I had lunch with Saintseester today. We talked of many things, as is our tendency. One of those was academic careers. If you read her blog, you know that she’s coming out of one (or at least going on hiatus).
I considered an academic career at some length. If you’re a liberal arts major, that’s one of the things you do. (I’ll tell you sometime about the night I came home and announced my intentions to pursue a liberal arts degree.) Ultimately, the decision against such was a monetary one. I’m not terribly materialistic, but I had an informed idea what a liberal arts professor just starting out made, and though I didn’t want a whole lot, I wanted a little more than that.
A secondary (but not by much) reason I didn’t go into academia was that I perceived that it empowered small people, and I didn’t like it.
In 1992, I made the acquaintance of one Susan Kray. She was one of two women I have ever met in my entire life who, simply and unambiguously, hated men. I concluded such to my complete satisfaction, anyway. (She was 50ish then, so she’s probably retired now; whatever the case, I’m pleased to contribute to her Google footprint in this manner.)
Dr. Kray was a professor in the Communication Arts department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. I never had her for anything. So why did I care? Ah, grasshopper, here’s the thing. Communication Arts majors had to do a senior thesis, defended in an auditorium against the slings and arrows of all of the Communication Arts professors. All of them had to pass you for you to get your degree.
To a fucking person, Dr. Kray failed all of the men and none of the women.
My senior seminar professor (who was also a woman, thank God, else I might be managing a Waffle House right now) eventually persuaded her to retreat from her ridiculous action, and most of us graduated. But I’ve never forgotten that detestable witch, and if I ever see her again, I’ll exercise little restraint in sharing my opinion with her.
To be sure, there are analogs of this kind of smallness in other sorts of workplaces as well. But they seem to get a lot more traction in academia. That my professor had the gumption to confront her about her prejudice is a blessing. If she hadn’t, that probably would have been the end of it, and I’d have had to take that course again. (That would have been a real pain in the ass, as it was only offered spring quarter. It would have delayed my graduation by a year.)
I’m not going to say much specific about ‘seester’s issues because she will and should, but it sounds to me like the same kind of people giving her grief. They crave power, but lack the ability to obtain it in a “real job.” So they plunge themselves into the hallowed halls of universities and colleges (and homeowner’s associations, probably).
Understand that I’m not impugning the profession in general. I met several stellar professors as a student who had a great deal to do with me even considering academia seriously as a career. I’m just saying that the entire arena contains insufficient checks for a certain kind of small person, and I doubted my ability to tolerate such indefinitely.
Part of me is still sad I didn’t do it. When I got up “on plane” with Dr. Cling (philosophy), Dr. Neff (English), Dr. Fillippeli (rhetoric), or a couple of others, it was as if my brain was using different, transcendent wiring. That has happened to me occasionally as a technical writer, but it’s not at all common. Chasing that buzz is what I most think about when I consider the if-I-win-the-lottery sorts of questions. Relieved of the quotidian burden of making a living, I would study.
Then, from my financially set perch of tranquility, I could tell the Dr. Susan Krays of the world exactly what I thought.
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I have always thought that treating others unfairly was tantamount to giving them at least tacit permission to treat you unfairly. If you hit me, you’ve given me permission to hit you. Sounds like the idiot man-hater was setting herself up for a big fall, and I hope it came to her. Someone who hates others for things they cannot change (skin color, gender, etc.) is no better than a smiling redneck having his picture taken next to a black man he just helped lynch.
A university which tolerates such behavior is just as bad.
I had Dr. Cling for Intro to Logic. He was a fantastic teacher: deep understanding of the material but also very personable and funny. I remember going over an exercise that involved an argument about marijuana. “You just know you’ll need to use the joint method with this one,” he quipped.
The fun part of that class was watching the humano-weenies struggle with the many proofs.
Gerry: She wasn’t at UAH long, but she just went somewhere else. Unfortunately universities in general aren’t good places to reliably locate sanity anymore.
Greg: I had Dr. Cling several times. Wasn’t he great? I had no trouble with Intro to Logic, but I had to work very hard in Symbolic Logic.
Of course it’s the rotten ones that muck up the swamp for us brilliant and inspirational types… 🙂
I must say, that where I am now is the first time I have ever had issues with inane co-workers on such a grand scale. Perhaps it is happening due to a a dilution of talents. Too many colleges competing for students these days.
Word press needs a fleur de lis smiley. I think I am going to work on that this weekend.
First of all, I’m INSANELY jealous that you and Seester got to have lunch. I’m missing you two quite a bit, and I’m sad that my geography means I get left out of such joys.
When you said “it was as if my brain was using different, transcendent wiring,” I nodded. I’m ALWAYS chasing that buzz, and it’s part of the impetus for my seeking another degree. I’m hoping that my work with Local University will put me in contact with more people and settings with help me access that part of my brain – I feel most alive when I’m really THINKING.
I can’t agree more with your assessment in this post, Bo. I think that it’s even WORSE in public education, however, and that’s a big part of what’s keeping me out of it…
Mrs. Chili, after I left the restaurant, I thought, “we should have CALLED her to find out what she was having for lunch.” Sorry!
I found your post following Dr. Kray’s “google footprint” as you stated, and unfortunately, she is not retired but teaches communication at indiana state university, and I was just talking to my friend about how she favored certain students and failed some based on race, gender and other factors. She is crazy, and a horrible teacher, one who has no business being in academia. seems like she was up to her tricks long before she got to ISU.
Leslie, I’m sorry to hear that Kray is still “working,” though delighted that you apparently went looking for some validation and found it. It’s not in your head. She’s horrible. Good luck dodging her as best you can.
I just have to share this with you, because it’s too perfect. You did, indeed, add to the Google footprint of Dr. Kray. In fact, my father, who dated her (and *cough* lived with her for a while) back around when I was 8, was randomly looking her up to find out what ever happened to that breakup. You know, when you are in your 70’s and Internet literate, these things strike you. Anyway, I came to your site because my dad sent me an email with a quote from you about Susan’s hatred of men. We both laughed. Mmmm… yup! That about sums her up!
Hello, Lisha! Thank you for the visit and for sharing, and I’m delighted to have given you guys a laugh.
This has been an unexpectedly fun post. I just Googled the good doctor myself, and this post shows up on the first page of results. (Guess if she’d ever done anything of consequence, that wouldn’t be the case.) 🙂