r/Professors • u/JaguarWonderful • 1d 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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u/Mental-Surround-4117 1d 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.
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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 1d 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.
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u/HariboBerries 1d 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 :)
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u/the_Stick Assoc Prof, Biomedical Sciences 1d 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 1d 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/HariboBerries 1d 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?
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u/DoctorDisceaux 1d ago
They keep scheduling these things for 3:00 on Fridays. Even if I were working on campus and not at home on a Friday, I'm not showing up for some daykiller event to be a human prop.
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u/dragonfeet1 Professor, Humanities, Comm Coll (USA) 1d ago
I get no carrot only stick. I get reminded I'm contractually obligated to go
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u/Disastrous_Owl_6830 1d ago
I don't mean to sound dense, but I'm genuinely wondering what the point of convocation is. At my institution, it's a faculty-only event with some speeches, announcements of awards that were already announced in the spring, and the band plays the alma mater. I've never been sure what this event is for, either explicitly or on the level of optics (given that students don't attend). Anyone got ideas?
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u/DeskRider 1d ago
At my school, it's the "State of the Campus" address, honoring award-winners, announcing major campus news, and the pre-semester "pep talk."
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u/LittleMissWhiskey13 Professor CC 1d ago
Our lunch had to reserve to gain access for only the first 50 people. It included a Zoom video of some other administrator from another college discuss how he has not taught in 30 years but will teach us how to be better instructors. I'm sure limiting to 50 was to make sure to give this fool a 5 figure "honorarium".
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u/SnowblindAlbino Prof, SLAC 1d ago
We are formally "required" to attend and the provost always notes this obligation in an email each spring/August. Yet nobody takes role, and I've estimated 1/3 or more of the faculty just blow it off.
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u/HonkyMOFO Associate Prof., Arts, R1 (USA) 1d ago
You gotta eat before “Keto Jeff” from Sports Management eats all of the chicken
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u/wharleeprof 1d ago
That ticket thing is so weird. I wonder if they meant that all tickets are good for priority entry, and then there's a raffle at lunch?
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u/Outside_Brilliant945 1d ago
I'm wondering what's worse, convocation or Carousel. Which would you rather attend?
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u/CateranBCL Associate Professor, CRIJ, Community College 1d ago
There was one year we were given the opportunity to buy breakfast on site. That was not repeated.
Lately, they hide a ticket under one of the chairs at each table. The person with that ticket gets to take home the cardboard centerpiece from the table.
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u/Fluffy_Inspector123 1d ago
Ours is so worthless that it was canceled this year due to bad weather and the meeting was never rescheduled. They just sent out a PDF of the slides that they would’ve showed. Was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour event. So the substantial majority was just fluffy.
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u/JaguarWonderful 5h ago
update: there was no raffle. Students were given tickets which they could redeem for pizza. Faculty weren't allowed to have any pizza.
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u/Through_Aweigh_Won 1d ago
We have no pressure to attend. It's not even mentioned, and no admin would notice if we were or weren't there.
A few years ago I started going to the main spring commencement with a couple of friends in the department. Each of us owns regalia. We show up early, do pictures and hugs, share the joy with our wonderful students, then gleefully go in the other direction when the students parade into the arena. Awesome. No boring ceremony, no crowd rush when leaving. It's a nice walk from our building to where it's held. All told, less than an hour of time. I guess I'm the deviant in this thread, but I really enjoy it.
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u/DeskRider 1d ago
OP's talking about convocation, not commencement.
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u/Through_Aweigh_Won 1d ago
OMG! Slapping my forehead. Thanks for pointing that out. I don't even know what a convocation is; I don't know if we have one. But it sounds like a drag.
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u/tellypmoon 1d ago
I was offered nothing more than the opportunity to show my school spirit. I declined.