Looking for opinions/advice: Is this a hostile work environment, retaliation, or just an incredibly dysfunctional workplace?

I’m trying to figure out whether I’m dealing with a hostile work environment, retaliation, or simply terrible management. I’d honestly take advice, opinions, or just commiseration. This situation is much more nuanced than I can explain here, so these are the highlights.

For four years, I’ve worked under my department chair, “Brenda.” In my experience, she routinely refuses reasonable requests for support, often without explanation, even when the request directly affects my ability to do my job.

For more than two years, I’ve had serious problems with a support staff employee who is openly hostile toward me, including repeatedly yelling at me and refusing to help with my work. I have documented emails and multiple incidents, including one in front of students. I have repeatedly reported this to Brenda and explained in writing that the situation has affected my ability to work and my mental and physical well-being. I even told her I felt like I was in an abusive work environment. Nothing meaningful happened. Eventually, after another incident, I went to HR. Again, essentially nothing happened.

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing a huge amount of work beyond my faculty position. I helped build a degree program from the ground up, advise students, manage curriculum, train and mentor 7+ adjuncts, conduct assessments, and serve as lead faculty for more than a dozen courses. I’ve been doing this coordination work for more than 4 years.

Brenda has even told me that I am already doing the duties of a Program Coordinator, but that it’s “hard to get everything pushed through” to make it official. I still don’t have the title or position, and I’ve only recently received a small amount of release time for work I’ve essentially been doing unpaid for years because I keep complaining to her and I am now refusing tasks, telling her that sounds like a Program Coordinator job. This is probably why she finally gave me release...but still no title change. I know she is not happy I am pushing back, but she is making this contentious for no reason. She is making it harder for me to do my job.

Over the summer, Brenda hired three student workers, each for 20 hours/week, despite there being very little happening on campus. I asked if one could be assigned to me during the semester, when I actually need the help. I was told no. So I had my male colleague ask her the exact same question a couple weeks later. She immediately told him it was a great idea and that she would make it happen. So now I have a student worker after asking for YEARS, but only because a man asked for me.

I’ve repeatedly asked for basic support—a student worker, adequate staff assistance, etc. ALL the other programs in my area regularly get student workers; I repeatedly get told no. I was the only one without support staff or student workers or compensation to do all of the additional work on top of the regular work required for this program to run.

Now our office assistant has left. Brenda knew weeks ago but still hasn’t even posted the position (which IS her responsibility), meaning we’ll likely be without an assistant for months. I asked whether a student worker could provide a few hours of office coverage. Brenda told me no. Every other department uses student workers at the desks. WE had one up until last semester. But when I ask? It is a "NO." So again....I asked that same male colleague to ask if a student worker could sit at the desk and she said it was a great idea!!! So now she will have a student fill in because a man asked and she said yes to him. A week ago she told me no.

This is a pattern. I ask for something → no, excuses (which are often lies), or nothing happens. A male colleague asks for essentially the same thing → suddenly it’s a great idea and it gets done.

There are many other examples, but this is already ridiculously long.

I’m also concerned about retaliation. A few months ago, after years of Brenda ignoring a facilities issue I needed addressed for my students, I went above her to the college president. Since then, the refusals and lack of support seem even more pronounced.

And then there’s the timing of my FMLA. I recently filed for intermittent FMLA because I am caring for a family member with a terminal diagnosis. The first time I saw Brenda in person after telling her about the FMLA, she asked me to take on a special project normally assigned to Program Coordinators—one that would require a weekend conference and an additional weekly responsibility--while I am actively on FMLA?!?!?!

At the same time, she continues to refuse to officially make me a Program Coordinator despite acknowledging that I’m already doing that work.

So: Am I overreacting? Does this sound like a hostile work environment, retaliation, discriminatory treatment, or simply a really dysfunctional boss who doesn’t want to support me?

I’m genuinely trying to figure out what, if anything, I should do next.

Hi everyone,
I’m a junior faculty in the humanities and recently have been asked by a PhD student from another university to be the external member on their dissertation committee. I’m wondering what usually the incentive is for faculty to say “yes” to these requests, given that reward is minimal (as I understand it)? Would appreciate some advice about this to make an informed decision. Thanks in advance!

Hey all. I saw some other posts on here about pricing honorariums but couldn't get any insights on the matter since my context seems different.

