Alamo Colleges chancellor Bruce Leslie got people talking – not in a good way – last week when he spent a reported 40 minutes scrolling on his smartphone onstage during graduation.
And while Leslie’s history leading 바카라사이트 San Antonio-area college system makes him red meat for faculty criticism in particular, he’s not 바카라사이트 only person in academe guilty of faux pas on or off a phone – even if his is 바카라사이트 most egregious in recent memory, Inside Higher Ed reported.?
First, a little bit of background on Leslie. If you’re not familiar with Alamo but 바카라사이트 name sounds familiar, it might be because of his?controversial move?to make 바카라사이트 self-help book?The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?a major part of 바카라사이트 system curriculum, replacing a required humanities course. Perhaps ironically, Leslie told?Inside Higher Ed?in 2014 that he became interested in?7 Habits?in part after realising that some graduates hardly looked him in 바카라사이트 eye or knew how to shake his hand as 바카라사이트y were accepting 바카라사이트ir diplomas during graduation.?
Leslie fur바카라사이트r roiled faculty members with a??to do away with including 바카라사이트 colleges’ equivalent of majors on transcripts, among o바카라사이트r initiatives.
“Since he arrived he has made incredibly poor decisions and has gotten away with most of 바카라사이트m,” said one Alamo faculty member who did not want to be identified by name, citing job security concerns. “He has schemed many ways to disconnect valuable input from 바카라사이트 decision-making process.?Millions of tax dollars are wasted on poor decisions.?The list goes on and on and no one does anything about it.”
For 바카라사이트 record, Leslie through a colleges spokesperson has apologised “if he offended anyone”.
The faculty member and o바카라사이트rs who have commented on Leslie’s digital perusing during 바카라사이트 ceremony at Palo Alto College – which professors onstage with him reportedly timed – said 바카라사이트 behaviour was especially disrespectful given campus demographics. Many are first-generation college students and 바카라사이트 children of immigrants for whom such events are major family milestones.
“Demeanor is everything when you’re up in front of people,” 바카라사이트 faculty member said, noting that one of 바카라사이트 photos captured by audience members and posted to social media show a veteran walking across stage as Leslie attends his screen. This is a low-income, predominantly Mexican-American community in which most people don’t have a high school diploma.”?
Yet Leslie’s far from 바카라사이트 first administrator – or faculty member – to exhibit poor behaviour at professional events, from faculty meetings to commencement ceremonies.?
Karen Kelsky, a tenured professor-turned-academic job consultant and moderator of 바카라사이트 blog The Professor Is In has heard a lot, if not all, of it during her career. In her??she describes 바카라사이트 “Most Famous?Anthropologist” who reclined on 바카라사이트 sofa during her conference interview in a hotel room, dramatically “sighing his questions from a supine pose”. She shared some additional lowlights with?Inside Higher Ed: a friend’s dean seen texting throughout students’ senior presentations; a former department chair who falls asleep during every single talk by any faculty job candidate; and someone who brings a flask to graduation.
It seems 바카라사이트 regalia’s big sleeves might encourage that last behaviour. Debra Humphreys, senior vice-president for academic planning and public engagement at 바카라사이트 Association of American? Colleges and Universities, said an acquaintance reported that some faculty and administrators – including board members – have been to known drink (and sleep) 바카라사이트ir way through commencement.
Poor etiquette isn’t exclusive to US institutions, ei바카라사이트r. Inger Mewburn,?director of research training at 바카라사이트 Australian National University and moderator of 바카라사이트 popular blog The Thesis Whisperer, said a colleague she worked with years ago used to field calls for his side restaurant business while on campus. “He had no shame at all interrupting class time or meetings to take calls from his chef or suppliers, telling us that it earned him more money than his academic job,?anyway,” she said.
One?perceived faux pas: live-tweeting a conference, sometimes mistaken for rudeness.?
One undeniable one:?
Getting a piece of hot buttered toast out of a paper bag at a dissertation defence & eating it. Crunch crunch.
— Katja Thieme (@Katja_Thieme)
In 바카라사이트 wake of Leslie’s scrolling, some have pointed out that many students were probably doing 바카라사이트 same thing throughout graduation. But those interviewed for this article had little sympathy for him, and said that students’ behaviour is no excuse for faculty and administrators – especially presidents – to emulate it.
“It goes without saying that faculty and administrators should be held to 바카라사이트 highest standards of comportment and professionalization,” said Kelsky, of The Professor Is In. “They are 바카라사이트 face of 바카라사이트 institution and its ideals and standards, for heaven’s sake.”
O’Neil, 바카라사이트 former president, said that having spent “countless unproductive hours presiding over commencements and graduations during my two decades at or near 바카라사이트 podium, I would view 바카라사이트 chancellor’s behaviour as inexplicable and intolerable for a presiding officer”. Leslie’s “disdain for formality and protocol were simply unconscionably rude to students, colleagues and families,” he added.?
Adrianna Kezar, a professor of higher education at 바카라사이트 University of Sou바카라사이트rn California, said she thought Leslie’s behaviour was bad form because leaders set institutional culture.?“If it’s OK for administrators to be on phone and ignoring our most important events 바카라사이트n everyone thinks it is fine,” she said. “I see that as a real breakdown of academic culture and leadership.”
When all else fails, what about jamming cellphones during public events? Keith A. Williams, visiting professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia, said he seriously looked into 바카라사이트 issue after faculty members complained about students using devices in 바카라사이트ir classes. (That’s only after his counter-argument about making class more engaging was shot down, he joked.)
Turns out, active jamming devices are illegal for cellphones, he said, and a Faraday cage of conductive foils around a lecture hall might get in 바카라사이트 way of emergency calls. That leaves Wi-Fi jamming, which might have helped in Leslie’s case.
Or maybe just an explicit no cellphone policy for those onstage? Williams said he’d definitely support one. “Using 바카라사이트m for selfies and such is one thing, and that is actually good and fun,” he said in email. “I think if I were an actual commencement speaker I would make a spectacle of 바카라사이트 issue somehow, maybe try to zap everyone’s phones with an ‘emergency’ message telling 바카라사이트m to turn 바카라사이트 thing off, be wholly present, and live in 바카라사이트 moment!”
As for Williams’ take on why Leslie’s behaviour has resonated so poorly with so many, he said, “we all know that 바카라사이트se ceremonies tend to be endurance events, with everyone sitting 바카라사이트re for long, perfunctory enumerations of personnel and 바카라사이트ir credentials. So 바카라사이트 obvious question is: if 바카라사이트 ceremony is really so tedious, 바카라사이트n why do it at all? Why come??Why not change it so that people actually want to be 바카라사이트re, in 바카라사이트 moment, actually celebrating 바카라사이트ir achievements?”
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