Professors - here is why you have a bad reputation in the public at large

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'd love to hear your views on the big donors you work with. You make it sound like everything is the profs' fault.

No, some of them are jerks too. But saying, to a potential donor who is also a parent, that you would be making so much more progress on your research if you didn't have to teach is just boneheaded. I mean, really. And I prep these boneheads, but they never listen. And then they bitch to me when the gift doesn't come through. Well, try not offending the donors as tip number one!

Yeah, this person sounds like a moron.

But she's a GENIUS! A genius, I say. Who doesn't need someone like me - who isn't even a PhD (egads!) - to help her. To which I replied that she is welcome to try fundraising on her own from now on if she feels she would be more successful (she won't be). My dean agrees. She's the kind of person who would be fired if she wasn't protected by tenure.

This may be true but tenure also protects a lot of the professors that you like and get along with. I know several faculty members whose opinions would have made them huge targets but tenure protects them and allows them to continue working. Consider AG Cuccinelli's attack on a UVA prof (now tenured at Penn State) for his research on climate change, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'd love to hear your views on the big donors you work with. You make it sound like everything is the profs' fault.

No, some of them are jerks too. But saying, to a potential donor who is also a parent, that you would be making so much more progress on your research if you didn't have to teach is just boneheaded. I mean, really. And I prep these boneheads, but they never listen. And then they bitch to me when the gift doesn't come through. Well, try not offending the donors as tip number one!

Yeah, this person sounds like a moron.

But she's a GENIUS! A genius, I say. Who doesn't need someone like me - who isn't even a PhD (egads!) - to help her. To which I replied that she is welcome to try fundraising on her own from now on if she feels she would be more successful (she won't be). My dean agrees. She's the kind of person who would be fired if she wasn't protected by tenure.

This may be true but tenure also protects a lot of the professors that you like and get along with. I know several faculty members whose opinions would have made them huge targets but tenure protects them and allows them to continue working. Consider AG Cuccinelli's attack on a UVA prof (now tenured at Penn State) for his research on climate change, for example.

I know that, trust me. Just saying the dead weight jerks should spend less time moaning about how they are underpaid and unappreciated and more time thanking their lucky stars that they have a job where they can treat people like crap and never be fired. I just wish I could say as much to their faces, but alas, I can be fired. Lucky for me though, I ultimately work for a dean who has my back and will support me in NOT helping people like her in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'd love to hear your views on the big donors you work with. You make it sound like everything is the profs' fault.

No, some of them are jerks too. But saying, to a potential donor who is also a parent, that you would be making so much more progress on your research if you didn't have to teach is just boneheaded. I mean, really. And I prep these boneheads, but they never listen. And then they bitch to me when the gift doesn't come through. Well, try not offending the donors as tip number one!

You need to learn to shrug this stuff off. In the end it's the prof's fault and it's their loss, not yours. Wouldn't it be more productive to relay to the proff all the comments the parent donor made after the meeting? Then the prof might learn something, including the fact it's his/her own fault.

Coming on to DCUM to sound deranged isn't going to help with this. Also, water off a duck's back, and all that.

Honey, I do let most of it roll off my back or else I'd be on here every day. And I do relay this shit to them. But the ingratitude, the arguing, and the petulance gets to me sometimes. Especially when I am sick, like I've been for the past week, and still working hard for an entitled, pompous ingrate who wants to blame me for losing a gift instead of their own rudeness and stupidity in dealing with the donor. I'm entitled to vent. If you don't want to read it, go pick another thread. Bye!

And you don't think you're angry?

So a professor screwed up (in your mind. One thing that struck me reading through this thread is that as a parent I don;t really care how good professors are at sucking up to donors. Seems like a skill that is low on the list. But I digress) and blamed you, which sucks but as someone pointed out, some people suck. And then you go off, and I mean off, in post after post, generalizing about, maybe not all professors but certainly a substantial group of them. And you lack the self-awareness to see how you are being perceived, by pretty much everyone who is reading this thread.

