regular professor, no such explosion of news would've occurred.
ReplyDeleteIt is the gift that keeps on giving for me and my striking colleagues, that is for sure. But I assure you, I would be just as irate were it Dr. Eichholz filling in this week for my colleague's class. Luckily it is not mine, but had this strike occurred last spring when I was last teaching in the Core Curriculum, it very might well have been. And that pisses me off to no end.
ReplyDeleteWhen this administration declares it is so concerned with retention, wouldn't you think they would choose with greater care someone who teaches History 101A? Like an actual history professor? Oops.
ReplyDeleteAs noted below, the spam filter sometimes catches posts for no reason I can make sense of. When I see it happening, I go reclassify posts caught in the filter as "not spam." Please know that I do not edit or remove posts except in extreme cases (we've done that 3 times in the history of this blog -- I've yet to have to make that cal myself). When we do remove posts, there is a note in the space of the deleted comment that says "comment removed by administrator" or something like that.
ReplyDeleteSo, if comments don't make it to the thread and there is no note saying it was removed, it means you got caught by the rather arbitrary spam filter and I will fix it as soon as I can.
If faculty were in their classrooms where they belong there wouldn't be a need for subs. Any faculty member who willingly walks out and abandons their students in the middle of a semester has no business being a faculty member. Todd Winters and all other faculty and admin who are stepping up and working their butts off to cover for those using this as an excuse for free time off should be thanked, not ridiculed. I'm glad to see him excited about teaching- regardless of the subject; it gives me hope for the future of SIUC. He actually cares about the students and is willing to put in even more time than he already does now to ensure that their education continues in the midst of chaos. Knowing Todd Winters I know he will care a tremendous amount and put in the time to do an excellent job teaching history, just as he does with his regular courses, because that's the kind of professor he is and all faculty should be.
ReplyDelete-an SIUC alum now faculty at another institution
I began the original post with a deliberate attempt to avoid ad hominem attacks on Dean Winters. My very legitimate and on-topic concerns are about his qualifications to do the job he is being asked to do.
ReplyDeleteIn the comments that have followed, some have been outraged by this example of how the Administration intends to preserve "business as usual" on this campus. As I have said elsewhere, you may personally object to the force of their affect, but you cannot claim it has no cause.
What troubles me about the defense of the Administration in the choice of Dean Winters to teach history (and other examples of unqualified substitutes) is that it finally puts actual details on what the Administration means by "business as usual."
Yes, people on strike have created empty classrooms -- the Administration played a big part in making this strike happen. But this is not the only cause that might make such decisions necessary. We have expressed concerns in this contract that the Administrations DL push might lead to unqualified teachers taking our online class materials and offering our classes -- we now have precedent for our very real concern. The job security concerns of this contract also now have very real evidence of how the university plans to operate in the wake of layoffs and terminations.
The FA's position has always been that we cannot treat the university only as a "business." That is not to deny the fiduciary responsibilities of the Administration, but it is to remind them that the quality of education at this institution is a primary concern of the faculty. We have feared that some financial strategies were and would compromise the quality of our primary product -- a sound education. We now have very strong evidence that our concerns were not misplaced.
More simply, I don't think putting "just anybody" in the role of a teacher is better than having no one teach the class at all. The former the is fraud; the latter is a failure to offer services contractually promised to students. When I cannot see my doctor (or a nurse or a physician's assistant), I am not happy to see a substitution plumber instead. Students, parents, and the doctors on the picket line are well justified in being offended by the unusual ways this business is operating!
Thank you Jonny Gray for that. If Dr. Cheng and "Dr." Poshard stop offending us by their decision-making, and you know, actually sought to work with us to make SIUC a more thriving university, we might actually not be on strike right now. Yes, we have left students with empty classrooms. It was an agonizing decision for me personally, which is why I sought to mitigate it by giving my students my private email addresses and by rescheduling work in my research seminar. Moreover, it was precisely because I did not trust my "replacement's" expertise in supervising such undergraduate historical research that I worked feverishly last Tuesday to get the papers back before the strike deadline, just to be safe.
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't even dream that the administration would stoop so low to put an endocrine biochemist, who self-styles himself a history hobbyist, into the classroom of one of my colleagues! That is a new low for this university.
Well Day 3. Today I passed three strikers at the entrance. I know one personally -- we exchanged smiles. I am glad there will be no rain and that the warmer temperatures will be less difficult.
ReplyDeleteThis week I will teach two class today, one as a guest teacher (invited before the strike) and another my class. I have office hours today as well. They are booked solid. My class tonight goes late and I will meet with two students afterward. I should get home by aroun9:30 or 10. I don't think I am all that unusual a professor.
It is possible I will teach a class in another college. Oddly, I do have the expertise to do so. More importantly the other faculty and I have a solid history of mutual respect and have always treated each other with such. I think it sets a tone for more productive negotiation when people work together before there is such animosity.
Many of the FA with whom I talk actually talk with me. We discuss. Things do not devolve into name-calling, nose-snorting, hand on table banging...all though I have seen this happen.