I did a short paid partnership with an ed tech brand for some social media work a while back. Recently they invited me to speak for a corporate event that they've organised for key decision makers to get to know their product. They want me to talk about a related area of my work with some advocacy for their product.

They sponsored travel and stay, but did not mention any speaker fee or honorarium at the start, saying that this is their standard practice. When I brought it up, they asked me to quote a figure. They got back with a 50% slash in what I asked for.

They now claim that this is their standard rate for someone at the start of their career and positioned it as a gain in exposure for me.

Background: I'm a professor/non-practicing doctor holding a part time position, early in the healthcare career, but I also run my own freelance business and consultancy in the education space. The company that approached me is a fairly successful and established one. I'm from Asia.

Conundrum: I'm less inclined to accept their offer because I consider it as a loss of revenue from my end. And since this isn't a conference as such, a small curated event with the goal of product sales, I think a speakers fee is expected? So I do plan to get back to them with my rates, but I'm not sure if negotiations are standard practice.

Would appreciate perspective on this matter.

AI Spray.

The aerosol canister had appeared on her desk overnight. Probably a prank from one of her colleagues, she thought. Or a student, although she couldn’t imagine any of them having the imagination for something like this.

It looked like a slightly unusual can of air freshener. Or bug spray even. Printed on a green background with a scattering of off-yellow circles, the words “AI SPRAY” stood out in bold lettering, along with “USE WITH CAUTION” in smaller type underneath — the white-outlined text popping against the green and yellow.

Curious, thought Alice as she dumped her bag on the floor and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

She picked the can up and turned it over in her hands. No list of ingredients or the usual illegibly small and improbably long set of instructions on how to use it. Not even a company logo. Just a neat little box on the back warning users: “Do not inhale.”

Slightly nonplussed, Alice returned the canister to the desk and picked up her coffee mug. Something was niggling her about it, though. It wasn’t that she was particularly into AI. But she was pretty vocal about the technology. And especially about how some people were abusing it.

As she slipped a capsule into the coffee machine, she smiled as she recalled last night’s tirade at the local faculty drinking hangout. Everyone in the college had just received this year’s glossy brochure describing how they were “transforming the world as they empower students to thrive in an AI-accelerated future.”

“Poppycock!” she’d declared as she read the Dean’s improbably optimistic foreword. “AI slop that’s good for nothing but the recycling bin. Who even reads this stuff?”

“Donors?” Alesha suggested. Although by the uncertainty in her voice, it was clear that even she wasn’t sure. “Or maybe they’re just writing for other AIs these days. No-one reads anymore, anyway, do they?”

“What we need,” Alice had responded, getting into her two-beers-in stride, “is an ‘AI-be-gone’ device. Something that you simply point at anything made by AI, and it disappears!”

She stopped, coffee mug halfway to her mouth, the memory cascading through her thoughts. Was that it?

Back at her desk, she picked up the canister again. Probably just a can of deodorant with a custom-printed label, she thought. She smiled at the idea of something for preventing unseemly body odors being used to do the same for unseemly AI use.

Then the smile took on a mischievous edge. She fished out a student essay from the papers she’d removed from her bag a few minutes earlier. This’ll teach them, she said to herself. She was pretty sure they were all using AI for their assignments. But of course there was little she could do about it — other than the usual ineffectual reminders to use their brains and not their chatbot.

Alice held the paper up and pressed down the spray cap. Some of her students’ work could do with a little AI-deodorizing, she felt.

Gobsmacked, she watched the text dissolve into nothingness.

Grabbing another paper from the pile, she tried again. This time a few words stayed on the page, the rest disappearing before her eyes. The third one survived a little better, but the fourth was a wipe out.

Her smile widened as she searched around for the college brochure. Spray. Gone. Every last word of the Dean’s sanctimonious AI optimism, wiped out. Take that! thought Alice with glee.

Curious now as to how far the AI spray’s reach went, she opened up her laptop and brought up her email. The first message to pop up was from her department Chair: “Dear Alice, I deeply honor you for vulnerably sharing your feelings about this year’s annual review and the sacred place your scholarship holds in your life. Please know that calling your work ‘adequate’ is my fullest, most heartfelt endorsement of your consistent excellence, and not a critique. I’m so excited to hold space with you as we lean into co-creating alignment that even more vibrantly celebrates your impact ...”

She aimed the canister at the email and pressed down … and watched the typed words fade away.

