Our Journey, Day 51
Yesterday I said I would reflect on the first fifty days of my "Journey". I suppose if I do this every fifty days, there will be five of these assessments and then a home stretch of about a month before I lose my job at Bemidji State. Taking a look at each of these seven-week chunks is probably a good idea. Seems a bit weird to think I'm less than a fifth of the way through this process!
This all began on the evening of the 2nd of August, when I received an email from the president of the faculty union, saying I was going to be retrenched. This was also the announcement that we were indeed going to have a retrenchment, so I discovered the university was in a crisis and that I was losing my job simultaneously. A couple of things to note about this:
I wasn't expecting a retrenchment at all. We had already discussed our financial situation during the spring semester and reduced employees by 23, including four faculty. At the time it wasn't guaranteed but it was sort-of understood that this was what had to be done. We were not aware, of course, that the VP of Finance and Administration who had just retired had been either unaware of or hiding several million dollars in additional shortfalls.
I didn't think it would happen to me. I was aware, of course, that I was at the bottom of the seniority roster for my department. But I thought there were other departments or programs at BSU that were less central to the university's mission. History has never served a lot of majors in the six years I've taught at BSU. But we prepare a large number of Social Studies Education majors, 80% of whom focus on history rather than geography or political science. And there's an entire Core Curriculum goal area called "History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences". So I thought we would be somewhat protected. Also, our average class sizes are larger than some other majors.
The other thing that was notable about this message was that it came from the president of the faculty union, not from the administration. Management had met with the union's executive board, told them about the plan, and shared the list. The union immediately notified the affected faculty, which angered the administration. Apparently, the people running the campus wanted to delay telling faculty. Why? Was this in hope that start-up week would go more smoothly? Or that they felt they were the people who should be giving this bad news to us? I don't know. I'm glad the union ignored their plan and told members what they knew as soon as they knew it.
I don't know if I went through all the appropriate stages of grief. Not even sure grief is the right word for this. After all, I just lost a job. No one died. I was surprised. Annoyed that my plans had been thrown into disarray. Angry certainly, when I began hearing about the blatant mismanagement and cluelessness that exacerbated problems caused by declining enrollment, COVID, and other outside forces. But I don't think I really went through denial, bargaining, and whatever the other classic reactions are supposed to be.
Having said that, I suppose I do feel a lot less attached to the situation than I probably did at first. My assessments of people acting negligently or in bad faith haven't really changed. I just don't care as much anymore. If people want to delude themselves and get into an echo-chamber that allows them to ignore information that doesn't conform to their prejudices, then what's going to happen is going to happen. But I don't want to be around them. I went to a Latin American heritage celebration the other evening with my wife, that was sponsored by my friends in the language department (who are also being cut). Had to leave because there were too many management types there, with whom I had no interest in making small talk.
But if I manage to avoid putting myself in situations where I need to interact too much with the people who are responsible for this debacle, I think I'm doing a better job focusing my attention on the future and thinking about what's next. As I said yesterday, I'm excited about the prospect of Open Education, both in terms of reducing textbook costs for Minnesota students and more generally in making more opportunities for learning available to all people, whether they are enrolled students or not. I'm excited about people learning things and discussing new ideas. Expanding their understanding of the world. I want to be part of that, but I suspect it may not be on a campus in a classroom. I've been aware for a long time that some of the really exciting stuff was happening in other venues. This retrenchment has just pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to pursue alternatives now rather than "someday".
I'm curious to see where that will take me. What I'll be doing and thinking in another fifty days, around November tenth. I'll keep documenting the "Journey" as I'm now calling it, daily. So stay tuned to this "bat" channel. And thanks for your interest.