What I have found is that curiously, there are a few very hurt and very frightened people who believe wholeheartedly in the untrustworthiness and even evil intentions of "The Administration." It is possible there exists similar inability to see from some on the administration's side.
When this whole bruhaha is over, how will all of us do the hard work of looking deeply into our scars and those we've inflicted on others? How do we purposefully change our way of working together?
Strikers stay warm out there. Students, I will teach my classes and others for which I am qualified. Parents, my whole program has chosen not to strike. We believe there were and are better ways to settle our differences.
Onward.
Oh, and I'm tickled pink to have my posts labeled "eloquent!" Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that Quiet One. Yes, we will all have to resolve our differences and progress forward to make SIUC a better place when this is all over and done with. And I really hope instead of aiming to settle old scores, our administrators join us in that collective effort. But we have also reached a crisis point where many of us feel that our role as professional educators is under threat by a culture of mediocrity among our administration. Almost all of us possess the most advanced degree in our chosen fields. We are active teachers and scholars; many of us have sacrificed a lot to have the honor to work at an R1 research institution. Administrators ought to honor that rather than insult us by placing hobbyists in our classrooms! Dr. Winters I am sure is a creative dean who cares deeply about his college and his students. I am sure also he is an active productive teacher and scholar in his chosen field. His eagerness to help out is not under question here. His wisdom - indeed perhaps hubris - in thinking that he is qualified to step into that classroom this morning is.
ReplyDeleteOkay, got to return to my picket squad with a freshly brewed cup of coffee for my mates!
OMG. Now you are vilifying people by posting their Facebook pages. Un. Friggin. Real.
ReplyDeleteI saw the straw man "Cheng" you all had at your demonstration in town Saturday.
If someone posted a straw man "Hughes" or "Jonny Gray" outside Anthony Hall....you all would be screaming to high heaven.
If you are all so angry then why don't you go somewhere else?
ReplyDeleteDr. Winters is only doing what he thinks is best in this situation. Unlike you all, he is trying to keep things as positive and normal for the students as possible. He may not be a History expert and he openly admitted that in class today. I think you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. If you have an opinion get out and express it in a positive way. Don't take you anger for the administration out on an individual who is only doing what he believes is right.
ReplyDeleteAnd anonymous commenter who stated, "Odds are the faculty member has had sex at some point in their life, they are a biological system, and they might have a cat..." Your comment only reiterates how ignorant you are in Dr. Winters' 'area of expertise.'
I heard from a student on the picket line on Friday that an undergraduate friend of hers who is especially good at math was asked to teach a math class by the department. I know that's 3rd person information, but still...
ReplyDeleteKelli: so we are supposed to measure "good intentions" as a criteria for "business as normal" and "you will be taught by qualified instructors?" That is Un Frigging Real if you ever asked me!
ReplyDeleteQuite one,
ReplyDeleteYou said: "It is possible I will teach a class in another college. Oddly, I do have the expertise to do so. More importantly the other faculty and I have a solid history of mutual respect and have always treated each other with such. I think it sets a tone for more productive negotiation when people work together before there is such animosity."
I suggest you contact this colleague and ask before you teach their class. To strike is a democratic right. In scabbing you are muzzling your colleague's voice, at least they may take it that way.
Isn't this supposed to be a university where students are taught by experts in their field not dilettantes? Winters and his supporters certainly do not belong in a university and the latter are little better than panhandlers if they refuse to contribute "fair share" to a Union they have economically benefited from over the last decade. By submissively allowing the erasure of professional standards of tenure, welcoming unqualified people into classrooms, and passively agreeing to being forced to do DL, they reveal themselves as spineless cowards unable to stand up for their professional rights.
ReplyDeleteAs a civil service employee on the 'inside', I have witnessed the scramble to find any qualified instructor to teach not only 100 level courses, but especially 200-level and higher courses. Several undergraduate students and graduate students were pressured in some way or another regarding this issue. So, as a result, we have a very unorganized, unqualified set of people trying to take attendance in these classes. Skype courses are also now in session. I don't know if the chairs are under extreme pressure from the deans and the administration, but the rumors that spread within departments are unprofessional. Personally, as a union represented employee, I feel disheartened that my support for a union strike is seen as an 'unnecessary evil' by my boss and am quite embarrassed that I work for such a department/institution.
ReplyDeleteOne very ticked off history professor...
ReplyDeleteIf an individual chooses to strike to stand up for his/her rights then I hold nothing against them. However, if you are choosing to strike, in a way, you are choosing your needs over your students. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but that is a decision that needs to be made by each individual. If you choose to strike, you are forfeiting the rights to control what happens in your classroom. As unfortunate as that may be, that is a repercussion of your decision. So if you are choosing to strike how can you sit here and complain about what the university is doing in their absence? Unfortunately there is no middle ground here. It's all or nothing. The reason Dr. Winters is teaching is because our original professor choose to fight for his rights. What do you suggest? The university cancel our classes and we get no education at all? While it isn't the information that we would be given with our original professor, it is better than no information at all. Because let's be honest, there is no way the university is going to refund student's money!