where the f$@& is academia going?

A female academic I know sent me an email this week: She was in a mixed-gender meeting. Everyone in the room was equals. All of the men were being referred to as "Dr," whereas the women were being called by their first names. I wish I could say I felt surprised.

As this week wrapped up, I felt a lot of academic outrage fatigue. (Side note: I find twitter contributes to this fatigue because it amplifies my exposure to outrage-inducing stories, I'm not sure if this is good or bad or neither).

There was the LaCour scandal (I appreciate how this is now being called the LaCour scandal, not the Green scandal, although certainly Green had a role to play in this). (Also read here, an article that does a better job than I could of discussing what we need to learn from the LaCour scandal). In addition, tenure in Wisconsin is experiencing some serious threats that we should all be quite worried about (in my opinion). (That article also talks about the decrease in tenured positions at the time that administrative positions garnering very large pay checks has increased). There was also this Canadian story that highlights (briefly) the push-pull between teaching and research, and how this can impact graduate students and junior faculty.

And these are just some of the stories of academic outrage - I could write and write and write about the many other injustices going on, but have chosen to focus on this (more on that below). 

This weekend my new partner and I decided to try Arthur Aron's (et al) 1997 procedure for generating closeness. We were both familiar with it (he from a news story, me from graduate school coursework) and thought it was interesting. One of the questions I really struggled with asked what I would like to know if a crystal ball could tell me the truth about myself, life, the future, or anything else. I was really stumped by this (for reasons that aren't relevant to this blog post).

After some thought I said: "I wish I knew if academia was going to change at all. I feel trapped in a system with many problems, overwhelmed with how much I wish would change, and discouraged at effecting any change."

There are many, many aspects of academia I love. Even if you probably wouldn't guess it from reading my blog or listening to me vent. Academia involves a constant quest for knowledge, the opportunity to be a positive influence on students, independence, and opportunities to travel and meet new people. (The first four advantages that come to mind for me).

But there are also so many aspects of academia that I am exhausted by: The sexism (blatant and clear, or subtle every day sexism). The divide between junior and senior professors. Cuts to funding, threats to academic freedom. Poor dissemination of findings. In fighting. Racism. Lack of tolerance for anyone who doesn't fit the mold. A hyper-competitive environment that encourages us to eat each other alive rather than support one another. Abusive supervisors. Reviewers that can't exercise basic human kindness.

I have academic outrage fatigue. I'd love a crystal ball to tell me if change is possible (I suspect that academics have been complaining about these very issues since long before I was born) so I can either continue trying to impact the system I work in, or pack it in and just look after myself. Attempting to change the system is exhausting. I don't quite know how to push this rock uphill while protecting my own well-being, and that feels like a deep personality flaw on my part.  

conversations with ECB in her car

PG: "So your GPS seems to be making you a lot less angry, huh?"

ECB: "Affirmative."

PG: "I was kind of concerned you were going to drive into a telephone pole out of rage."

ECB: "That's a thought I'm willing to admit I have had."

PG: "Like, not by accident because you were so angry you were distracted, but on purpose as a means of ending the misery of the GPS-induced rage."

ECB: "Oh I totally understood what you meant."

PG: "You can't drive yourself into a telephone pole, because you're an integral component of my sanity. I can't do life without you."

ECB: "Oh my god, same. You can never leave me."

PG: "That seems unlikely. Also, I don't get as angry at my GPS."

ECB: "I think I'm going to tape a picture of your face to my dashboard so I remember."

PG: "That's slightly creepy, but I'm okay with that."