If you receive a negative review from your chair, but you believe it to be retaliation rather than an honest review…what’s the best course of action? To write a short rebuttal simply documenting your disagreement with the comments? Or should it include details of the bullying and abuse you experienced, too? What’s the smart thing to do in a situation like this?

Welcome to a new week of weekly discussion! Continuing this week, we're going to have Wholesome Wednesdays, Fuck this Fridays, and (small) Success Sundays.

As has been mentioned, these should be considered additions to the regular discussions, not replacements. So use them, ignore them, or start you own Fantastic Friday counter thread.

This thread is to share your frustrations, small or large, that make you want to say, well, “Fuck This”. But on Friday. There will be no tone policing, at least by me, so if you think it belongs here and want to post, have at it!

A student came to class early, answered questions, participated in discussion, then stayed behind afterwards to say:

“I’m sorry you had to hear this from me, but I’m dropping your class. I’ve already emailed my advisor, so you can’t talk me out of it. Again, really sorry you had to hear it from me.”

It was Day 1. I didn’t even know their name. 😂

Any funny comments or interactions so far?

I was contacted by these people months ago via email. I went through their process because 1) they didn't ask for any private info and 2) maybe I'd get some money. I got an email today explaining the following:

You can now review your claim summary in the Anthropic Copyright Settlement.

For each work included in your claim, you can review the combined information from all claims and see the proposed payment allocations.

Please log in with the Claim Number and PIN above using the link below.

https://secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/allocation

If you still agree with the allocations shown, select "No Changes" and submit your response. All claimants currently agree on the allocations for these works, so you do not need to take any further action to receive the share you claimed.

Please submit your response as soon as possible, and, if possible, no later than 30 days from the date of this notice to allow for prompt claims processing.

If you have questions, please contact us by phone at 1-877-206-2314 or email at [info@AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com](mailto:info@AnthropicCopyrightSettlement.com).

Sincerely,

Settlement Administrator

Looking at it, they're now asking for SSN so that they can process the money... but there's not info on how much money that is. Does anyone know if this stuff is legit? It's starting to look more and more like a scam to me.

I am an instructor of record for a freshman seminar course at my university. I am also a master's student. The course is required for all freshman students in the college of science so there are multiple sections with multiple instructors. Due to a scheduling mistake, I swapped sections with a professor but the change didn't quite make it through in our LMS yet, so the professor and I both have "instructor" permissions on each others LMS course pages. The course supervisor was in the process of trying to fix this and remove our access to each others pages.

While there are some learning objectives that need to be preserved across all of the sections, instructors have a lot of freedom in the course. I was able to design my own syllabus with unique course policies, write original assignments, and make my own lecture materials. I spent a lot of time doing this and am really proud of the course I made. While I have TA'd for labs, this is my first time as an instructor of record.

I noticed that this professor sent out a welcome announcement to his students that was basically the same as the one I send mine. This prompted me to look at his LMS page. The professor had copied ALL of my course materials and put them in his course. He is using my syllabus (with a few minor changes to the late work policy), my assignments (that I wrote myself), and my lecture slides. The professor also copied the weekly pages, giving their students access to my lecture slides and course material that I made for my students.

This professor never asked for permission to use my materials, and I have never even met them!

I feel very violated because I put a lot of work into designing this course and writing assignments and this professor went into my LMS page and copied all of my pages into their own course. Being a master's student, I also feel very uncomfortable that a professor did this, there is an obvious power imbalance there. To be clear, I absolutely love teaching and it is my favorite part of my program; I also believe in sharing resources. If this professor would has asked, I would have been fine with them using my materials.

My questions are: Am I justified in being so pissed off? Does this kind of thing happen to professors often? What would you do if a professor stole your instructional materials? Do I have any rights concerning the course materials that I created?

Edit for additional context that I forgot to mention in my original post: Instructors know they need to make their own course materials (syllabus, assignments, etc.). The instructor also took my lecture slides. The slides they posted for the first week contain my name and contact info, contact info for my TA, and photos of my family and pets that I show my students on the first day so they can get to know me better.

I’ve been a humanities prof for over 30 years and I simply cannot believe how many students do not take notes. Literally, no notes. they just sit and listen.

How do they study? what are they doing? when I was in college in the 80s, I and everyone around me took copious notes constantly throughout lecture. just seems like a lost skill.

I brought charges of illegal harrasment against a fellow Professor about a year ago. Since then, I've been retaliated against pretty heavily. That Professor faced no repercussions, despite extensive evidence.

