4 ms·

I think OP thought navigating office politics to accomplish what you describe would be quite troublesome, and they would rather bank on the current department c

I think OP thought navigating office politics to accomplish what you describe would be quite troublesome, and they would rather bank on the current department chair keeping C4C from taking action after they leave, rather than fight for basic rights inside UW. UW is not kind to their employees: https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2015/04/23/4000-uw-student-employees-to-strike/37402089/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2015/04/23/4000-uw-st...

williamstein 7y ago
I've spent a lot of time on exactly this sort of thing over the years, with very strong support from the math department. There are an enormous number of rules (laid out at Executive Orders like this: http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO57.html http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO57.html), and the university works within the framework of all of those rules. So even if everybody agrees that it would be far make the most sense to do X, if the rules explicitly say "you can't do X", then you don't get to do X. It's very different than how things work in a small company (say), or maybe a smaller private university. UW is a massive (and old) state university, and isn't so flexible. For example, when I asked about being appointed at less than 50% time, we discovered here (https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/academic-titles-ranks/professor/ https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/academic-titles-ranks/professo...) "Must be appointed at a minimum of 50%.", and that's that.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  FWIW, I think the title for your piece is doing you no favors. Titles are hard, so that's not intended as some zinger. I think it just set up a lot of people to think "Must be some flake that he would ask the internet to decide this hugely important personal thing for him!" I only skimmed the article to try to determine if you were, in fact, asking the internet to help you decide. I got to the announcement that you had decisively decided and went "Meh, could use a better title." Best of luck in your future endeavors, from an internet stranger who had never heard of you before today.
  - williamstein 7y ago
    You're right -- it's a bad title, and your constructive criticism is appreciated.
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      It wasn't actually intended as constructive criticism per se. Just observation concerning some of the replies I'm seeing posted on HN, which strike me as being influenced by the title rather than rooted in the obvious fact that you've had years to think about this and know what you are doing.
- StudentStuff 7y ago
  There are quite a few professors I've run into at Seattle Central and North Seattle College that have formerly taught at UW Seattle, but left due to situations like what you describe (dept is fully supportive of X happening, but due to an age old rule it will never happen). UW has a ton of baggage and is quite inflexible compared to other institutions in the region and state, their lack of flexibility is enabled by having the highest tuition in the area ($11k vs $4k per year) and significantly higher state subsidies (UW, WSU, etc taking 60% of the state's college budget, yet only educating 40% of the students) than 2 year institutions. This underfunding of 2 year institutions in favor of UW and ilk was what triggered the walkout yesterday and the ongoing protests: http://www.thestand.org/2019/04/join-aft-members-april-16-walkout-to-reinvest-in-our-colleges/ http://www.thestand.org/2019/04/join-aft-members-april-16-wa...

williamstein 7y ago

I've spent a lot of time on exactly this sort of thing over the years, with very strong support from the math department. There are an enormous number of rules (laid out at Executive Orders like this: http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO57.html http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/PO/EO57.html), and the university works within the framework of all of those rules. So even if everybody agrees that it would be far make the most sense to do X, if the rules explicitly say "you can't do X", then you don't get to do X. It's very different than how things work in a small company (say), or maybe a smaller private university. UW is a massive (and old) state university, and isn't so flexible. For example, when I asked about being appointed at less than 50% time, we discovered here (https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/academic-titles-ranks/professor/ https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/academic-titles-ranks/professo...) "Must be appointed at a minimum of 50%.", and that's that.

DoreenMichele 7y ago
FWIW, I think the title for your piece is doing you no favors. Titles are hard, so that's not intended as some zinger. I think it just set up a lot of people to think "Must be some flake that he would ask the internet to decide this hugely important personal thing for him!" I only skimmed the article to try to determine if you were, in fact, asking the internet to help you decide. I got to the announcement that you had decisively decided and went "Meh, could use a better title." Best of luck in your future endeavors, from an internet stranger who had never heard of you before today.
- williamstein 7y ago
  You're right -- it's a bad title, and your constructive criticism is appreciated.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    It wasn't actually intended as constructive criticism per se. Just observation concerning some of the replies I'm seeing posted on HN, which strike me as being influenced by the title rather than rooted in the obvious fact that you've had years to think about this and know what you are doing.
StudentStuff 7y ago
There are quite a few professors I've run into at Seattle Central and North Seattle College that have formerly taught at UW Seattle, but left due to situations like what you describe (dept is fully supportive of X happening, but due to an age old rule it will never happen). UW has a ton of baggage and is quite inflexible compared to other institutions in the region and state, their lack of flexibility is enabled by having the highest tuition in the area ($11k vs $4k per year) and significantly higher state subsidies (UW, WSU, etc taking 60% of the state's college budget, yet only educating 40% of the students) than 2 year institutions. This underfunding of 2 year institutions in favor of UW and ilk was what triggered the walkout yesterday and the ongoing protests: http://www.thestand.org/2019/04/join-aft-members-april-16-walkout-to-reinvest-in-our-colleges/ http://www.thestand.org/2019/04/join-aft-members-april-16-wa...