I always thought that part of the job of fundraising is dealing with all sorts of personal unpleasantness. Its why I don;t think I could ever do it. Sounds to me like you need a new line of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'd love to hear your views on the big donors you work with. You make it sound like everything is the profs' fault.

No, some of them are jerks too. But saying, to a potential donor who is also a parent, that you would be making so much more progress on your research if you didn't have to teach is just boneheaded. I mean, really. And I prep these boneheads, but they never listen. And then they bitch to me when the gift doesn't come through. Well, try not offending the donors as tip number one!

Yeah, this person sounds like a moron.

But she's a GENIUS! A genius, I say. Who doesn't need someone like me - who isn't even a PhD (egads!) - to help her. To which I replied that she is welcome to try fundraising on her own from now on if she feels she would be more successful (she won't be). My dean agrees. She's the kind of person who would be fired if she wasn't protected by tenure.

This may be true but tenure also protects a lot of the professors that you like and get along with. I know several faculty members whose opinions would have made them huge targets but tenure protects them and allows them to continue working. Consider AG Cuccinelli's attack on a UVA prof (now tenured at Penn State) for his research on climate change, for example.

I know that, trust me. Just saying the dead weight jerks should spend less time moaning about how they are underpaid and unappreciated and more time thanking their lucky stars that they have a job where they can treat people like crap and never be fired. I just wish I could say as much to their faces, but alas, I can be fired. Lucky for me though, I ultimately work for a dean who has my back and will support me in NOT helping people like her in the future.

Pp again. My heart goes out to you, OP. I remember people like that from back when I was in academia. They look down their noses at the students who don't understand their lectures when it's their responsibility to find an effective way of communicating that works for the students. So glad you have the support of your dean. Just remember that that professor is probably miserable which is a kind of punishment of its own and you just go on helping the folks who are good to work with. Everything you're saying makes sense to me now. It just would have helped if you hadn't labeled your thread: "Professors - here is why you have a bad reputation at large" which makes it sound like you're condemning a whole group of people when the reality is your thread is more of a: "I can't believe I have to work with this self-entitled, snobbish asshole who is his own worst enemy" thread.

Good luck, OP. Hope things get better!

[Anonymous]

Okay, inartfully titled, I admit. But the point remains that when powerful people have these kinds of interactions with profs, they tell everyone they know, and this creates a PR problem. I spend a decent amount of time addressing this issue (no really, most professors are great!) that I would rather be spending talking about all the good things going on.

[Anonymous]

Congrats, OP. You wore everyone else out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congrats, OP. You wore everyone else out.

Do younfeel really clever now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats, OP. You wore everyone else out.

Do younfeel really clever now?

No, sad actually. This thread has been a train wreck with no redemption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'd love to hear your views on the big donors you work with. You make it sound like everything is the profs' fault.

No, some of them are jerks too. But saying, to a potential donor who is also a parent, that you would be making so much more progress on your research if you didn't have to teach is just boneheaded. I mean, really. And I prep these boneheads, but they never listen. And then they bitch to me when the gift doesn't come through. Well, try not offending the donors as tip number one!

Yeah, this person sounds like a moron.

But she's a GENIUS! A genius, I say. Who doesn't need someone like me - who isn't even a PhD (egads!) - to help her. To which I replied that she is welcome to try fundraising on her own from now on if she feels she would be more successful (she won't be). My dean agrees. She's the kind of person who would be fired if she wasn't protected by tenure.

This may be true but tenure also protects a lot of the professors that you like and get along with. I know several faculty members whose opinions would have made them huge targets but tenure protects them and allows them to continue working. Consider AG Cuccinelli's attack on a UVA prof (now tenured at Penn State) for his research on climate change, for example.

Tenure was designed to provide freedom of academic inquiry without fear of repercussion - not to give people carte blanche to act however they please. There ought to be a way to remove faculty who demonstrate a consistent pattern of abusive, rude behavior toward colleagues or students. Tenure is a good thing but it needs to be revised.