Office spaces, part II

Why are faculty fights so venomous?

The stakes are so low.

Old joke. But true. Yesterday, this e-mail was forwarded to me from our Senate Delegate. It concerned someone who went after my job four years ago when our two departments merged. He crashed and burned in the process, has been nursing his wounds ever since. A few of the references make by obscure, but you can pick up the tone.

His letter:

I recently obtained a listing of all class assignments for this Spring Semester at NE with the five course headings that fall under A & H. The section count, which includes regular and second start classes that made, is as follows: ENGL, 77; ESOL, 24; ARTS, 10; SPCH, 10; PHIL, 4.
I had been told that there were several Assistant Chairs in our Arts and Humanities Department. Since ESOL never has had one, I suggested that Jeff Kamm apply for next year. When Jeff wrote to Joe, he was told that Melinda Payne is an unofficial Associate Chair, a position previously held by John Harvey, who now directs the honors program. That title does not match the position described on p. 19 of “Department Chair Guidelines.” Joe added that Darryl Lauster and Linda Amadon are “Lead Instructors” for their respective disciplines, Arts and Speech. According to “DC Guidelines” (19), that term was supposed to be completely eliminated from organizational charts and vocabularies. Joe seemed to indicate there are no “Assistant Chairs” in A & H.
As you know, full-time professors must teach between 13.5 and 15 equated hours unless released to perform other official duties. According to the above list of assigned classes, there are several full-time faculty who appear to be teaching less than 13.5 eq. hrs. I would like to know what other assignments these faculty have that account for their reduced teaching assignments.
I understand that a full-time ENGL professor normally teaches five 3-hour sections. The following faculty appear to have less than five: James Langston (2 sections), Cynthia Williams (4), John Harvey (3), and Darryl Lauster (1). Joe seems to be teaching three sections, two of which are “off campus.” I guess he is paid two overloads. Melinda Payne and Linda Amadon are both teaching at least 15 hours. Do they receive overload pay as well?
As FAC chair from NE, are you able to ascertain what “release time” the above faculty have and why? I would think that such information is available to everyone.
If you would like to review the class assignment list or Joe’s response to Jeff, let me know. I know this is a busy time of the semester, but please respond at your earliest convenience.

Thanks,
"Hank"

There is no better example of petty, mealy-mouthed smallmindedness than the above. My response here.