Some years ago
when asked his opinion about campus politics, Henry Kissinger said, “University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” This was an interesting response and one that has endured with me for quite some time. Nevertheless, when confronting academia, socially or otherwise, it isn’t long before Kissinger’s explanation of the vicissitude of campus politics regurgitates like a bad burrito. I am struck by how so many academics are sad cases burdened by the years of repetition that has led in many cases to a total lack of originality in thought and expression.
Given that I have a jaundiced view of much of academia, I still found it surprising that several professors claimed that tenure fights are stressful and can lead to emotional breakdowns. According to an article in Boston.com, entitled Professors Say Tenure Fights Creates High Stress Situations, David Yamada, director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School, and James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law, and public policy, at Northeastern University urged separately that the Universities should reevaluate the tenure process. They urged that the tenure process be more transparent and less “gut wrenching,,” as Fox put it.
Yamada noted that college officials should be “more in tune with the psychological health of the tenure-seeking professor. It was noted in the article that the tenure process can take about six or seven years and prove very stressful. Those applying for tenure, it was reported, are under intense scrutiny and may have to contemplate the possibility of failure. All in all, the article described the tenure process as long and tough. It can make the teacher a nervous wreck. It can lead to tragedy.
The two professors cited the recent incident with Amy Bishop as an example. Bishop was the Harvard educated professor who when denied tenure shot six college professors at the University of Alabama. She killed three and wounded three others. This was their example of a stressed out tenure applicant, reacting to the pressure. They did admit this may be an extreme case, but still…oh the pressure.
Never mind that Amy Bishop had a history of nutty behavior. Not the least of that nutty behavior was the reported accidental killing of her brother. Her finger was somehow on the trigger and, BANG, the shotgun just went off. This is a woman with all sorts of graduate degrees and a Harvard education who reportedly had a problem cleaning a shotgun.. Well…okay.
This was the Amy Bishop who was charged with assault at an IHOP, after demanding another customer yield her booster seat so Bishop could use it for her child. When the woman refused, Bishop punched at her and screamed some not-very-professorial epithets at the poor woman. This nut job who should have never been teaching in the first place is their example of tenure stress.
I take issue with the two denizens of the Ivory Tower, by writing every job worth having is stressful. Every day in the real world people sweat out their working careers, hoping they are not fired because of age, race, or sexual or social predilections. They hope they won’t be downsized because of a merger and acquisition. They pray they won’t be laid off with the economic meltdown.
What kind of insular perspective believes that academics should not be under scrutiny for performance and ability? This is the case in private industry, so why not at a college or university? You can be sure at that same college or university someone is eyeballing the janitor to make sure he is doing his job. The kid at the local Dominoes better not burn too many pizzas, otherwise he is out pocket money for his condoms and pot. Everybody is under stress.
In fact, with the economic downturn, millions are out of work and the millions left are forced to pick up the slack of being overwhelmed and undermanned. Employers are working with bare bones staffs, and heaven forbid if they can’t maintain performance. Everyday millions of people either hope to hang onto their jobs or strive to find another one.
There are millions or workers out there who aren’t just stressed, but terrified they will lose their jobs. Some, like Amy Bishop, who are tightly wrapped, have revisited their workplace to shoot and kill their bosses and fellow workers. Most won’t. Most will steel up and do the best they can, given the fears and pressures of unemployment.
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But this sudden whining about the tenure process is the equivalent of academic dodge ball. Some educators decided recently that the competition in dodge ball engenders negative extreme issues. The same here holds true. Competition apparently is not seen as distinguishing the best of our educators. Instead, competition is viewed as the enervating demon that hovers about, nullifying the creative process.
In fact, one has to look askance in general at the creative process in academia.. Not to paint it with a broad brush, but I have never been overly impressed with creativity among academics. There are exceptions, and there are certainly are those who have distinguished themselves in various endeavors in the private sector and decided to give back to the community by teaching at universities. There are those who have distinguished themselves in more esoteric pursuits, and though their creativity is well received in a niche market, they can’t make a living just by what they produce. So they teach. Understood.
There are exceptions among those in the physical and economic sciences who through private funding and university resources perform much needed research and development that can benefit us all. And there are those who are simply damn good teachers.
But then there are there those who engage in the campus politics of Kissinger’s description. This is their world. they live in it and even thrive in it. In the real world, where you actually have to actualize theory, many will perish. It is a group dependent on grants and foundational offerings and neither entrepreneurial or self-sufficient.
They give pointed views on subjects and issues that are best left to theory. They pronounce with certainly ambiguous concepts that simply can’t flourish any other place but academia. They impose questionable points of view on our kids and rigid definitions of creativity and artistry. Anything other than their own insulated thoughts are threatening and deemed the prejudices of the ignorant and misinformed.
And then they complain that their jobs are stressful. Tenure is a demoralizing bitch of a process that in its extreme can lead to bloodshed on the ivy. Teaching is tough. Life is tough. They are under scrutiny. They are being forced to perform.
Well cowboy up. And get real. At least you are working.
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