Faculty "discovering" staff is my new least-favorite genre of academic think-pieces. Sigh.
Part of the problem is that faculty discovering staff and then collaborating with them is that the power dynamics are still heavily skewed towards faculty. They have the protections of academic freedom, as well as a clearly-defined rewards system.
In other words, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. From the staff's perspective, that's not the case. And, we have to negotiate the unequal power dynamic and potentially competing chargers (boss vs faculty who often see themselves as a staff's boss)
I want to see more faculty-staff collaborations, but I also want not just lip-service recognition that staff do important work for students (as well as research, etc), but a new system that recognizes and rewards said work.
How do we put faculty and staff on equal footing?
And RIP my mentions now, but I am dead serious.
And RIP my mentions now, but I am dead serious.
