Power in the Academy
Welcome Back Colleagues! I hope each of you has had a productive, yet relaxing, summer. I know many of you – most of you? – do not cease to work over the summer, so the whole idea of summer break is misplaced [each summer for all these years my doctor sister says “you are so lucky to be off in the summer!” argh!]. None the less, for most of us, the rhythms change and the balance of work and play or work and at least “do other stuff” shifts a bit. No one wants to do the same thing all year, year in and year out.
So, welcome back. While you all have been gallivanting around the Galapagos or collecting data in the archives of Madrid or teaching an on-line class on Developmental Psychology, I have been coming to FIU. Okay, okay, not every day and not with as much frequency, but still…
And, while you have been away and I have been coming in and going to meetings, and working on projects, something has happened. I have become less grounded: less grounded in my faculty self. Isn’t that what happens…the more time that passes, the further you are from colleagues, students, and so forth, the harder it is to remember what it means to be a knowledge producer for a living? It is difficult to remember, really remember, what it felt like to do the things you once did, but do no longer: which of you recalls what it feels like, and I mean feels like to walk in the shoes of an undergrad, let alone a grad or (depending on where you’re at) a newly minted professor? It is so easy to forget. And, I am afraid of forgetting. Yet, my position allows me to see things a little differently than I might have 16 months ago before I started as Faculty Fellow. One of those things that I am able to see differently is how much power and authority faculty members actually have within the universe of the university.
I would like to use this blog to think about what it means to forget or to misunderstand one’s position and one’s own authority. In particular, I want to pause on discussions of power as it relates to a couple of happenings and policies and practices that are changing in our midst at the start of this academic year, ones that at first glance seem to reflect a certain faculty powerlessness, but indeed highlight our collective and individual power.
Chairs: the Power of Collective Action
One of my main tasks since taking this role has been to plan and facilitate a retreat for Departmental Chairs. Well, it happened in early August and now it is done [don’t worry, I am working on follow-up and follow-through]. One of the pieces of our history that I learned on this journey was the origins of the Chairs Advisory Council (CAC), which is the governance structure that exists for our chairs today and grew out of the G-51 group that preceded it. Its birth was largely the result of chairs getting together about a decade ago and working with Academic Affairs (and the Provost at the time) and explaining that while they need face-time with upper administration, they also need autonomy and “chairs only” time to create a sense of community, share challenges and work on solutions. That was what CAC was meant to be from the start and I am hopeful will be moving forward. The will of the Chairs seemed to be that collective voices can be strong and as faculty leaders their voices should be heard. The university has multiple structures where we can formally speak and we have leadership who will listen [and frankly regardless of that last point: speak we must; at least those of us whose jobs are secure and those of us who are comfortable]. The power of a collective voice.
The New Grading Scale: the Power of Individual [and Collective] Faculty Expertise
The other day I was out walking with a colleague from the private university on the other side of town (yes, UM) and telling her about FIU’s new policies about grading. We at FIU no longer have the option of giving students – whether undergrad or grad – a C- or D+ or a D- as a semester grade. I explained how some colleagues saw that as a “dumbing down” of classroom content or as a plot by administrators to ensure that all students move through their programs regardless of their learning or achievements. Many among us assume that this new grading scale is somehow symbolic of either the encroachment of the corporate-nature of the university administration and its insistence on taking away our faculty rights or that it is a matter of giving up on quality and expectation in this fast-paced digital, snap-chat age of Performance Funding (our performance measured, in part, by students’ GPA). Well, maybe, but I doubt it. In fact, did you know that changes like these are discussed among the faculty through the Faculty Senate and that before such a policy is introduced it is benchmarked against peer institutions?
And moreover, let’s think about how it actually changes things for faculty. Are we really disempowered? Have they taken power away from us? Really? Maybe we should see ourselves as empowered by this or rather see our power in this. How? Well, first of all, Academic Affairs seeks our approval (Faculty Senate) and this does not have to change how we do our jobs. We can be as rigorous as ever and give students Ds and Fs if they do not meet our standards of expectations. And, this allows us to think twice about the C-, which, let’s face it, is often a cruel grade to give: was the work acceptable or wasn’t it? Would it be best for the student to retake the class? Then let them know. And the C, D, and F are always available. We issue the grades, we provide the content, we can resist change by voicing our concerns, if we want. So, influence and authority reside with us.
Panther180 & Faculty Evaluations: the Power of Individual Faculty to Control Our Own Stories
I would say that the same is true in regards to Panther180. This is the deal. Academic Affairs is – as we speak – integrating info on each of us from a variety of data warehouses and “dumping it” into Panther180, in which each of us has a profile. Yes, some of it comes from Academic Analytics, some from other places, and more still from our very own CVs that were submitted a few years ago. Is that a disaster? Does that mean that our chairs and deans will use information that is erroneous to evaluate us at the end of this year? No, not at all. In fact, each of us can enter into our own profile and edit away. We can ask that new categories be created [if, for example, that archeological dig does not appear on a drop down menu] or take it upon ourselves to add a line for a new article or an old one. The control of information resides still, as ever, with each of us. So, where is the harm in that? The streamlining is simply necessary because of all of the reporting that must be done and CVs that must be generated. That is not FIU, that is not Florida, that is just as it is in the 21st century (and believe me, I live most of my life in the 20th, so I know it’s not all roses and chocolates). But, it is what it is. There is no reason to imagine that we, faculty, are left hung out to dry. We have power here.
To me that makes a difference.
What do you think?
Rebecca