Feeling a little light-headed, she tried again. And again. Some emails survived; many did not.

LinkedIn was next — that was a bloodbath, although maybe “bleach bath” was more appropriate.

Then X. And Substack. Even Bluesky. Alice found herself caught up in an intoxicating AI deodorization flow state as she moved from website to website.

There was a knock at the door, momentarily breaking her attention. “Come in,” she said, watching the words begin to fade on a prominent journal’s website.

The door opened and the Dean popped his head around it. “Just wanted to see how you’re doing …” he started to say.

But Alice’s finger was already pressing the cap down on the can, its nozzle no longer pointing at the screen.

Note

You may surmise that I was inspired here by growing use of AI to generate content without thought or effort. You would surmise correctly :) Not that I think using AI for generating content is bad per se. But I do think there needs to be far more nuance in how we think about how we use it — and what this says about how we think about and value ourselves and others. This includes what's important to us (and what is not), what we care about (and what we do not), what we're willing to compromise on (and what we are not), and a whole lot more.

I recently saw an article about Donetsk National University (now a decade into relocation to western Ukraine) expecting a massive increase in enrollment due to students wanting to avoid the main cities. So all you need to do is have Russia invade your country and send drones and missiles willy-nilly and you can see your enrollment climb too! Definitely NOT worth it.

In case you are interested, DonNU does have several open positions. Even if you can stand the constant missile alerts, I don't think you'd like the salaries. A full professor might earn US$20k at the top. I do hope they can win their fight and restore their universities.

Before you ask, yes, it’s in the syllabus.

Edit: if your policy is different, good for you, I guess. It’s kind of irrelevant here, in my opinion.

I spend 99% of my instructional time trying to figure out how to teach my students how to do this BS on the most garbage platform in existence.

I hate it, my students hate it. It’s trash. No one is learning excel.

I find it infuriating how lazy students are becoming. I have a question as part of the syllabus quiz to send me a professional email introducing themselves. I had to take the time edit the question repeatedly because the students kept messing up. Here are some issues I have seen.
1. They don't email me, but write a email in the place provided. The directions literally direct students not to directly write the email in the space provided but email it to me as it is to practice professional writing and to ensure the students know how to reach me. It is an online class.
2. Writing words must either cost them money or cause pain as they hit individual letters on their keyboard. I have student emails where their entire introduction literally, I am in the xxx class. I am writing you because of the syllabus quiz. That is the entire email. Their entire body of their email was two sentence totaling 28 words.
Thanks for listening!

Got a few students this semester who need recorded lectures with transcripts, The auto captions in our LMS/Zoom are pretty rough, especially when I'm using a lot of fiels specfic terms. Ive been spending way to much time fixing them after each lecture and its getting kinda annoying lol.

"Reasonably modify attendance policy to offer additional absences and the ability to

reschedule exams/quizzes within a week for disability-related reasons if it does not

fundamentally alter the essential requirements of the course."

Has anyone managed an accommodation like this before? I think I'll schedule a meeting with our disabilities office; but, was wondering if anyone has managed something like this before?

90% of the posts in this sub since the semester started can be answered by acknowledging this simple fact.

Not sure how best to handle this. I don't want to extend to take even longer out of class, since the assignment is really just meant to test competency on some materials before we move on, as well as to encourage/punish attendance habits. I also can't subtly say she just gets more time or something without outing their accommodations to the class, which is OBVIOUSLY not a possibility.

They aren't free points, and I do grade them. I also didn't receive their letter until the third day of class, so the entire class already knows they'll be doing timed, attendance-focused activities, so I can't just quietly take them out.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to be dealing with this. How do you all handle this?

Putting humor since it was embarrassing for me at the time, but it's kind of funny now.

I have a small upper level class this semester (9 students), and yesterday was our first day of classes. There is a prerequisite for the class, but it's a freshman level so in theory a sophomore could take this course. Many don't.

All 9 of them were in 7-8 minutes before the start, so I asked if they wanted to start early so we could get out early. Not surprisingly, they all agreed, so I checked the roster just to make sure it still said 9, but didn't bother to look at their names on the full list. What a mistake.

2:59 rolls around, and I have a 10th student coming in. Obviously, I panic immediately. I'm like okay, maybe there's a very late add, so I just keep going. I definitely should've just taken attendance after that but didn't.

