Robert Flint wrote, It is a slippery slope! We have been asked/required to
participate in an increasingly growing number of such events over the years.
While I agree that some recruitment-/conversion-/retention-related activity is
ok, we are now asked to cover approximately 7 3-hr accepted student/transfer
advising days over the summer during which we are not under contract, plus
another 6 or so prospective student and early acceptance events during the
normal fall/spring academic year.
At my University, Dept. chairs are under a 12 month contract and when I was
chair I did many of these sessions. But in the years since I have continued to
do some of these events regardless of whether I was under summer contract.
Frankly, I view myself as a full time employee and member of the department for
12 months a year and I get a bit irritated when a faculty members begs off a
chore because I'm not paid over the summer. We are full time professionals
and should act that way. Of course, if one is away on a summer vacation or
otherwise unable to participate in such activities, that's perfectly fine. But
to demur simply because one is technically not being paid over the summer
strikes me as a bit disingenuous. I assume that we all accept our medical and
other benefits over the summer so let's not be quite so selective.
All that being said, I agree that the number of events Robert mentions is quite
excessive and goes well beyond what could be reasonably expected of faculty
whether they are under summer contract or not. I also agree with others who
have said that there are tasks from which we might gracefully bow out. I would
not, for example, readily agree to phone students for chats. Phone
communication is not my forte (just ask my wife about my typically monosyllabic
responses to her calls) and I would probably scare off the poor dears.
Ed
Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Office hours: Mondays noon-2 3-4; Tuesdays Thursdays 8-9:15 12:30-2
http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/home.htm
Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler.. in
approximate order of importance.
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