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Lecturers
and Tenure-track faculty represent both the present and the future lifeblood
of most universities. Generally overworked, underpaid, exploited by
senior colleagues and administrators, they are frequently consumed by
a career with an enormous appetite for time and energy. Emotional stress
and anxiety are the handmaidens of lecturer and tenure-track faculty
life.
A pre-existing, highly practical, and humane model may be of considerable utility for the academy. In an American culture fond of both automobile transportation and alcohol consumption – two categories of actions that do not mix safely or well, a proven workable solution is the notion of the “designated driver.” A designated driver allows the majority to indulge in a pleasure, but permits a safe transportation venue. The notion of self-sacrifice by the individual with benefit to the whole has analogs in most religious systems, including Christianity and Buddhism. Pragmatic altruism is a rare and valuable quality.
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WHEREAS |
Junior Faculty and Lecturers have an enormous burden in their early years on campus, teaching, putting together their portfolio, engaging in research & overworking themselves nearly to death; and
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WHEREAS |
Junior Faculty and Lecturers are increasingly put into leadership roles on committees of every descriptions; and
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WHEREAS |
Junior Faculty and Lecturers are the future of higher education and deserving of the highest degree of nurturing and protection offered by the university; therefore let it be
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RESOLVED |
that all committees engaged in university work select one member of the committee, preferably a senior faculty member or at least one with tenure, to act as the designated scapegoat of the committee; and be it further
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RESOLVED |
that this scapegoat be deemed solely responsible for any and all deficiencies arising from the committee’s work in the course of duty; and be it further:
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RESOLVED |
that any and all deficiencies or inadequacies of junior faculty members be transferred to the scapegoat, who will take blame, opprobrium & absorb any slings and arrows of criticism in an honorable manner; and be it further:
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RESOLVED |
that by this action the future of higher education will be preserved.
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November, 2003