One student raises their hand a few minutes after, unsure if they're supposed to be here. I asked them to review their schedule online just to make sure. I should've stopped, but still out of panic I ran through some more material. I had a small break for them to work on an activity for us to discuss after, in which I went to check on the student.

And then it occurs to me - why am I not asking what year they are? They tell me they're a freshman. Okay, and ask did you take (insert prerequisite name)? They said no.

Turns out at some point over the summer, the classroom changed for the course they were actually supposed to be in, and they had a very early version of their schedule instead of checking for an updated one. The student apologized, thankfully unfazed, and left shortly after. I also apologized to the other actual 9th student, but they seemed to find it more funny than annoying.

No harm no foul, I got the class back on track after but this is what I get for not checking the full roster on the first day, especially since late last minute additions do happen.

TL;DR I'm never starting my classes early again.

Could you restructure it just for me? Also why is there a textbook and where is the PDF? Can you summarize it for me?

Please help. It's day fucking TWO of the semester.

TLDR: An adjunct not in my field is auditing my class and trying to treat it like he's the expert. It's literally syllabus week. I need to get him out ASAP. Help me.

For context because it matters: I'm a late 30-something female who teaches a niche subject in literature. I'm currently the only one at my school that specializes in this. This subject attracts a particular type of nerd (this matters, I swear). From a teaching perspective, I am observed yearly (union requirement) by my peers, which has always resulted in high marks, and my evals are consistently some of the highest in the department (again, this matters later). I have been teaching for over a decade.

Alright, so I got an email last week from an adjunct faculty member (we'll call him Bob) in an entirely different department (a STEM field) asking if he could audit my class because he likes the subject a lot. I agree because why not + no one has ever asked to audit my class before. Bob is an older straight white man who is retired and adjuncting for fun after 40 years in industry.

Class starts, we cover the syllabus as quickly as possible (boilerplate stuff is required to be read aloud), so it's a grind. We finally get to the course content, I explain what the genre is, how I structure the class each day (again, I attract a specific type of nerd, so I tell them exactly how the lectures will be structured because, after years of teaching, I know this helps), and give them the broad overview of the reading/watch list. I specifically explain that while this genre has plenty of novels, I structure this class as an introduction to the genre, so we read short stories based on weekly genre themes rather than deep diving into one or two books. This is all intentional. I have spent YEARS crafting my syllabus and I know this approach works.

Class ends. Bob waits for stragglers to leave then sits at the front and proceeds to READ ME A LIST OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT MY TEACHING.

These complaints are: I talk too fast (the exact phrasing was "lay off the sugar, kid, you talk too fast"), I don't walk around the classroom enough (sorry, Bob, I'm attached to reading the syllabus verbatim from the podium, but I did pace the front of the room a lot), I swear too much (in said pacing, I tripped over a stool and said, "shit"--his exact phrase was "watch the vulgarity"), I use the filler word "okay" too much (though he gave the backhanded compliment that he appreciated I didn't say "like" or "um"). He says he'll "give me tips throughout the semester to help with student behavior." (All the students were fine--a few were my former freshmen so they were a bit loud coming in before class because they were happy to see me, but...that's fine?)

Cool, I've got to move to my next section across campus, Bob, so I don't have time for this. I grab my shit, tell Bob thanks but I have my next section in 10 minutes, and he proceeds to WALK WITH ME to my next section while complaining that my reading list "only includes SOME of the classics" and "why not X, Y, Z book?" Because, Bob, I just explained in class that we're going by genre themes, and we don't have time to read 700 page novels in depth. That's not what this class is. It's an introduction. I know my specialty can attract A LOT of gatekeepers, but I intentionally keep myself out of that in order to make all my students feel welcome.

I'm miffed as hell. I do NOT want this man in my class. I did not sign up to be observed by someone who is NOT the expert in either teaching or my subject to critique me. This class is not a fucking book club, dude, it's for college students who haven't been introduced to the genre before!

Last night, he sends me an email with his own publications in the field (a couple short stories) expressing excitement about auditing the class. I think he thinks he's being helpful and bestowing his "wisdom" on someone he perceives to be young and inexperienced. Which...I am neither of those things. I am, however, annoyed as fuck.

I have to stop this NOW before I am subjected to the old white man panopticon all semester. I work really hard to drive discussion in my classes through trust, and I cannot do that with this man in my classroom.

