Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Collegiality

I'm a little tired of it, frankly. Our department has a very strong culture of mutual support and friendliness and, yes, collegiality, whatever that means. Lots of polite. But it becomes more clear to me all the time that the politeness is a veneer over the top of real backstabbing, sly perpetuations of professionally and personally unproductive [intellectual, pedagogical, generational, ethical] divides, and the most backhanded compliments. I don't think I knew, when I hired on six years ago, that I would need to be very, very circumspect in what I said and to whom. In many ways, I wish I were back in the department where I did my PhD, which was openly rancorous and territorial, but where you felt you actually knew where you stood with everyone. The rancor was, oddly, a kind of respect. I don't pussyfoot very well, and I find myself getting weary of the cheerful treachery of my cheshire coworkers.

5 comments:

Doctor Cleveland said...

Well whatever "collegiality" means, it isn't that. That's "collegialicity" or "collegialitudinousness." Or just, you know, a simulacra.

But I am sorry to hear it.

Renaissance Girl said...

Shoulda put the title in quotation marks.

squadratomagico said...

OPU's climate is much like that as well. It's one reason I (a) don't speak up much at meetings, but just keep my head down, and (b) socialize almost exclusively with people outside the university, like the circus. I, like you, do not pussyfoot well ~ I'm very bad at figuring out how to talk in the appropriate codes, so I just sit still.

Blue Cheese said...

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small.

Lexy and Jared said...

Do I need to use my connections and give certain people awful student feedback and zeroes for spirituality??