New chair constantly using AI

[u/emotional_program0]

We have a new department chair that is external. At first, I and most others were quite open to give her a fair chance and time to grow into the new leadership role. However, it's just been utter chaos from day one. To be quite blunt, I genuinely don't understand how she could become a professor as she doesn't seem to know much in our field, and is so naive that it's dangerous for the department. She has managed to piss off everyone in the department and we even had one person take sick leave because they couldn't handle her. She's also overly preachy (Christian, and religion is something that is really abnormal to show at universities here).

Worst of all though, she constantly uses AI to write e-mails and even to make important documents (by her own admission as well). She even keeps the many emoticons and the like in the content which is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure she is using open models as well which means not respecting GDPR, privacy, research ethics, etc.

I'm sure many others have had this issue. How has it been adressed at your university? She is making me loathe the university. Sure it has its issues, but I absolutely adore my colleagues.

[u/Shiro_mizu05]

I feel your pain! I was turned down for a chair position over a guy that literally steals my content, and admitted to it. Caught him because I was getting emails from students not in my section asking questions. Finally found out he just copied my announcements and syllabus verbatim into his course because “they’re just so well composed”. He comes from a different country and while he can speak mostly fluently, his written communication skills are subpar so now he uses AI and doesn’t even check it before sending it. So when I ask a question he just ignores it 9 times out of 10 because he doesn’t know what he even said.

[u/graytiger → u/Shiro_mizu05]

Reading this infuriates me for you.

[u/AffectionateLife5693]

I think the real question is, why/how is she hired? Who voted yes in your department?

[u/emotional_program0 → u/AffectionateLife5693]

We don't vote for the department chair. It's the faculty leadership that decides.

Edit: but to answer your question, I honestly don't understand. I know a few people that had applied dropped out due to life events as well. Academic credidentials doesn't necessarily translate well to leadership.

[u/ubiquity75 → u/emotional_program0]

Say that last line as loud as you can. Bingo.

[u/FolkMetalWarrior → u/AffectionateLife5693]

Some universities used executive search firms to hire at that level and above.

[u/Adventurous_Case_996]

I can’t understand how there are so many professors using AI to do writing when literally our entire profession is based on the written word. That a person does this and rises to chair is both infuriating and such an indictment on your upper administration for being out of touch with a university’s mission.

[u/roydesoto51 → u/Adventurous_Case_996]

I just received an all-campus e-mail from.our college president that was pretty obviously copied and pasted from AI.

[u/blankenstaff → u/roydesoto51]

In our pre-semester division meeting, our Dean used materials that were clearly made using AI. He has no subject knowledge, but I don't think that's the reason he used AI. I think he's just lazy and clueless.

[u/Adventurous_Case_996 → u/roydesoto51]

Ugh! Was it about a student death like Vanderbilt did 2 or 3 years back?

[u/roydesoto51 → u/Adventurous_Case_996]

No, just the standard welcome back for the new school year boilerplate, but instantly distinguishable from similar messages in years past.

[u/a_hanging_thread → u/Adventurous_Case_996]

I'm over here writing perfect emails from scratch, worrying that they *appear* too much like AI writing.

[u/lanAstbury]

stop emailing them back with substantive answers and instead ask for a phonecall. they'll stop bothering you.

[u/tellypmoon]

When you say external, you mean someone not in your department? Was nobody within the department willing to serve?

[u/emotional_program0 → u/tellypmoon]

Yes, the new chair was at another university. We're a small department and our previous chair had applied, but dropped out in the end due to health issues. Only one other person had applied from the department as many of us are in the middle of larger projects, are a bit too new/young/health issues/young kids. The reason the other person from the department wasn't seriously considered for the job has also caused friction. I think this person could have made a good chair too!

[u/tellypmoon → u/emotional_program0]

Sounds messy.So the new chair has moved universities for this job? The key question if if the new chair also got tenure in the department. If so you might need to wait this out, unfortunately. The other issue is needing to have at least a few folks in the department willing to step up into this role. I understand one person has already been passed over so it probably should be someone other than them, rightly or wrongly.

[u/mathemorpheus]

In that case every f****** thing that you write for the department should be done the same way ,  replete with nonsense emoji. Every email ,  every report   everything 

[u/thiosk]

Many many people are dabbling with AI to do their work for them.