Please, someone tell me what to do here. I am thinking of telling him that the class filled and due to classroom size, there's no room physically for someone to audit? I want to keep it neutral and not refer to the deeply insulting way that he treated me. What the fuck do I do here? (shit, there's the vulgarity again!)

“Canvas isn’t letting me submit the assignment due this week.”

That’s it. That’s the email that I got. No explanation of what error they are getting, nothing about what they have tried, no screenshot, and did not clarify what assignment they are even talking about as many are due this week. No ‘dear professor’ or sign off or anything.

I don’t mind students emailing me when they clearly explain the issue they are having and what they have already tried. That lets me know if I need to forward it to tech support or if it is a common user error and a one response resolution from me.

But GOD IT GRINDS MY GEARS when they act like communication with me is a text. I hate the feeling of getting an email like this and knowing it’s going to be a 10 message back and forth of me trying to pry information from them about what they’ve tried, what they are seeing, etc. I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THAT.

That’s all.

Exactly what was emailed to me today when a student reported problems with content in my asynchronous online class.

Trouble-shooting through the problem revealed that the student is trying to complete entirely online courses using a phone & a notoriously problematic browser.

Specifically, the program we use for interactive lectures doesn't work on cell phones (I didn't pick this program, I'm just expected to be able to use it).

Prior to start of class, students receive a "tech reminder" from the DE office notifying them that classes have content that can only be completed on a desktop/laptop with X browsers. It's also posted on the website.

Instructors send a welcome message a week or so before class with a similar message, along with information about laptop check-out/rental & computer labs on campus. Information is also covered in syllabus and class orientation.

Said student expects me to make some kind of "accommodation."

Really?

Maybe even more than my students. Rant over.

Today was the start of our second week and I am feeling absolutely dreadful.
No matter what I do, the students just aren’t engaged, they can’t follow directions, they refuse to think for themselves, and have little to no critical thinking or social skills.

I cannot conceptualize doing this for many more semesters. The outlook is bleak.

Sigh…

Gang, I need some advice. I'm a TT Humanities prof who (I like to think) is generally a really solid teacher. But one of the things I have always struggled with is getting students to look at / talk to each instead of me. Do you have any tips or tricks for making class time feel more like a mutual conversation instead of them individually responding to questions I'm asking?

Some of this is just the room set up (sitting in rows, facing forward is not conducive to group discussion). But even when I'm very intentional about the room set up, for instance, putting us all on a big circle, they always look at and direct their comments to me instead of each other. Outside of just removing myself from the conversation (e.g., having them talk in small groups while I circulate), how can I help them feel more like mutual participants in the classroom convo?

…at a very small LAC.

I’ve been asked by a colleague to “offer the opening reflection at our upcoming [college of arts & sciences] Faculty meeting…. We would be very grateful to have you open our meeting with a brief five-minute reflection to help set a thoughtful and collegial tone for our time together.”

I’ve been to a handful of faculty meetings (I’m fairly new, but also just have a terrible memory) and others have read short poems, readings, or nondenominational prayers/blessings. I don’t want to write something myself. I’ve googled some poems. Don’t want to do anything really prayerful. Considered a highly abridged version of David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” commencement speech, as it’s a room of liberal arts profs and lifelong learners. Just 2-3 minutes about the value of a liberal arts education. Too much?

I’m sure many would hate that we even do this and that’s fine. I personally don’t mind it. I’m fairly isolated in a very small department and I’m still finding my voice as a colleague of these full professors. I’m curious what other folks might bring to this table.

Hi all-given that I now have to justify having an end of course examination (rather than a bunch of take home assessments throughout the semester that AI will undoubtedly contribute to) does anyone know of any educational literature that comes out strongly in favour of using examinations as an assessment tool? Haven’t got a hope of getting it past the Dean anyway but it would be nice to be able to quote from the literature at least. Thanks.

It is seriously cringe, I just move on. Sometimes i get so frustrated and just have no clue what Im doing wrong or how/what changes to make. This semester I have 4 classes - 1 class so cozy and wonderful then a drawing fundamentals with actual art majors mostly and today we did a lesson about the gesture of objects - lots of out of the boxes exercises and my assumption was they would be engaged and it was crickets. then i have 2 classes of a art survey style class and 1st class they talk but not with me except 1 student who is unaware of others - just very hard for me. and my evening art survey class is nice. we are on week 2 and id like to just be better with classroom management and id love to learn more and hear how other people manag these situations. annoying students, dead quiet classroom, students talking over you.