The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Good morning!

Pangrams and above genius. That's it for today--some of the puzzles are meant for people with oodles of time and plenty of hired help rather than us mere mortals. Last word yesterday was pliant.

Just saw the solution to yesterday's LB. WTF?!

Happy solving!

Quote from: secundem_artem on May 15, 2024, 02:35:40 PMI've posted it in another thread, but 1-2 year's salary?  What Daddy Warbucks College are you folks working at?  In the past, Artem U has offered a bag of chips.  And if you really complain, they'll throw in a pack of gum. Seriously, the crap offers they've made to date would only be of interest to those given a terminal diagnosis by their physician with a 3 month life expectancy.

I fear this might be the level of our next buyout offer!

The running joke among long-time faculty here is to reminisce about the truly wonderful food we used to get at every event--even things like academic council meetings:  in-house gourmet cookies, taco bars and salad bars, gourmet sandwiches etc.  Nowadays we're lucky if we get warm tap water and a package of stale saltines. (We usually don't get anything.)

I finished planting my 4 hanging baskets and 2 whiskey barrels on the front porch, and the flower boxes on our little back patio yesterday evening. They look nice!

Quote from: jimbogumbo on May 15, 2024, 03:20:11 PMOf course police should be called in when things are actually violent (UCLA) or a building is actually occupied (Portland State).

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Not trespassing, and definitely not violent in the vast majority of instances. I think you (maybe) just don't like The Guardian.

Given that on many campuses, students (and some faculty) have vociferously opposed certain speakers merely giving a talk in some room on campus (on the grounds of it making campus "unsafe") , to the point where the event had to be cancelled, it's ironic that these same people see big crowds yelling in public spaces on campus as not at all a concern for making campus "unsafe".

The inconsistency is breathtaking.

Every few years my employer issues an early retirement offer in the form of "Up to X faculty members with Y years of service get Z times their salary if they leave." X is always less than 10. Z tops out at 1. Y is usually something like 25.

Quote from: bio-nonymous on May 14, 2024, 07:32:08 AM[. . .]

the department where someone takes that option would lose that faculty line! So, it kind of screwed your colleagues over.

[. . .]

The situation of former colleagues should not be one's concern. The faculty line will not reappear because you've worked until you've dropped dead in your office at age 93.

I'd take 6 months salary, a year of health insurance, and payout of my 240 hours of accumulated annual leave. That would cover my lease buyout, moving expenses, and living costs until I found part-time job in fast food.

Quote from: Hibush on May 15, 2024, 01:00:29 PM

Quote from: Wahoo Redux on May 15, 2024, 11:04:24 AMAsk ourselves: if these were registered students who were members of Storm Front peacefully occupying a campus but refusing to leave after lawfully ordered to, what would we have the cops do?

Jusrisdictions vary as far as what city cops can do. In some places, if registered students are peacefully hanging out in a public space on campus, an order to leave would not be lawful. Campus administration needs to follow whatever due process and regulations apply to their campus. Some seem to have gotten it wrong by jumping in haste.

Okay, but we are talking disrupting and occupying, albeit peacefully, and orders to disperse----not "hanging out."

Big difference. 

Edit: dismalist, maybe I am dense, but half the time I don't know what you are posting about.

Sorry for the double-post, it's getting to be crunch time for our Spring term.

A TA just told me today (it's Week 7) that a student has been arriving at lab 30-60 minutes late EVERY SINGLE WEEK.  And the TA has been letting them participate.  And giving them credit for their "due at the start of class prelab".

Why didn't the TA tell me the first time this happened?  The official policy is that 10 minutes late = you can't participate.  And late pre-lab assignments = 0 points. 

And the kicker is the TA casually mentioned that the student has been copying their answers from other student worksheets all quarter.

Thanks, AmLitHist. Sending you good wishes for your foot and your teaching and household activities with said foot. Hope you have a good physical therapist.

When I checked the patient portal, it turns out that the doctor's office had contacted CPAP supplier on April 19th directing them to send the supplies to my address that is on file (no need for date of birth verification). Supplier is holding me hostage out of spite because I refused to provide the dob info they (not my insurance) needed. Called the insurance company which was hacked about a month or so ago, and was told that I could hold for about 29 minutes, or the company would call me back. 29 minutes came and went, so I called again only to be told that I had asked to be called back and that I could continue to wait for a phone call. Another 29 minutes came and went, with me calling, and the process being repeated. Now it's three hours since my first phone call, and no call back. To complicate matters, I received a bill demanding payment for the supplementary insurance despite the payment having been acknowledged. I suspect the long hold/wait time was because other patients too had received the letter for payment, not only for this month, but also for June. Aaargh!!! I did leave a message on the patient portal letting them know that I didn't receive the refills, and also another asking for an explanation of the CT Scan results. I have an appointment with a new provider next week so that she can review the results which are on my patient portal and also on a CD. Tomorrow I'll have to call my congressperson, whose office is quite reliable, to handle the CPAP supplies/supplier. The lung/sleep apnea doctor used to be very good, but I suspect he's getting too old to be on top of things. MY PCP (same practice) and the spine doctor (different practice) would have gotten back to me right away, not only to advise me of the ramifications, but also to inform me of other issues that show up in the scans/MRIs/reports.

Quote from: bio-nonymous on April 25, 2024, 07:10:24 AMArguing with people who are sure they are correct is a worthless waste of time.

Sez you!