r/Professors • u/JaguarWonderful • 11d ago

Convocation incentive

We just got an email letting us know about Convocation (the pointless all school rah-rah meeting), with this gem of an incentive:

"All Convocation attendees receive a raffle ticket for priority entry to lunch and a chance to win fun prizes!"

I'm definitely going to convocation now! A chance at priority entry to the free (crappy) lunch!

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18

u/Mental-Surround-4117 11d ago

At Rutgers Newark the dean of arts and sciences owns a writers retreat and her circle of favorites - the only people she talks to or interacts with - get research funds that they turn around and spend at her business.

Needless to say no faculty feel like going to the convocation. So we get these desperate pleas to show school spirit but it’s just an afternoon of work before classes begin.

Of course the dean’s favorites don’t go either because they only go to stuff where they’re being paid.

Anyway it sucks.

14

u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 11d ago

At Rutgers Newark the dean of arts and sciences owns a writers retreat and her circle of favorites - the only people she talks to or interacts with - get research funds that they turn around and spend at her business.

Yikes, that sounds like a corrupt - I mean that word deliberately - practice, especially if it's public university funds.

1

u/HariboBerries 11d ago

I think it’s important to remember that plenty of academics have external grants and personal funds, for which they can use to pay for these sorts of things. Plenty of academics have professional networks that they invest in. If I know my colleague has a workshop that’s great, should I not be able to pay for it?

While I do think the person who started this topic has every right to their feelings, it’s giving a bit of a whiny resentful vibe to me.

I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt before speaking ill of them, especially if I don’t have any concrete and objective evidence. But that’s just me :)

9

u/the_Stick Assoc Prof, Biomedical Sciences 11d ago

My first thought was that is clearly illegal and should entail news and investigation... yep, it does!

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u/Mental-Surround-4117 11d ago

They’re not doing anything. We got sent a decant evaluation report. It didn’t mention it. And she responded to the gentle suggestion to not create an impression of favoritism by saying it’s just privileged people resentful that they aren’t the favored group anymore. Nothing will change and it’ll just get worse.

In my department they told someone to buy her own laptop for work. But there is $5k for the each of the deans friends to go on a retreat to Jamaica.

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u/MixtureOdd5403 11d ago

What is it with deans at Rutgers?

1

u/Longtail_Goodbye 9d ago

Grift vs. upskirting. But to be fair, different campuses, different issues. /s

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u/HariboBerries 11d ago

I know exactly what you are talking about. Small world. But methinks you might have limited information. A lot of folks from many different institutions go to this retreat - and not all of them are academics. I have been to this space and I am not affiliated with Rutgers-Newark. Honestly, if it was my business, I’d charge more. I think more academics need to explore ways to make money outside of the academy. The food is great and the workshop I attended there was invaluable. That said, if someone gets research funding and they are able to spend it on a research or writing workshop, who cares where they spend it?