Dear Anyone - work Advice  
 
 

 

OUR ADVICE FOR FEELING GUILTY IN TOLEDO:
  A:          32%
  B:  Call or email Bob and tell him you feel bad, but t ...        26%
  C:          20%
  D:          22%
Total Votes: 2135

Dear Anyone,

I'm a tenured professor of sociology at a liberal arts college in the northeast. Next month, a colleague of mine will come up for tenure review. I respect her as an academic. She publishes regularly in reputable journals and has a book out, with another forthcoming. She's a good teacher too, if her teaching evaluations are any indiction. Still, I'm not sure about giving her tenure. You see, about a year ago, I saw her in a restaurant holding hands with someone I recognized as a current student. Plus, her office is next to mine, and once, when I was at the office late at night, I heard--how should I put this?--"heavy breathing" coming through the walls. She's unmarried and free to do as she pleases in her private life, but our school has a pretty strict sexual code of conduct. I think I may be the only one who knows about her behavior, so if she disgraces herself and the department in the future, I'll feel responsible. Then again, if I cost this bright young academic her job, I'll feel guilty as hell. I'm feeling torn.

Tenure-track Troubles in New England

WHAT'S YOUR ADVICE?

Vote for Option A   
A:  Tell the committee what you know and campaign against tenure. Obviously, she's crossed the line.
Vote for Option B   
B:  Do some detective work. Your evidence is circumstantial and doesn't prove anything. Unless you find out more, it's a flimsy case.
Vote for Option C   
C:  Have a heart-to-heart with this colleague. Senior faculty members are supposed to mentor junior faculty members. Maybe she'll straighten up.
Vote for Option D   
D:  Vote for tenure. Sexual codes of conduct are outdated and Puritanical. As long as she's doing her job well, she deserves to keep it.

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