Thread:Una74/@comment-71.58.210.121-20171010133156/@comment-33557326-20171103213811

I am Mary Miles and I always post with my name. We all have deal p-breakers at work. If I’m unable to leave a class feeling that I’ve done rewarding teaching rather than served as some sort of behavior patrol, monitoring technology use and gum chewing, that’s a deal breaker. If I have to make up secret names to talk to my own colleagues on the internet for fear of retribution, that’s a deal breaker. Ours are all different. I came here expecting to see some casual bullying and am utterly astounded by the temporal depth and work invested in other posters’ extensive analysis of all things Michael Berube. Why??? I’m a sensitive person who does get “unhinged” when I’m bullied, and I’m at a loss to find any coherent evidence of Berube bullying anyone. Rebecca made a fabulous journalistic career for herself and I loved reading her. But I didn’t agree with everything she wrote and she’s a public figure. Some disagreement and even memes come with the territory, pregnant or not (though no doubt, everyone wishes her well on that human level). Meanwhile, much of this discussion seems to revolve around Penn State’s most notable news story and one that has been discussed extensively for years. Remember: just because you work here (Berube didn’t then), heard unsubstantiated rumors, or knew Paterno does NOT mean that you personally have anything that could possibly be relevant to contribute to conversations about Sandusky. As a community of scholars, we’re at least trying to avoid the sort of politicized, loyalty-oath culture where anyone who fails to loudly condemn a criminal must in fact be, a child sex abuser. So, I’m realizing that this conversation demands homework. Lots and lots of homework to be an informed participant. Looks as if I’ll be wasting a bunch of time learning about these bullying claims (it’s ok, I waste a lot of time anyway). Though I adore my job and my university (I was an undergraduate, my family is full of alums, and I left only for my Cornell PhD — it’s the type of wonderful situation that only the FT contract system facilitates through flexibility and priorities that aren’t all cut-throat competition), I use the Titanic analogy on a weekly basis to describe higher education. Bureaucracy is dehumanizing us and our hierarchical communities can feel Machievallian if not dystopian. That’s why it’s important to value people in the system who are making good faith efforts to find the humanity and restore some sense of meaning and community as higher ed otherwise devolves into a sort of superstore. I’m am FT and I’ve never been at the bottom of a “caste system” before, so it’s interesting. Im Chair of our Senate Caucus and on a bunch of committees. Im very outspoken and extremely emotive. I write overly long emails on impulse to the most relevant people I can find on any issue and I cry at meetings. I’m a single woman, so not a protected spousal hire. I’ve also been enormously lucky and am grateful to have found myself surrounded by kind, perceptive, good people from my Deans and Department Heads to Colleagues. They’ve supported my efforts to build a fulfilling career for myself and I can’t thank them enough. I’m honored and happy to know that Michael and his wife are in that group as my friends. I do not, however, report to either of them as supervisors and have no reason to butter up to either. I work with Michael because it is a joy to work with Michael. I’ve been around bullies. I’ve cried about bullies. I’ve complained to Michael about bullies. Michael is the farthest thing from a bully possible and he adeptly avoids the other pitfall of being patronizing. I interact with Michael as a colleague, collaborator, and friend. He listens very carefully and very seriously to every single thing I say about FT faculty because I am the one thing he can not be in these discussions: an FT. He’s been listening to me since long before he knew who I was. I would stumble upon a FB post on adjuncts, spout my opinions, then find them seamlessly integrated into Michael’s latest work. Just as Michael is not one of my “bosses”, I’m not one of his groupies. I’m not a person that he *needs* to get things done. He has won election as our Faculty Senate Chair, he has garnered respect and esteem in our community all by himself. Serendipitously, we were both working on projects to reform FT titles and contracts. As Chair of Faculty Affairs when we hit the homestretch of that project, Michael probably could have just done it himself. But he involved me and never ever gave me the impression that he did so out of a desire to be “nice to little people”. He valued me and my work. I have about a handful of other colleagues here that I consistency respect to do the same. When our titles chart was soon to be voted upon and seemed unduly weighted by terminal degrees, Michael trusted me to write, by myself, a better chart, with moderation and compromise, that reflected the different stakeholders’ views and needs. Now that we’ve won, half the university seems to think I made these reforms all by myself (I worked hard for years but this was a total group effort if ever one existed) because that’s how gracious Michael has been in sharing credit. I KNOW academics who would have hoarded positive attention for themselves. Instead, Michael sent the reporter from the Chronicle over to talk to me and my picture landed on the cover. I criticized some of Michael’s ideas along the way (I didn’t want to convert to tenure track with an eight year old dissertation I’d been too lazy to update! Yes, I did other research and I know laziness is not what holds many others back, but still). He listened and we came up with better ideas. Nobody is perfect. But I am simply befuddled as to why anyone anywhere would choose as their target for bullying Michael Berube? All he does is try to help? Is it because he fights back, it’s more fun? I continue to think these insults are stupid. But I’m in this now. I hate bullies. But I hate it when good people are attacked for no reason so I guess I’m going to have to learn about this minutia. Thanks Internet. I seriously just don’t even understand why we’re having a big discussion about one of the precious few non-problematic, helpful faculty in all of academia??? Building a better unified faculty is a work in progress. I’m sure more work will arise every year. But I’m excited to be here at a time when we can do that and I certainly wouldn’t do it as well, or have as much fun, were it not for Michael Berube. I remember “Karen” in Will and Grace being upset that her stalker lost interest in her because it meant her celebrity dreams really might be fading. Though, in my younger days, I’ve been aggressively stalked and it’s scary, I guess if it’s just internet stalking, I’m available for celebrity status? That seems to be all it takes on these boards to become a very big deal.