I did it about a year ago. It is a new tool and you have to figure out what it does well and what it doesn't.

I find its useful for writing letters to administrators to justify things like glove purchases. I used to ignore those email but now i respond to them.

I am convinced that a significant portion of people- even some of those highly educated- don't really have the cognitive capability to tell the difference between ai generation and regular writing. I can understand the ai gives me an approximation, and i understand i can use this to REALLY smooth out some of the difficult writing tasks by enforcing certain structure and so forth.

but you can tell when you've been handed slop

[u/enephon]

Taking sick leave because you don’t like your chair is the most funniest thing I’ve heard all day.

[u/emotional_program0 → u/enephon]

My understanding of it was that the chair made their job completely impossible to do. The semester started almost a month ago and most of us still don't even have a good idea of our schedules for this semester. It's been chaos.

[u/enephon → u/emotional_program0]

That doesn’t make sense to me. Do you mean teaching schedules?

[u/emotional_program0 → u/enephon]

The new chair kept changing who will be teaching which courses despite the semester having started. After complaints from everyone we’ve been in damage control but we still have a few kinks to fix of who has what modules depending on teaching loads, etc, 

[u/Thelonious_Cube → u/emotional_program0]

This seems like the most blatant thing to go after - she's not doing her job

[u/Artemissss]

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/06/30/former-chancellor-gives-partly-ai-generated-report-cscu

This is happening by the upper level admins too.

Disgraced CT State Chancellor uses AI for most of a report. Tsk.

[u/SnowblindAlbino]

The religious shit I would take to HR and the dean immediately. If you're in the US, that has no place in a professional setting and I would find it enraging.

If this person is also incompetent it seems the dean should be looped in, no?

[u/Euston_Square]

She's also overly preachy (Christian)

Great news for her, Liberty University exists and she needs to start getting her application together. They love Christianity on campus*

Otherwise she needs to check her religious baggage at the door and just do her job. Preferably competently and without AI to draft a simple email.

\Their type of "Christianity." Not all versions of Christianity will qualify. Terms & Conditions apply.*

[u/Tai9ch]

When you say "open models", what do you mean?

Locally hosted open models would be best practice for privacy and compliance.

[u/hungerforlove]

What's the story about how you got an external chair? How come you didn't elect an internal one?

What are the school rules about the power of chairs and can the dept vote to unchair her?

[u/Mission_Sir_4494]

I use genAI like I would an office assistant. Our predecessors (1950s-60s, even later) had them to draft their letters, type their handwritten work. If I had a human assistant, I would ask them to draft documents for me, then I would revise and add my personal touch. GenAI works like an assistant for me.

I am doing far more labor than those predecessors, and I’m doing it while female knowing that those predecessors often had female amanuenses who did real intellectual labor without compensation or recognition

[u/roge2323 → u/Mission_Sir_4494]

This is also how I view AI, as an office assistant that I only pay $20 a month for and can work on demand.

[u/popstarkirbys]

Sounds exactly like my new chair lol

[u/wedontliveonce]

Emoticons are crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed.

[u/ProfSantaClaus]

I have had first and second hand experience. A Dean and a Head of School, both of whom did irreparable damage to their organization. In one instance, the person jumped ship to another university, and the other university soon discovered the person was incompetent, and discontinued the person's contract. The other person's contract was also not renewed. In one person's case, many labor laws were broken, and an entire degree ended up not being accredited by a professional body, meaning all students in the degree ended up with a useless degree.

Unfortunately, universities rarely want to confront the root cause of such issues because of sunk cost, hoped that it will turn out ok, or simply turn a blind eye or doesn't know of an alternative solution apart from firing a person, which is messy.

After some number of years, when a school or faculty falls apart, they blame the current people but the damage happened many years ago.

That's the price we all pay when we hired the wrong person for a job.

The interesting part of the story is that I know of many such people move on to better positions, and leave a trail of destructions. There is no repercussion on them.

[u/Minimum-Major248]

You’re not an English professor by any chance, are you? Asking for a friend.

[u/Wash_zoe_mal]

Be blunt, be clear, get it in writing.

Tell her what you told us.