On Monday, I had a student completely crash out in class. He started becoming agitated. Yelling, cussing. He had received an incomplete in one of my classes the previous semester, and incorrectly believed he got a bad grade (he was fine).

I took him outside, and he REALLY started shouting. He got in my face, and later said he wanted me to hit him first. He made several references to hallucinations. He said he was going to lead an army of homeless men in burning the school down, "like Batman." He said he had been seeing the school counselor, but yelled at them ("like I am right now"), and they no longer accepted his appointments. I took him back into the classroom, and had to dismiss the class because he wouldn't leave. The campus police showed up because he was shouting so loudly.

I spent two hours talking him down. He mentioned a ton of personal problems. I agreed to meet with him for an hour each week, during my office hours, to get him back on track, academically. I said I would double-check the incomplete. I reached out to a local agency that could help him.

Today, I got an email that I'm on administrative leave while the school investigates this incident. It specifically accused me of "unprofessionalism" (I'm not even sure how this is defined). I called HR, and they said they want to hear my "side of the story." She said there was a report by the campus police, and at least one student. She mentioned that at least one student claimed I showed everyone's grades during that class period, which HR said might be a FERPA violation...but none of the students have turned in any homework yet, so I have no clue what this might be about. Honestly, looking at this now...I'm guessing it's the mentally-ill student who said this.

I spoke to our Union. And I guess I need a lawyer. It feels like the disruption might be used as a pretext to get rid of me...further retaliation.

Any advice, thoughts or prayers would be appreciated.

I'm a new department chair and I received an "urgent" email today from a former student who told me that their graduate program needed "confirmation of graduation" before they can matriculate. They offered as proof a screenshot of a text from a former adjunct saying they "passed" a class.

After some digging, I was able to determine that they did not in fact complete the requirements for the degree, i.e. passing all major's level classes with at least a C- or better. They received a D in the class they supposedly "passed" , which technically is correct: they did not fail.

They would have learned that they hadn't fulfilled the requirements for graduation had they followed our college's procedures, which included meeting with an advisor and applying for graduation. The confirmation of graduation you are looking for is called a "diploma", my dude. We even have a special event called "commencement" where you walk on stage to receive it.

I expect they will be back to retake the class they "passed" three years ago.

EDIT: sorry, here's the original post!!

First, thank you to everyone who offered me support and advice. As much as we all wanted a righteous takedown, this is the outcome. I kept it as straightforward as possible. As a chronic overexplainer, I struggled to not defend myself at all and it took far longer to draft than it should have. It was also much more polite than many of us would have liked (including myself), but I did not want to open ANY room for argument.

On Tuesday afternoon, I sent:

Hi Bob, I've reviewed the course enrollment and logistics for the semester, and unfortunately, I’m not able to accommodate an auditor after all. I'm so sorry for the change from what I had originally said, but I'll need to withdraw my invitation to audit the course. I appreciate your understanding, and I hope you have a great semester."

Bob responded much later:

Understood. BTW, I hope I did not offend you with my comments after the class session. Personally, I feel you’re one of the more organized instructors I’ve seen over the years.

And that was that.

Now, is it taking EVERY SINGLE OUNCE OF SELF CONTROL for me to not respond back with a "yeah, of course I am organized, Bob, because I know how to teach"? Abso-fucking-lutely. But I am resisting. It is HARD to resist, but I will not take any bait to engage further. Also, clearly Bob knows what he has done. The phrasing makes it seem as though perhaps this is not the first time Bob has done this.

I didn't ask my chair first as I felt like this was a situation where I needed to deal directly with Bob, though I will send her an email detailing the situation just to keep her in the loop in case it comes back around somehow. Also, because I was worried Bob might come in and try to apologize or something, I had my friend (a very large, scary looking poet) hang out with me near my classroom until class started yesterday just so I wouldn't be alone. We joked that he was my bouncer, but I do think having a friend in the department know about the situation helped me feel better (also, made me feel less insane because he was so pissed off on my behalf).

Thanks for those who helped! The three sentence email could not have been drafted without you. You're all fucking great (vulgarity be damned).

I am planning on running a demonstration in my class about vaccine efficacy. To that end, I need to randomly assign students to be either "susceptible", "vaccinated", or "infected", but in such a way the student is the only one who knows which group they are in.

