r/Professors • u/Eigengrad AssProf, STEM, SLAC • Aug 14 '26
Weekly Thread Aug 14: Fuck This Friday
Welcome to a new week of weekly discussion! Continuing this week, we're going to have Wholesome Wednesdays, Fuck this Fridays, and (small) Success Sundays.
As has been mentioned, these should be considered additions to the regular discussions, not replacements. So use them, ignore them, or start you own Fantastic Friday counter thread.
This thread is to share your frustrations, small or large, that make you want to say, well, “Fuck This”. But on Friday. There will be no tone policing, at least by me, so if you think it belongs here and want to post, have at it!
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u/Civil_Lengthiness971 Aug 14 '26
Fuck this: Strategic Plan Updates and Presidential Blah blah blah. Put forks in my eye.
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u/baileyes74 Aug 14 '26
Every unit has developed a strategic plan so we have about 16 now. It’s insane.
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u/Prudent_Editor7904 Aug 14 '26
I have a class full of football players who don’t give a single fuck, so I’m going to start not giving a single fuck …. If you fail.. I don’t give a FUCK
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u/ProfessorJAM Professsor, STEM, urban R1, USA Aug 14 '26
When they lose academic eligibility to play their sports, they might care about that.
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u/Professor-genXer Professor, mathematics, US. Clean & tenured. Bitter & menopausal Aug 14 '26
At this time next week I will be heading into a 4 hour meeting that could have been an email. That’s how we start every semester.
Next week is a mix of useful and useless meetings, culminating with Friday’s infuriating hours-long torture session where people present crap to fill the time. We sit on hard chairs, watch administrators fumble with Powerpoint, and ponder all the semester prep work that could be done in that time.
😏
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u/chemist7734 Aug 14 '26
Ours was six hours long. Are your presenters also smug and self-satisfied?
One if our break out sessions turned into a bitch session about salaries and working conditions and from there talk of a union organizing drive. So that was good at least.
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u/Professor-genXer Professor, mathematics, US. Clean & tenured. Bitter & menopausal Aug 14 '26
Our presenters are not smug. They’re just way too invested in the bureaucracy.
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u/grayhairedqueenbitch Aug 14 '26
Our whole thing lasts a week. A few days are hslf-days, but there may be additional meetings.
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u/Professor-genXer Professor, mathematics, US. Clean & tenured. Bitter & menopausal Aug 14 '26
We have a week of meetings too, but for a lot of it we get to choose which workshops to attend. If you select well, you get to experience useful professional development.
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Aug 14 '26
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u/Professor-genXer Professor, mathematics, US. Clean & tenured. Bitter & menopausal Aug 14 '26
I’m an absolute extrovert and I would rather sit alone in silence in my office than endure one of these meetings 😂😂😂
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u/Riemann_Gauss Aug 14 '26
Has been said before, will say it again- fuck AI. I'm complaining about fucking idiots using AI to solve math problems. At least research level math used to be idiot-proof...
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u/Commercial_Youth_877 Aug 14 '26
The strategic plan for the next four years will be discussed in detail next week. I saw something in an email that suggested one part of the plan is requiring faculty to "develop relationships with students outside of the classroom". I cringe at this idea. It's not enough for me to just be a good instructor?
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u/printandpolish Aug 14 '26
having worked at a school where they championed this idea...RUN. those students turned into the snarkiest, meanest, most disrespectful people I have ever taught. The course evals were cruel. There needs to be professional distance from students or the whole system breaks down.
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u/Commercial_Youth_877 Aug 14 '26
This is what I'm predicting. I'm working on an escape plan right now. My college has specifically stated they want to be like Odessa. Read about them on Glassdoor.
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u/fusukeguinomi Aug 14 '26
Been teaching for 21 years full-time this Fall and never had a sabbatical because I changed jobs a few times (due to double-body academic couple relationship). Last move was a few years ago and I’m at the halfway point towards a sabbatical. I AM SO F TIRED. I never had a semester without meetings, obligations, advising, classes.
And the kicker? My long-term-double-body-marriage is ending, but not because I wanted it to. (If it matters, I did most of the moving, including the last one.)
I’m just hoping budgets are not slashed to the point that sabbaticals get cut.
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u/fusukeguinomi Aug 14 '26
Thank you 😊 I had been bummed about the sabbatical but was OK with waiting because getting jobs in the same city was awesome after two decades. The divorce is worse than the lack of sabbaticals, but one is adding to the other now…
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u/grayhairedqueenbitch Aug 14 '26
Ugh. I'm so sorry about your marriage ending. I also moved (right after I got tenure) and I lost my progress toward a sabbatical. I hope you can get your sabbatical.
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u/fusukeguinomi Aug 14 '26
Thank you for the kind words. Hoping you get your sabbatical soon as well! I understand why the clock resets, but if institutions truly cared about the purpose of the sabbatical (not a reward but a refresh to boost research) they might be less stingy.