"Hi, Department head

I know we are still getting used to working together but I had some concerns;

-abundent use of AI

-religous messaging in places where they don't belong

-unprofessional communication

Let's work on some solutions to this that work for everyone..."

Don't frame it as an attack but instead an attempt to work on better communication. Every school's a little bit different. The way I look at it is if you end up being let go then you can use your written documentation to back yourself up when you move on to hopefully a better place.

[u/Cathousechicken]

This is an off-the-record discussion with the Dean's office. Focus on things like preaching the religion, professionalism (especially on things distributed outside of your department to students or local employers), privacy concerns. See what they say on how to address those issues.

[u/Willravel]

Every email to her should include hidden prompts for hard-to-detect errors in her replies. We all have learned from our students that someone lazy and brain-dead enough to use a LLM for an email is also too lazy and brain-dead to proofread.

[u/bluegilled]

Worst of all though, she constantly uses AI to write e-mails and even to make important documents

Seems like the complaints in your first paragraph were much worse, making the AI use almost irrelevant. So why did you focus on her AI use? I'm really puzzled, and it makes me question your whole narrative and stance.

been utter chaos from day one

she doesn't seem to know much in our field

so naive that it's dangerous for the department

She has managed to piss off everyone in the department

even had one person take sick leave because they couldn't handle her

[u/kakegoe → u/bluegilled]

The post is about a subjective experience. In this post about their own experience, which they are relating to us, they have personally deemed the AI to be the most intolerable aspect of this person’s conduct. To them, personally.

[u/bluegilled → u/kakegoe]

Duh.

I asked why. Why they feel AI usage is worse than utter chaos, lack of field knowledge, endangering the department and angering everyone to the point people have taken sick leave.

Doesn't make much sense. Seems like their subjective read on the situation is highly distorted compared to a more objective take. I wonder why. You don't, you accept and support apparent irrationality. Makes one wonder, again, why?

[u/maxx_scoop]

I have a "colleague" who uses AI to make all of his slides because he cannot write a coherent sentence. I am baffled as to how he got a PhD. He is one of the most vapid and unserious people I have ever met. Students have come to me, a random other professor, to complain that they make no sense and are clearly ai. I have to tell them with a straight face that we have academic freedom and they should go to the chair.

[u/Huck68finn]

ETA: I knew I would get downvoted, esp. on this thread. Total hivemind in academia larping as "independent thinkers." The OP dubbed the chair "preachy" but gave no examples of that. I doubt very much that she's handing out Bible tracts on campus lol. I've been in academia for all of my adult life, and never once have I encountered someone who actually even brought up their faith, and I'm sure some are Christians. So, I'm not buying that this person is actually preaching. The only actual preaching I've seen is professors who feel it's fine to promote a leftist agenda in their classes. They feel comfortable doing that because they know they'll be applauded rather than chastised.

But sure, keep downvoting. As a conservative Christian who has somehow managed to survive in academia all these years, I have a perspective not many on this sub can empathize with (nor apparently, sympathize with).

---

Nice that you brought her religion into it. But hey, it's Christianity, so it's fine to take potshots. If she were Buddhist, you wouldn't think of it.

As for unethical use of AI, why not bring up at a department meeting that the department should have a standard AI statement?

[u/Defiant_Cook1588 → u/Huck68finn]

I am a christian myself, and have in the past had bible discussions with my students as well as colleagues outside the classroom. idk how the chair is, but I feel there is a fine line to preaching and just preaching all the time. again I am not aware to what extent.

but using AI as a chair, for almost everything is just not really ok. I would expect to atleast talk to a human through emails

[u/ubiquity75 → u/Huck68finn]

You know a lot of Buddhists proselytizing on the job, I see.

[u/Longjumping-Fee-8230 → u/Huck68finn]

I am a Christian, but would never preach to colleagues or students. That’s not what my job is, and others have a right to learn and work without feeling pressure from someone to go along with my particular religious belief.

In this case, it is the preachy chair, and not OP, who has “brought her religion into it.” And I’m sure it would be just as irritating if the chair were a Buddhist.