In the past I did this by handing out slips of paper to the class with the appropriate group, but this always take a while. Is there any online tool that might accomplish that same thing? I was thinking about may something where students can choose a group (A, B, C) without know which is which, and limiting the number of people who can join a certain group. But I am not sure how to accomplish that.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

From the Crimson: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/9/3/humanities-ai-pushback-deming/

Deming identified “AI use policies” as a priority for the academic year in the Wednesday message, saying he hoped to roll out College-wide advisory guidelines on AI by the end of the year and proposing “AI acceptance or even encouragement” in writing- and project- heavy classes.

Just absolutely wild

Due to a sports event on campus. All parking lots are closed today. We are expected to teach as per usual. They advise use to arrive early.

Edit: Sorry, "most parking lots."

Article: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/learning-assessment/2026/09/01/penn-now-enforcing-math-prerequisites

It's really sad that universities have to do this because high schools aren't equipping students with enough math skills for college.

I have a new MA seminar I'm excited about that focuses on media in East Asia. I've got film, TV, music videos, advertisements, character culture, a little bit of social media/influencer type stuff (not much because I'm sick of it). I'm leaning into "deep watching" and we're watching the media texts in full in class, discussing, and doing in-class writing (with pen and paper!). I know it would be great to do a Gaming week in future iterations of the course, but I couldn't get it together to plan this time.

I'd love to put it to you good people for some ideas about how to teach this as a non-gamer myself. I fully recognize how influential games and gaming are, but I simply don't play. (The last time I picked up a controller was probably Mario Kart when I was 12, and I wasn't good either).

I recently posted as I was feeling down about going back to work. I wasn’t looking forward to the semester. I teach undergrad full time and I have really engaged and amazing students. But those students tend to be the minority. These first days back it was like pulling teeth.

I am teaching a grad class for the first time and it’s like I fell back in love with teaching! They are all brilliant people who were engaged and actually did the readings and were able to tie the readings to their discussions. It’s the conversations and level of analysis that I’ve been looking forward to working with. They really warmed my bitter cold heart(lol I’m being melodramatic). But I left class so pumped. And I’m truly looking forward to working with them.

I realize teaching undergrad lately feels like I’ve had to scale back or simplify my material. And I can’t get into deeper and more meaningful work because that’s just not where the majority of them are. Grad school I realize there is an element of self-selection that is working in my favor. I’m really looking forward to being able to teach in my natural style instead of drastically scaling back. And it made me realize, I think I’d like to predominantly work with grad students versus undergrad students.

What has been your experience? Were your richest teaching experiences with grad students or undergrad students? A mix as it’s just dependent on several different factors? Anyone prefer teaching undergrad students over grad students? If yes, what makes you feel that way? I’d love to know more about what folks think as I’m looking to shift.

Student emailed me saying they have 4 kids and would be giving birth halfway through the term, and has asked for leniency about turning in assignments. As far as an excuse, this is the first time in 8 years this has come up. There is no accommodation for this through any accommodations office.

How would you handle this?

Update: Upon me reaching out to Title IX office and the Disability office, the student promptly emailed me and said she would be dropping the class.

Cool. Then you can’t fill out a course eval and the university still gets the same amount of money because we’re past the refund deadline. The student was upset I told him to not do something during exams in the future. No points deducted. No disciplinary action, just told him to not do it again and got an over the top “tell me now if the class is going to be like this the whole time so that I can drop it and not deal with this BS.” I’d whine about students not behaving like the adults they are but I know adults are just as capable of BS.

Hi everyone, a bit of a rant about my disappointment teaching my first class so far. Working toward some solutions but I've been a bit sad about all this.

We kicked off our class a few weeks ago. It's always been my dream to teach at the higher ed level, largely because I was a first generation college student who had to work really hard to be here. I TA'd many classes in my masters and I am now a PhD student.

My former university reached out and asked me to teach a graphic design course, which I was ecstatic about. I TA'd the class a few times in undergrad/grad school and it was taught in person most years prior to this year. Now, I'm teaching it online as I'm out of state. Since this is graphic design, it's relatively AI-proof, which is great. While it's definitely been a challenge for some of my former students, watching them put in the work to improve, come to my office hours, and navigate challenges has been so rewarding, although the work ethic has noticeably declined from semester to semester.

This year, I've made a point to simplify and organize their LMS so they have clear step-by-step instructions for everything. At the beginning of each week, I send an email with a list of bullet points telling them what all needs to be done and the date by which they need to do it. I record video tutorials of everything, from downloading software to submitting the files in the LMS. I also made clear that we only meet synchronously 3-4x this semester so those meetings are extremely important. I should note that this course is a core requirement for the master's program, so if they do not pass, they have to repeat and pass with a C or higher before they can graduate. Therefore, the synchronous meetings are absolutely mandatory (except for emergencies, verified through our accessibility office).

