Dear President Broad ([email protected]):
Last week, I went to work to examine a copy of my 2004 performance evaluation. For the first time in 12 years, my evaluation contained some negative remarks. Among those was the criticism that during the last year I did not take part in the “ongoing life” of my department.
Although previously unfamiliar with the meaning of the phrase “ongoing life,” I immediately suspected it was related to my unwillingness to attend the departmental parties that are occasionally held at the homes of my fellow professors.
Last September 11, I was invited to such a party at the home of my supervisor — the same one who wrote my annual evaluation. When I told her I was unable to attend the party due to a conflict with an NRA banquet, my supervisor called it a “fascist pig” banquet.
At the time, I assumed the “fascist pig” remark was simply made in jest. I now recognize that I may have misjudged the situation. That recognition comes after learning that members of my department are, in fact, being evaluated on the basis of attendance at social gatherings held at the homes of their supervisors.
I made this shocking discovery when I began polling fellow faculty members to see whether others had received written remarks concerning their failure to take part in the “ongoing life” of the department. The very first faculty member I polled reported that he was penalized on his evaluation — not with a vague reference to “ongoing life” but, instead, with a specific reference to his absence at a party held at the home of his supervisor.
This form of evaluation is unacceptable for a number of reasons.
For example, imagine that the one black faculty member in our department (of about eighteen full-time professors) decided not to attend parties because of the lack of racial diversity in the department. Instead of being surrounded by whites at a party (after being surrounded by whites at work all week), he decides to attend a NAACP meeting or a party at a predominantly black church. Should he then be penalized when evaluations are handed out at year’s end?
Or imagine that alcohol is served at departmental parties (they usually are), making a professor unable to attend for religious reasons. Would he not prevail in a suit charging religious discrimination if his absence was later recorded in his performance evaluation? You should immediately consult your attorneys on this one, President Broad.
Similarly, some professors might not want to attend parties at the homes of other professors who are cohabitating outside of marriage, or involved in homosexual relationships. They may have young children they do not want exposed to such lifestyles at an early age. Perhaps they should not have to spend money for a baby sitter just to keep from getting a negative performance evaluation.
Hypothetical situations aside, I have a very real reason for avoiding these kinds of gatherings. Some years ago, a fellow professor began harboring the delusion that I was trying to poison her with tear gas. Do you consider it wise to require both of us to attend the same social gatherings? Or, put another way, is it safe to combine a) a delusional faculty member, b) a person whom she thinks is trying to poison her, and c) alcohol? This is probably the easiest question I have asked so far.
Many years ago we hired a feminist professor who occasionally shared details of her sexual exploits in social situations. After a couple of drinks, she once offered me an all-too-detailed account of committing adultery and engaging in oral sex on a public beach. Should I be compelled to socialize with someone I consider to be vulgar? Is it my fault for being narrow-minded or judgmental with regard to adulterous acts in public settings?
Legal issues aside, such infinitely malleable criteria cannot pass the straight face test. The idea that a feminist department chair (who has since finished her term) would treat her party invitations like state subpoenas is both patently amusing and somewhat sad. Demanding rigid conformity by using the power of the State to manipulate the social lives of subordinates is certainly inconsistent with feminist notions of privacy, choice, and individual autonomy.
Henry Kissinger once observed that, in academic life, the politics are so petty because the stakes are so low. I would advise the UNC administration to nullify these inappropriate, immoral, and illegal evaluations. Otherwise, the stakes may soon be much higher.
.
Mike S. Adams was born in Columbus, Mississippi on October 30, 1964. While a student at Clear Lake High School in Houston, TX, his team won the state 5A soccer championship. Mike Adams graduated from C.L.H.S. in 1983 with a 1.8 GPA. Mike Adams was ranked 734 among a class of 740, largely as a result of flunking English all four years of high school. After obtaining an Associate's degree in psychology from San Jacinto College, Mike Adams moved on to Mississippi State University where he joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. While living in the fraternity house, his GPA rose to 3.4, allowing him to finish his B.A., and then to pursue a Master's in Psychology. In 1990, Mike Adams turned down a chance to pursue a PhD in psychology from the University of Georgia, opting instead to remain at Mississippi State to study Sociology/Criminology. This decision was made entirely on the basis of his reluctance to quit his night job as member of a musical duo. Playing music in bars and at fraternity parties and weddings financed his education. Mike Adams also played for free beer.
.
Upon getting his doctorate in 1993, Adams, then an atheist and a Democrat, was hired by UNC-Wilmington to teach in the criminal justice program. A few years later, Adams abandoned his atheism and also became a Republican. He also nearly abandoned teaching when he took a one-year leave of absence to study law at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1998. After returning to teach at UNC-Wilmington, Adams won the Faculty Member of the Year award (issued by the Office of the Dean of Students) for the second time in 2000.
.
After his involvement in a well publicized free speech controversy in the wake of the 911 terror attacks, Adams became a vocal critic of the diversity movement in academia. After making appearances on shows like Hannity and Colmes, the O'Reilly Factor, and Scarborough Country, Adams was asked to write a column for Townhall.com.
.
Today Mike Adams enjoys the privilege of expressing himself both as a teacher and a writer. Mike Adams is also an avid hunter and reader of classic literature. Mike Adams published his first book, Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel, in 2004. His second book, Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts "Womyn" On Campus, was published in 2008.
- Kids Write Obama on Abortion; Obama Misplaces Them - Tuesday January 22, 2013 at 5:15 pm
- Stand For Life - Wednesday January 16, 2013 at 12:44 pm
- Fellowship in the Woodlands - Thursday January 3, 2013 at 1:23 pm