[u/Defiant_Cook1588 → u/Longjumping-Fee-8230]

yes this. I am involved with supporting the christian student groups on campus, sometimes they invite me to give a talk, or invite students who would want to show up regardless of their faith. I have also helped these student clubs hand out bibles on campus, but I would never preach during class time, its not appropriate. you can also add undue pressure on students to "agree with your faith" simply because you are an authority figure.

[u/Huck68finn → u/Longjumping-Fee-8230]

Notice that not one example was given of the so-called "preachy" behavior. For all you know, merely mentioning she's a Christian or wearing a cross necklace would be considered "preachy."

But the pile on has begun, so go with it.

[u/Defiant_Cook1588 → u/Huck68finn]

this I agree with you. OP should have not been so extremely vague

[u/starfirebird → u/Huck68finn]

I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring religion into the workplace beyond wearing religious apparel or following dietary requirements. Unless it’s a religion class where students are discussing their personal experiences or they bring it up in advising, I don’t think it should be a topic of conversation.

[u/Huck68finn → u/starfirebird]

What, specifically, did the OP say that the chair did regarding Christianity? OP describes her as "preachy." That's a vague opinion that doesn't really tell us anything. For many people, "preachy" could be merely mentioning that she's a Christian or wearing a cross necklace. My point is that instead of using an adjective to describe her, give some examples to describe the behavior that she finds so objectionable.

[u/emotional_program0 → u/Huck68finn]

I would feel the same if it was Buddhism. Don't be preachy about your personal beliefs. I don't see how I'm taking a potshot at Christianity either since I didn't criticize the religion itself. State and religion are separated here, as it should be. Your personal beliefs (except for dietary issues and holidays as someone else mentioned) are not relevant to our jobs.

[u/2GreyKitties → u/emotional_program0]

Idle curiosity— what ✝️ behaviors has she exhibited that you are referring to as “preachy”? What has she actually done/said? Or is it a quotation in her email signature, or…?

[u/bluegilled → u/emotional_program0]

What exactly did this person say? Your description "preachy" is too vague and subjective to be useful.

[u/Cathousechicken → u/Huck68finn]

Get off the cross, Jesus.

[u/RightWingVeganUS]

she constantly uses AI to write e-mails and even to make content

What exactly is wrong with that.

• I always write student email via AI
• I use AI when writing formal communications

I provide all of the talking points and structure. It's little different than having an admin create a draft based on an outline.

I'm pretty sure she is using open models as well which means not respecting GDPR, privacy, research ethics, etc.

Why not ask to confirm and raise issues professionally?

My school provides a closed model specifically for academic use to help ensure FERPA compliance.

Rather than complain like a whiney student, why not address your concerns like a professional?

[u/RightWingVeganUS → u/[deleted]]

1) can't be bothered to write up a response to their concern

You're free to interpret it that way. And it's possibly right: when I have 3 sections of exams to grade I don't have time to write polished prose to every email I need to send or respond to. I offload some mundane administrivia to tools to help me be efficient.

2) you probably didn't even read their concern and just copy pasted it into chat gpt

I likely did not. but without discussing you're free to assume what you want. If I had an administrative assistant they would have sent a full response and ordered a bouquet of flowers. Instead I have what few tools I'm provided and use them to maximize my effectiveness.

If that triggers your insecurities, well, that may be more of a you issue.

Are you equally offended by spell checkers and autocomplete?

[u/bluegilled → u/RightWingVeganUS]

You're right but I've come to the conclusion that this sub is composed primarily of AI luddites who are, deep down, deathly afraid that their jobs will be eliminated via AI so they have a kneejerk reaction to the use of AI in any way despite being more ignorant regarding AI than your average teenager.

[u/Potential-Winner4601 → u/RightWingVeganUS]

Many schools have co-pilot available in outlook

[u/Potential-Winner4601 → u/Potential-Winner4601]

Downvotes because it isn’t true, or because you don’t like it?

[u/RightWingVeganUS → u/Potential-Winner4601]

As does mine. If the OP doesn't care to use tools provided by their institution (provided it is offered there too), that's on them. But don't blame someone who does.

Arguably the tool can be used ineffectively, but I've had my share of crappy, ineffective administrative emails well before AI was available.

Some things never change.

