My Journey, Day 156
A check-in, since my final semester is beginning
It's Friday mornong and it's the first official day for me at Bemidji State University of the Spring semester -- my last. I won't be going back to be a professor at BSU in the Fall of 2024. It's also day 156 of my "Journey", which was triggered by my "retrenchment" (notice of layoff) last summer. I’ve not been writing about that as frequently lately, but today seemed like a good day to check in. I'm hoping to remain in the Minnesota State system, so I can continue to work for the system office to promote Open Ed and Z-Degrees. But the most realistic path to that seems to be as an instructor working at one or more Community Colleges. I'm also considering a couple of tenure-track professor positions at other universities.
The one thing I think is either off the table or on its way to sliding off at any moment is getting tenure so I can "bump" my way into another position at a university within the system or "claim" my way back into BSU if they were to reverse course in the next couple of years and need another historian. I was urged by my Dean and the Provost to complete my Tenure and Promotion application, which I was going to submit this month. I talked to the lawyer for my faculty union in St. Paul, and she said that in order to have any special privileges under the contract, I must have tenure when I am terminated. That means on my last day, in early May, I would need to already be tenured. The problem is, according to the timeline in the contract, the President of BSU doesn't have to make tenure decisions until June 15th. Typically, a decision on tenure comes out in early June and then promotion doesn't typically happen until closer to the beginning of the Fall semester. Too late to be helpful for me, contractually. And also too late to help me with finding a gig for the fall, since I imagine all hiring decisions would probably have been made well before even the time in early May when I’ll become unemployed.
I wrote to my Provost at the beginning of the winter break, to ask whether a decision in my case could be accelerated. He said he didn't know, but would check (I presume with the President). I never heard from him again. I realize the administration has a lot on their plates, trying to figure out what to do about the slow-motion disaster that's unfolding. But at the same time, I hear that one of the other retrenched faculty has been reinstated because his department "went to bat" for him. I suspect part of their pitch was that he was instrumental in getting an important industry partnership for his program, which might be jeopardized if he was gone (I'm speculating). On the other hand, I only brought in a $25,000 grant and the potential for another $100,000 next year. Not enough to go to bat over, apparently.
I don't think I'm going to ask again. There's something a bit disheartening, pursuing pipe-dreams that desperately. It sort-of saps my energy to pursue other things and makes me feel like the thirsty teen on Never Have I Ever. And, when I think about it, do I even want to continue working at BSU? Apart from being seven minutes away from my house by car, would it be a better place to work than Mankato, or Brainerd, or Bloomington, or Grand Forks, or Stephens Point? I don't imagine BSU's issues are going to disappear just because they're cutting 27 faculty and a bunch of staff. If anything, with the reorganization of departments and possible elimination of programs, this might just be the beginning of a new set of problems.
Finally, I don't really want to get on my knees in front of these administrators and beg them for the favor of tenure at this point. Sure, it might be argued that they owe it to me, after all the volunteering and leadership I've provided despite being in the first few years of my university career. And it might be argued that I'd have an inside track for the university job at Mankato, if it is ever posted. On the other hand, wouldn't I be a top candidate for that job anyway? And if it's actually not a good fit, would I really want to force my way to the front of the line?