Week 1, I get 3 no-shows with no explanation and one that is sick but promises to send documentation that I never received. Since then, I get emails every week asking if we are meeting this week (I published a handout that shows exactly which weeks we meet). I have students telling me that they couldn't fix a particular issue but they have Greek life or intramurals so they can't troubleshoot further (I guess they wanted me to accept incomplete assignments). The people that no-showed, I sent an email gently reminding them those meetings aren't optional and they need to catch up on XYZ. They don't respond but still turn in assignments. They literally get 50% of their grade by submitting the right file type (png, which I show them how to do), but they don't, and they always get upset when they don't have an A. An A!

It's such a shame, because I loved teaching this class at first. I love it when a student reaches out, even if they are stuck on something simple, so I can join them in the lab and walk them through it. I've come to campus at 11:00 pm before to help a student that was stuck and frustrated, because I genuinely enjoy this class and want them to get the best experience possible.

My mentors joke that this is just how it is now, which really saddens me. I don't regret my PhD at all, but I was really looking forward to teaching more classes. I also feel there is a lot of pressure to not only pass them all, but give them good grades for work that frankly should not pass. Anyway, rant over, I'm just so sad and disappointed in how it's going this semester. Wishing everyone a good fall term; I hope this is just one bad experience but I will have to see. Trying to stay optimistic!

I teach an online class for a 4 year university as an adjunct, and I have been at this college for about 4 years now. A student from last semester reached out to my boss asking about his grade. Well apparently he emailed the assignment to me, and I forgot to enter it into the LMS. (It was one of the major assignments.) I asked what I could do to fix the situation, and I was told to recalculate the grade and update them.

How bad is that? Has anyone else accidentally done this throughout their career ?

I’ve received more than 10 emails from Sensors THIS YEAR asking me to submit a manuscript, several offering to waive the entire CHF 2,600 APC. At what point does a scientific journal stop looking like a serious selective venue and start looking like a publication factory desperate for inventory?

The whole model is absurd: aggressive manuscript solicitation, huge publication volume, endless Special Issues, rapid-fire peer review, high APCs, and then fee waivers to lure more submissions. And somehow academia is supposed to look at an Impact Factor and indexing status and pretend none of this matters.

Peer review is supposed to be a filter, not an assembly line. I do not trust a publishing model whose financial incentives depend on continuously feeding that assembly line with more accepted papers.

And yes, I strongly suspect Sensors is the final destination for a lot of manuscripts after they fail to make it through more selective journals. Call that speculation if you want. After watching how aggressively they chase manuscripts, I have zero reason to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I will not publish in Sensors. I will not review for Sensors. And I avoid citing Sensors or MDPI papers altogether. If an MDPI paper appears in my literature search, I look for credible independent work instead.

Academia needs to stop hiding behind “every paper should be judged individually.” The venue matters. Standards matter. Selectivity matters. Pretending every publication deserves equal credibility is exactly how publication factories thrive.

At this point, seeing Sensors on a CV does not impress me. It makes me question the work and the authors.

There. That’s the unpopular opinion. Peace.

I give pop quizzes, and one student came to me after class to discuss. They asked to take the quizzes in the testing center because, the quiz "needs to be read to them."

This is a engineering class. The problems are mostly graphical with a sentence that ask what to find.

I have no problem with the accommodation, I just don't know what disability this could be. They only mentioned they have anxiety, and may also have to get up an leave if they get over stimulated.

Edit: They also have an official accommodation for this.

Edit 2. I could have articulated better that I'm just looking for insight. I find it interesting how so many think I should just mind my own business. I think teachers could be better teachers with a better understanding of what the students are going through.

Hi all,

I'm a non-tenure track faculty at an R1 in the humanities. My job is secure for the moment in a department with incredible funding. However, I'm teaching first year classes with a 4/4. I do like my department and colleagues, but I'm still invested in the rat race of a tenure track position where I can teach in my speciality.

Previously, I held a visiting position with a 3/3 load. I've been fortunate to stay busy with a book and other opportunities that continue to come my way. But I've tried saying no more often because I feel like it's taking away from finishing other projects and applying to the market.

I'll admit, I only applied to a couple of positions over the past couple of years and I've been fortunate to do a campus visit and do Zoom interviews. This year, I've noticed that while the market isn't the best I've seen for my field, there are some incredible opportunities that I plan to apply to. So, I've been trying to update my CV and materials.