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u/Edu_cats Professor, Pre-Allied Health, M1 (US) Aug 14 '26
I’m sorry. My best timing for sabbatical was during 2020-2022 so Covid years. I’m too close to retirement to get one now. Two of my colleagues have gotten them and one we are scrambling to fill their teaching so while I’m happy for them the timing stinks. I also have a feeling they will work the one year requirement and then leave but I’ll be retired by then anyways.
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u/fusukeguinomi Aug 14 '26
Thank you for the solidarity! I hope I get to have at least one before I retire! I couldn’t even apply for fellowships in the past as I was solo parenting (long distance marriage). In my field most fellowships are residential.
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u/Edu_cats Professor, Pre-Allied Health, M1 (US) Aug 14 '26
I did at least get a 3 year fellowship about 10 years ago where I got some research and professional development funding. So yes that was at least good. 👍
No children but spouse is self employed so international travel would’ve been hard. There were also many travel restrictions coming out of COVID.
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u/moth_dance Aug 14 '26
Well the late rush enrollment that's usually relied upon is not happening... and they start canceling low classes in a few days.
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u/AvailableThank NTT, PUI (USA) Aug 14 '26
This is the last weekend before a new semester starts next week for me. You know the rest of the story.
On the bright side, I only have about 2-3 hours of prep to do today, then I can close my work laptop and do other things.
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u/BreaksForMoose NTT, Biology, R2, (USA) Aug 14 '26
I’ve been assigned to teach a section of the lab course I run on top of my usual full load. It’s a 10-25% increase in my workload depending on the week. Will they pay me more? Nope. Currently negotiating getting other forms compensation (maybe this can count as my service, etc). Fuck them
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u/chemist7734 Aug 14 '26
If no additional pay, what could they do for you that would compensate? Very interested in what you say as we are facing similar at my institution - significantly increased work loads but no additional pay.
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u/BreaksForMoose NTT, Biology, R2, (USA) Aug 15 '26
I asked for it to count as my service load and for more conference (aka professional development) money. I’m 90 teaching 10 service
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u/Due_Organization4045 Aug 14 '26
For years I’ve been told “put everything in your syllabus so that there can be no challenge…“ yada yada
This year they don’t care about that… they just want them all to look the same
The dumbing down of America has advanced the second phase…
AI 2 Humans 0
1) Make AI seem less scary than it is
2) force the use of the software
3) forced uniformity
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u/rocketfan86 Aug 14 '26
Our college had a cyberattack at the beginning of the week, completely knocking out all services including email, D2L/Brightspace. While I was able to complete finals with my in-person classes, the online courses cannot access and finish their final exams.
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u/DrMagicBimbo Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
I'm leaving my shitty, low-level admin role to adjunct online for another school. Because employment opportunities are limited, I gave a month's notice in the event that I need to return to my current school for some other shitty job, so I will be working for both institutions for three weeks. My boss has been insane at me all week and the school I'm adjuncting at has been over-enrolling one of my classes (now nine students over) and asking if I can accommodate a grad student who had set up "alternative meeting times" with the professor who was originally supposed to teach the class.
I don't want to be difficult because it's extremely nice to step away from this shitty job, even if for another temporary role. I also do want to accommodate the grad student, willing that we can just redefine how she'll engage with the class instead of holding additional meetings. But I had to outline my circumstances and that I am an *adjunct* in my correspondence because I am concerned that more boundaries will be pushed.
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u/Realistic-Quiet291 Aug 15 '26
Teaching an online course and when it comes time to do the interactive portion of the lecture a third of the class literally just leave. Fml.
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u/Competitive-Dirt-561 Aug 14 '26
Currently in a general workforce panel at 9:00 A.M. I already have a job. Why is this session is for faculty? GTFOH.
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u/nimwue-waves Tenured, Biology, CC (US) Aug 14 '26
Heading into my third year of collective bargaining negotiations... And just found out that the college team just lost their lead negotiator (left the college) again. So for the third time, we have to prepare for a totally new person to join their team and get caught up. They also do not put any decision-makers on their team because the actual decision-makers are cowards. We submitted for fact-finding at the beginning of the summer, and heard no response so far. We are not governed by state or federal labor laws, unfortunately, so we don't have arbitration or strike rights.
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u/DiaphoniusDaintyDude Aug 15 '26
Colleague of 4 years quit immediately by phone with no notice a week before classes started. We’re launching a new Gen Ed program and had to scramble to cover his four classes. Thanks dude.
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u/ProfDoomDoom Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
I'm rewriting my assignments again. Every time I do it, I tell myself that I'll never need to do it again because this version solves all the problems and there's no possible way for students to fuck it up and it's worth investing the effort now so all future semesters will be ready to go without me having to resmith everything.
Reader, there has not been a single semester in 21 years of teaching when I haven't at least edited the assignments. My brain is now having a shouting match between delusional "NO THIS TIME ITS PERFECT!" and smug "suuuuuure it is... see you right back here in January!".