Academic Freedom and Professor Bulletin Boards

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Professors

MEMBERS

2 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

College Professors Chatboard

Academic Freedom and Professor Bulletin Boards

by Mom to Three

Mar 25, 2010

In my husband's department in a public college, the chair of his department suddenly decreed that faculty were to have no more bulletin boards outside of their offices. He does not like to acknowledge that there is an undergraduate program having already taken down the undergraduate photos of classes of students and only having graduate students photos posted now. He took advantage of the administration decision to paint the hallways in the building "to decree" that all bulletin boards would be coming down and would not be put back up.

My husband had taken advantage of two boards beside his office and two right across the hall in recent years to put up photos of students engaged in his classes, printed photos of the class's visual simulations and current articles and examples of his field of study. In other words the information on "his boards" was timely, current and either course or industry specific. So he put his boards back up and guess what - Sunday night or early Monda...See MoreIn my husband's department in a public college, the chair of his department suddenly decreed that faculty were to have no more bulletin boards outside of their offices. He does not like to acknowledge that there is an undergraduate program having already taken down the undergraduate photos of classes of students and only having graduate students photos posted now. He took advantage of the administration decision to paint the hallways in the building "to decree" that all bulletin boards would be coming down and would not be put back up.

My husband had taken advantage of two boards beside his office and two right across the hall in recent years to put up photos of students engaged in his classes, printed photos of the class's visual simulations and current articles and examples of his field of study. In other words the information on "his boards" was timely, current and either course or industry specific. So he put his boards back up and guess what - Sunday night or early Monday morning the chair took them all down!! This fellow operates much as he was probably exposed to in his native land of hegemony, but I would be interested to know if others would say the chair has a right to do this or not.

There are, of course, few if any department faculty meetings, little discussion of even the most relevant department related topics so in a way this is a small, but still very important issue to be addressed. Oh and prior to this event over 20 framed, photos of retired faculty members were summarily taken down and put in a storage closet by the chair's secretary at his behest - because the faculty lounge was going to be renovated. But the faculty lounge does not need to be done and no word on these plans was shared with faculty. Interesting that all of these photos which span 20 years and which my husband has framed on his own time and were quite valued by members as they retired were all of white males.

It is sad the public education has come to this point. But are faculty treated like subordinate children in other colleges? Is there some legal right on which a dept. chair can do such things to limit faculty-student interaction related to courses and/or the industry that one aspires to work in? We take it in stride as he only as a couple of more years at this place, but it is sad to see the negative impact that a few people are having on the careers of an entire department and more importantly on the undergraduate education of so many.

Comment

(1)

report post

L. Swilley On 3/25/10, Mom to Three wrote: > > In my husband's department in a public college, the chair of > his department suddenly decreed that faculty were to have no > more bulletin boards outside of their offices. He does not > like to acknowledge that there is an undergraduate program > having already taken down the undergraduate phot...See MoreOn 3/25/10, Mom to Three wrote: > > In my husband's department in a public college, the chair of > his department suddenly decreed that faculty were to have no > more bulletin boards outside of their offices. He does not > like to acknowledge that there is an undergraduate program > having already taken down the undergraduate photos of > classes of students and only having graduate students photos > posted now. He took advantage of the administration > decision to paint the hallways in the building "to decree" > that all bulletin boards would be coming down and would not > be put back up. > > My husband had taken advantage of two boards beside his > office and two right across the hall in recent years to put > up photos of students engaged in his classes, printed photos > of the class's visual simulations and current articles and > examples of his field of study. In other words the > information on "his boards" was timely, current and either > course or industry specific. So he put his boards back up > and guess what - Sunday night or early Monday morning the > chair took them all down!! This fellow operates much as he > was probably exposed to in his native land of hegemony, but > I would be interested to know if others would say the chair > has a right to do this or not. > > There are, of course, few if any department faculty > meetings, little discussion of even the most relevant > department related topics so in a way this is a small, but > still very important issue to be addressed. Oh and prior to > this event over 20 framed, photos of retired faculty members > were summarily taken down and put in a storage closet by the > chair's secretary at his behest - because the faculty lounge > was going to be renovated. But the faculty lounge does not > need to be done and no word on these plans was shared with > faculty. Interesting that all of these photos which span 20 > years and which my husband has framed on his own time and > were quite valued by members as they retired were all of > white males. > > It is sad the public education has come to this point. But > are faculty treated like subordinate children in other > colleges? Is there some legal right on which a dept. chair > can do such things to limit faculty-student interaction > related to courses and/or the industry that one aspires to > work in? We take it in stride as he only as a couple of > more years at this place, but it is sad to see the negative > impact that a few people are having on the careers of an > entire department and more importantly on the undergraduate > education of so many.

=============================================================

Well, you could look up the school rules about the authority of department heads and take a stand on this - or you could just ignore it until a new department head is assgned - or you could forget it and say nothing unless the head is tampering with the delivery of the courses. This is not a serious issue and should not be treated as such. Save your big guns for really important matters. The teacher's room and work are his fortress.

L. Swilley

Mar 25, 2010

report post