Friday, September 25, 2009
Perils of going up for tenure
A "colleague" sandbagged me in his letter. Not unexpected in this case, but still annoying. I wouldn't mind so much, but this guy has a habit of calling me unprofessional while trashing me to students. I of course cannot respond in kind because that would be --- wait for it -- unprofessional, not to mention childish. How does one appropriately respond to insane, petty childishness in others without appearing to be insane, petty and childish himself?
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4 comments:
First question: Do you want us to pay him a visit? You know, just to send a message that he won’t soon forget.
Second question: Does there not exist a formal process through which you can challenge his letter? In this case you can refute what he says. I wouldn’t shy away from citing instances of his unprofessional behavior (trash talking, etc.) which serves to poison the departmental atmosphere and dimish the stature of the department in the eyes of others, namely students. In short, rather than go ad hominem on his ass, you could play the angle of how it pains you to see a respected member of the university community undermine the collective sense of collegiality and cooperation, something you personally hold dear and strive to foster. I think you could do this without sounding petty.
Take the higher ground as Shandy has outlined. He's obviously jealous of your abilities. And I don't think a visit from us is entirely out of the question.
Count me in for the visit. We can make him an offer he can't refuse...
But seriously, I agree with Shandy. It is sometimes important and necessary to defend oneself, in a dignified way, through established channels. My understanding is that said colleague probably doesn't have a great reputation, anyway. The RTP process gives you the opportunity to respond to everything in the dossier. The best thing you can do IMHO is to point out the numerous responsibilities you have taken on and carried out as a JUNIOR faculty member, from being coordinator of your section, to everything else you have done. I think your record of heavy service to the university speaks for itself and would more than outweigh that childish letter.
I also throw my (belated) support behind Shandy's suggestion that you defend yourself firmly but professionally and courteously using the mechanisms built into the tenure process. I would consult CFA, since they offer a lot of resources and deal with this kind of thing across the university. If you do pursue it this way, I would also suggest doing it in a transparent way, so that your chair and your dean are on your side in the matter. As far as I can see, if this colleague did such a thing, there is no possibility of reconciling with him/her, and you should therefore resign yourself to a cold-war type of detente--which isn't ideal, but perhaps is unavoidable.
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