"In interesting times"

* So, the local news story on our budget cuts hit the same day as the new logo rolled out. Um, can we say "bad optics"?

(Full disclosure: apparently it was an in-house design, so we didn't pay like $70,000 for it like my grad school did for a "study" done on how they could raise more money....apparently it didn't cost us but I think that needs to be pointed out.)


Summer pay is being cut. I am more okay with this than I might be, but I will say if my classes do not "make" the full 10, rather than teaching for even-more-reduced pay, I'm just gonna pull the trigger and not teach. Some are expressing concern faculty weren't allowed input on this decision but I don't know if that's true or not. I am hoping this is not a harbinger for next fall, but it could be. (The state here is heavily dependent on oil and gas revenues, so when those go down, lots of state-funded things get hit. We have had to cut, I think close to 1.5 million out of our budget this year)

Also, am slightly annoyed by the newsreaders comment that "No TEACHERS will lose their jobs" because a) many of us actually have the title of Professor (please, at least give us that?) and b) leaving positions unfilled and not hiring adjuncts instead of doing overloads is kind of a job-loss.

I dunno. I'm slightly worried. I'm close enough to 50 that I know it would be hard for me to find a new job in academia if this one goes away. And also, based on stories I've heard from others, I am in a remarkably sane and kind department and I don't want to leave that. (I'm also too young for early retirement. If I can hang on for a few more years, if my job hangs on for a few more years that might cease to be an issue....I could see taking early retirement and then doing something else to bring in a little money but not having to worry about making enough at my "day gig" to pay all my bills, because pension.)


* My eye twitch (probably allergies) is back. Could also be stress, a la Herbert Lom's character in the "Pink Panther" movies.

* Came in this morning at 7 like normal, thought, "Wow, who ever left at the end of the day yesterday shut off ALL the lights. (since the break-in, we have been leaving a couple on for security reasons). Let myself in, then heard the beeping of the battery back-ups but even then the penny didn't drop until I flipped the switch for the light on the stairs up to my office - nothing.

Okay. Power is out. Apparently just here and nowhere else. What do I do?

I didn't want to go up to my office (it is very dark on the stairs with no light) so I went back out to my car and called the campus operator and asked her....she connected me to the campus police, who told me the power was out (yup, it is) and they had no ETA on its return as of that moment. Someone apparently hit a pole near the building and took out the lines....

I asked him what to do (about classes) and his response was essentially, "I don't know; it's up to you."

So I ran back home and e-mailed my department (in case any of them checked on their phones) and also posted an announcement for my class cancelling class. I also made some signs noting the power outage (again, didn't want to go up to my office on the dark stairs). Finally got back in, posted the signs, ran into two other early birds. We hung out and wondered what to do.

Eventually everyone else dribbled in. We sat around in the entryway (where there was the most light from outdoors) and shot the breeze. The chair informed us that apparently someone Highly Placed in the administration asked the Physical Plant guy, "Can't they just hold classes WITHOUT power?"

Dear sir: have you been in our classrooms? Tiny little windows so very little light from outside. Greyboards instead of blackboards so they are hard to read even when there IS light. Most of us make heavy use of the computer and projector to do things like, for example, show anatomical diagrams or maps. And there was no heat, and the classrooms get cold quickly.

Most of the faculty were distinctly unamused by that suggestion. (Which also worries me in case we get ice: will we be expected to fight our way in? A couple years ago several people required surgery after falls when offices were open one icy day. I have a pair of YakTrax and a heavy hiking staff but even those aren't a perfect solution)

Finally the power came back, and after that internet connectivity. I can teach my second class and have already sent out a classwide e-mail to that effect, just in case the rumor mill ground to life. (The population in my 8 am and my 11 am classes are distinct populations with little overlap, but still)

but yeah. Not an auspicious way to start a Tuesday.