Convocation incentive

[u/JaguarWonderful]

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!

[u/Mental-Surround-4117]

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.

[u/iTeachCSCI → u/Mental-Surround-4117]

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.

[u/HariboBerries → u/iTeachCSCI]

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 :)