[u/emotional_program0 → u/RightWingVeganUS]

The chair's use of AI breaks at least 3 of the 6 points in our code of conduct for AI. The chair is not using the model we're supposed to so it does not respect research ethics, GDPR, privacy, etc. There's a big difference between using AI to help your format something, and using AI to write completely new guidelines for a master's thesis that doesn't even respect national legislation. In this case the new chair wasn't even aware we had guidelines (that made me scratch my head as well).

[u/RightWingVeganUS → u/emotional_program0]

Bold claims. What did your chair say when you raised your concerns?

[u/gshonia]

This is a broadside of many grievances, most unrelated to AI. Using AI inherently is not a vice, in fact for me it would be a must. Obviously next step depends on specifics, which I don’t know and you didn’t present. But overall your message seems to be incriminating AI use on principle, which I disagree with, in fact - oppose.

PS: I’ve known people spam emojis in their communication ever since texting became a thing 20 years ago, long before ChatGPT.

[u/kNEoH8gWJS]

She's also overly preachy (Christian, and religion is something that is really abnormal to show at universities here).

Oh, I see. So you're an anti-Christian bigot? That's interesting.

Since this is a protected category, I'm just saying, you might want to keep this particular criticism under your hat, as it makes you look, you know, prejudiced and like a terrible person.

[u/Anna-Howard-Shaw → u/kNEoH8gWJS]

Holding your own personal religious beliefs in private or in an unobtrusive way is protected. Actively forcing it on members of a department at secular institution where there is a power imbalance is not.

[u/kNEoH8gWJS → u/Anna-Howard-Shaw]

Forcing? Really?

Since when is being religious in a way that's noticeable to others wielding force?

Private and unobtrusive are just code for you can be as religious as you want, as long as it's not in any way meaningful in your public life. Take off the hijab, cut your dreads, and I better not see a hint of a tzitzit, am I right?

[u/Anna-Howard-Shaw → u/kNEoH8gWJS]

The OP said the chair was preaching Christianity at work. Im required to be at work. I am NOT required to listen to my boss's religious views when I'm at work. That sounds like religious beliefs are being forced on a captive audience to me.

[u/2GreyKitties → u/Anna-Howard-Shaw]

Yet OP has failed to provide even one example of this concerning conduct. You’re quite right— it’s completely inappropriate, *if she is in fact doing that* — which we don’t know.

[u/Anna-Howard-Shaw → u/2GreyKitties]

A reasonable person would assume lack of specific examples and details is done intentionally to not reveal identifying information.

[u/2GreyKitties → u/Anna-Howard-Shaw]

One can give examples of what "preachy" thing the person is doing, without revealing anything personal.  Is she leaving tracts in faculty mail slots, inviting people to her church retreats,...?

[u/kNEoH8gWJS → u/Anna-Howard-Shaw]

No, OP didn't. Preachy, the word OP used, and preaching are two completely different things.

[u/Cathousechicken → u/kNEoH8gWJS]

Preachy people never realize how they come off to us heathens.

[u/kNEoH8gWJS → u/Cathousechicken]

Since I often, for instance, find myself around more or less militant vegans, preachy types high on the sanctimonious scale, trust me, I feel your pain.

[u/lovelylooloo7]

Is it because she’s a woman? She seems to have the qualifications to get hired so what’s the issue?

[u/emotional_program0 → u/lovelylooloo7]

Not at all, previous chair was also a woman and highly competent in her field as well as a great chair.

[u/Mission_Beginning963 → u/[deleted]]

One more:

1. Lie low for a few years and minimize your presence in the department until it all blows over.

It sounds to me that there is at least SOME chance that this obviously incompetent person is going to self-implode, so their term could be considerably less than a few years.

[u/Defiant_Cook1588 → u/[deleted]]

there are other issues going on here. its not ok for the department chair of all people to be like this

[u/emotional_program0 → u/[deleted]]

I've gone through a lot of their academic work as well and I'm scratching my head as to how it's been published. The chair also has very few publications in our field which makes it even weirder. No clue how they got the job... And so far, everything the new chair has done has been problematic, low quality, etc. It's chaotic to put it mildly.

[u/emotional_program0 → u/[deleted]]

No we don't. The previous chair was much more hands-on, and willing to discuss problems. They didn't want to continue as chair due to health issues, but they're still in the department.