We Don’t Even Get a Summer Anymore…

First let me fully acknowledge the privilege of getting a summer to recharge, which is a rare thing indeed. In fact, there are so many among our ranks that are forced to take on summer courses or summer jobs to make ends meet - which is a travesty.

For those of us who rely on the summer months to relax and recharge after hellish semesters - to spend time with our families after abandoning them for overloaded schedules and evening/weekend events - to actually indulge in our hobbies or, even personal research projects (!!!) - those scant weeks are sacrosanct.

But over the last several years, those precious weeks have been whittled away so it feels more like a long weekend instead of a summer break. Registration days for incoming classes begin less than a month after commencement. Decisions need to be made, but department chairs no longer get summer compensation, so either they (and their faculty) are forced to work over the summer or deans unilaterally make decisions - like raising class capacities or even changing a faculty member’s entire schedule. Faculty members are NOT on contract - they are not required to do any work for the university - including, but not limited to checking their email (see previous blog post). But if they don’t, they are entirely blindsided a week before the semester starts with a class of 40, when they agreed to a maximum of 20 students, or a completely different schedule than they had planned with their chair when the schedule was made during the previous semester.

As Higher Ed becomes increasingly combative and exhaustive, time to recharge is crucial - not only for faculty, but for all employees. Time away from the institution - time when you can turn off your email should apply to all employees, especially when the employees are on PTO - sadly not the norm for many institutions. Without that time away from the hectic nature of higher ed, the rate of burn out will only increase in both faculty and staff.

For everyone’s sake, allow people to enjoy their time off in peace!