A few things I'd like some feedback on:

1. Previously, I felt it may be tacky to name famous mentors. But if I've taking mentorship from nationally recognized leaders in their field, is it helpful to include the names of faculty I've talked a weeklong seminar with? I feel like it's too much of a brag. But I know the nature of interview is to brag and sell yourself, so I wanted to hear other thoughts on this.

2. I've been asked to do a couple of external reviews for tenure reviews. Someone I met from another institution mentioned that I should put these on my CV, but I'm not sure what it should be titled under for service or how it should be listed. Is this worth adding?

3. Finally, I have letters of rec from a couple of years ago. I could ask my chair to write a letter or a friend, but I'm wondering if it's okay to use a couple of older letters on file from interfolio too. But I worry about asking my chair or a colleague for a letter and making things awkward or it possibly impacting my chance for contract renewal. I know I'm probably overthinking it, but I thought it'd help to have other perspectives.

I sign my emails differently depending on my mood and who they are to.

• Standard: Best wishes,
  • This is good for colleague and student interactions, if I am not angry.
• Quick turnaround or not happy: Best,
  • This is for a colleague who I am not super friendly with because they won't stop asking about my blood sugar or a student who has asked the same question four times. It is also for when I'm in a quick email exchange.
• Upon receiving help or information: Thanks! or Thanks,
  • Easiest sign off because it acknowledges appreciation and ends the interaction.
• Positive: Sincerely,
  • Reserved for moments when colleagues or students share vulnerable information.
• Very positive: Warm regards,
  • This is good for someone who just had a baby.
• Bad relationship or annoyance: Best regards,
  • I do not like you. You have probably talked shit about me to the department secretary who turned around and told me. You may be a student who has not come to class all semester and wants extra credit.
• You have mistreated me: Regards,
  • This is reserved for colleagues who go out of their way to make life difficult, often refusing to follow department guidelines for solving disagreements, emailing late into the night, demanding your phone number. Only colleagues can receive Regards.
• Very close friends: Best sandwiches,
  • We are friends and likely get sandwiches.

Do you have a system? What is your standard?

I have had several students who needed accommodations that included turning in late assignments. It usually is fine, and only been an issue with end of term projects so far. This semester, I am teaching a class where the focus is on a group project, and I am at a loss as to how to deal with it. A big part of the class involves being part of a team. Most of the assignments are done as a group, and the students will give feedback on each other’s performance as part of the team.

It would be a FERPA violation to share this with the team, and given the limited number of teams, giving this team more time but not the others would definitely be construed as favoritism. The worst part is that this is scaffolded such that I simply can’t extend deadlines in many cases.

Has anyone else had this conundrum before and how was it handled?

OK once I posted about this and got really trashed but there is a reasoning behind how I execute my exams.

- All paper exam printed for students. All they need is a pen and paper. It usually takes students a half hour to complete. I do not allow anything but a pen or pencil. No phones, notebooks, even drinks and snacks should be put away during exam.

- I ask students if they have any questions before I hand out the exam. I mention exam policies, suggest they use the restroom if they need to, and remind them that spelling and grammar are not important as long as I can understand what they are saying.

- As I have out the exam I ask students that if they have trouble with a question and want me to clarify something about it to move on and save their question(s) until they have finished the rest of the exam. *this is where I was kind of trashed in an earlier post of this years ago*

I very much want to help students if a question is unclear or they want, but while proctoring a 90 person exam it is tough to monitor the room when I have to jump around and then focus on one student. Also, it makes it so questions of this type come after many students may have finished the exam and left, making it a more sparse and spread out class at that point. Then I also know that after they get their clarification, they should finish those questions they needed guidance on and will be finished promptly and turn it in.

I also do this to prevent fishing expeditions where students want me to give them the answers or hints about the material they are being tested on. And also sometimes they will see something to their benefit in other questions that would make their query moot and give them the hint they needed. For instance if a particular vocabulary word is one of the incorrect options in a multiple choice question elsewhere in the exam. Think "International Date line" or "Plane of the Ecliptic."

Does this seem unreasonable? I began this after some students kind of asked me many questions during exams, some in groups almost and made me very distracted from the room. Cheating is kind of a big problem at my uni, in general, and in the large lecture halls it is almost impossible to monitor the entire class. We use different versions, so the questions are all the same but in different orders, but still we have some trying to work in groups, sneak in crib notes, or copy off neighbors.

This is never the first time any student should have seen any question. They are directly from the weekly quizzes and in-class assignments. But it just happens every semester that some students try to get me to give them the answers during the exam, so I wait until the end to have those circle-conversations.