Just a reminder (for the interested and the uninterested) that this matter of the 4 Barnacles has yet to be resolved.
Posts Tagged ‘academic freedom’
“Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes†– New York Times
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009So, what do students think about this? The question to be posed sometime March 18 on Hunter-L, the College’s main listserv for general info and communication for the Hunter community, this being this New York Times article. The Big Question to be put to the students: Should I reconsider my default grade, B?
Dogfighting in the Department of Chimera (A Work in Progress)- Part IV
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009Deconstructing a Snippet of the Minutes of the December, 2008, Faculty Meeting of the Department of Film and Media Studies
[What Really Goes on Behind Some Walls of the Academy]
Morris stated that he had unresolved issues with faculty. These details were written in his group emails to faculty. Roman responded that he will follow up any complaints 
made by Morris with the Ombudsman. – Shanti Thaku, the minutes of the December, 2008, faculty meeting.
At the meeting I’ve referred to as this first blip on the radar, I revealed my contact with the New York Civil Liberties Union but didn’t reveal my contact with the National Writers Union, which had responded positively to my request for support.
Dogfighting in the Department of Chimera (A Work in Progress) Part III
Monday, March 9th, 2009Deconstructing a Snippet of the Minutes of the December, 2008, Faculty Meeting of the Department of Film and Media Studies
[What Really Goes on Behind Some Walls of the Academy]
Morris stated that he had unresolved issues with faculty. These details were written in his group emails to faculty. Roman responded that he will follow up any complaints 
made by Morris with the Ombudsman. — Shanti Thaku, the minutes of the December, 2008, faculty meeting.
Now, colleague Larry Shore, former chair of the department’s grade appeals committee which I had been describing in several venues “as one of the most corrupt” at Hunter if not CUNY, candidly responded to the question, “Recommend For New Business, Wednesday, Grade Tampering in F/M,” A Big Barnacle: Is a Discussion Needed?” His comments, however, never made it into the department minutes.
Protected: Dogfighting in the Department of Chimera (A Work in Progress) – Part I
Thursday, March 5th, 2009The 4 Barnacles of the Apocalypse (A Work in Progress)
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
[This page is pockmarked with weird symbols like – I’m because of WORDPRESS updates. This page will be eventually removed and the edited contents will be added to another web site.]
This – I’m referring to all the words below is an edited version of an email sent to my department about grade tampering, and I also alluded to gross violations of academic freedom and academic collegiality as well as to what seem to be odious F/M customs and practices, such as colleagues engaging in defamation and slander. This kind of sleazy office politics seem to be cherished traditions in my department and are regarded, insanely I have to add, by too many colleagues as “Collegial.”
I have also referred to these perversions in various communiques, emails, listserv postings as well as as Farce and Mediocrity. The original title for the email to my department was:”Recommend For New Business, Wednesday, Grade Tampering in F/M- A Big Barnacle: Is a discussion needed?” I was interested in a discussion at the last department meeting of the fall semester, 2008, not that I was expecting a discussion. But I wanted to know how colleagues would respond and I needed to gauge things.
Final Grades, Fall Semester – Basic Reporting (So-called)
Monday, January 5th, 2009This was one of the most talented classes I’ve had in a few years. However, two students who could have achieved at least a B flunked because they seemed to believe they could bluff their way through the course and get a C  without completing the assignments (that’s my impression), and one was very late-late several times and in one conversation conveyed that she was hoping to bluff – again, my impression – her way to a passing grade that she could get without doing the homework.
The other attended class regularly but … refused to turn in assignments or refused to turn in assignments on time.
Because of the internecine war with my department about my classes and how I want to teach, final grades is always serious manner. The usual attrition rate – F’s, D’s, W’s and WU’s – is one-third.
I’m expecting that the two INCs eventually become passing grades.
Â
A — 2
B+ — 3
B — 3
B- — 1
INC — 2
W — 1
WU — 1
F — 2
The Parisi Paradoxy: An Imperative — Part 1
Thursday, June 26th, 2008This post may help clarify for students any confusion regarding publication of the WORD. It may also provide clarification for others on and off the Hunter College campus who come across this blog.
The WORD is an innovative pedagogical tool to teach students journalism. It’s based on this principle: Require students to write for publication and provide media that will showcase their work. The publishing imperative requires the students and the instructor to strive for higher academic standards and achievement. Burgeoning technology, of course, has significantly increased not only this potential for improving student writing but also the potential for enhancing student education. The WORD has also significantly improved student opportunities for getting internships and jobs.
True, a lot of professors believe that it’s not their responsibility to help students get internships and jobs, that such responsibility regarding career choices and decisions falls on the the students’ shoulders or with their colleges’ career services support systems. Hunter has a really good support system but this instructor believes that J-professors, especially, should be proactive mentorers (especially when there are operations like the WORD that can help make it easier for them to contribute to students’ careers).
Advanced Reporting (MEDP 293), Feature Writing (MEDP 299.47)
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008Disastrous.
These classes weren’t as organized as they should have been (too many departmental distractions for the instructor) and too many students in the poorly under-enrolled classes weren’t prepared, that is, their introductory news classes hadn’t prepped them for advanced courses. That’s been happening a lot.
Must Reading for the 4 Barnacles of the Apocalypse and Other Colleagues
Friday, February 27th, 2009I am recommending the New York Times’ Stanley Fish February 16 column, Is the Academy Different? for the benefit of the 4 Barnacles of the Apocalypse* and other colleagues confused about tenets and canons of Academic Freedom.
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Tags:4 Barnacles of the Apocalypse, AAUP, Academic Bullies, academic freedom, Department of Film and Media Studies, First Amendment Rights, Hunter College, National Writers Union, NYCLU, PEN, Professional Staff Congress, PSC, Racism in Higher Education, Stanley Fish
Posted in Journalism, Journalism Education, News/Commentary/Opinion | Comments Closed