Before the pandemic, we used to laugh at the old saw that academic politics were so petty, and occasionally vicious, because comparatively little was at stake. Now we are not so sure. During the past year, some aspects of faculty life have been lost that — despite their admittedly comedic potential — are actually important. One of those things: the oft-maligned, face-to-face faculty meeting.
Academe relies on different sorts of faculty meetings. Most common is the departmental meeting, where faculty peers steer the direction of their field (“In what new area should we hire?”), decide governance matters (“Who should be the next chair?”), and make curricular decisions (“Should we redesign the capstone course?”). Some institutions hold meetings of their entire faculty — the town-hall model — to deal with governance issues or report on the state of the campus. Still others rely on an elected representative or faculty-senate model.
A year of remote connections — via Zoom or other digital substitutes — has forced us to admit that we miss all of the face-to-face versions of those gatherings. And here’s why:
The Hollywood Squares layout of Zoom meetings limits our ability to interpret body language. Are colleagues leaning in or backing away? Online, there are no conspiratorial whispers, exchanged glances with raised eyebrows, or the passing of notes to provide cues on how to navigate the political landscape.
The “warm-up” of digital gatherings is not very warm. While we wait for our colleagues to join, informal conversations feel particularly forced and awkward. Do we join the informal chat? It’s hard to break in without stepping on someone else’s words.
Who is MIA and why? When colleagues fail to show up for a Zoom meeting, it is unclear whether their absence is due to overcommitment, memory loss, political or spiritual malaise, or simply a computer/bandwidth problem. It can also be hard to tell who is missing in an online meeting — something that’s much easier to accomplish in person with a glance around the room.
Disengaging the video function makes a statement. Some colleagues never turn on their cameras, often relying instead on a placeholder photo of themselves, or a humorous image. They could be completely engaged in the meeting dynamics, but it is equally plausible that they are answering email, flossing their teeth, or taking a nap. Technically, they are “no shows.”
Zoomification homogenizes communication. Admit it — you miss the little dramas and the earnest speeches that provide entertainment value in face-to-face meetings. For example, it’s much harder to recognize sycophants on Zoom, as they may not have the chance to flatter or praise to their usual degree. Deciding whether to contribute to digital discussions feels more taxing and potentially risky. This effect is exaggerated when someone hits the “record” button.
The decline of “administrator bingo.” Neither of us has ever played this — we’re usually too busy watching the room — but we know colleagues who have collected stock administrative phrases over the years (e.g., “do more with less,” “the new normal”). When those terms are used (during a speech or on a PowerPoint slide), they are tallied by players who prefer the game to the discussion. Administrator bingo is just no fun played solo.
The chat function subtracts more than it adds. Rather than wait for someone to finish talking (as you would in person), you can post your opinion through the public chat function, which is distracting to the speaker. Also, predictable comments and familiar harangues from the usual suspects have been lost in our online meetings, especially if the chat function is used to collect comments for later study. The use of private chat channels online simulates the surreptitious note exchange of our high-school days and implicitly endorses side conversations (though, to be fair, colleagues in face-to-face meetings sometimes text each other, so perhaps it’s a wash). Psychologists emphasize that no matter how much we brag about it and insist on believing in it, the brain has not evolved to be effective at multitasking.
Screen sharing disrupts the digital landscape. When conversations necessitate sharing a PowerPoint slide show or a document, we can see only a handful of the participants. That limits our ability to assess how people are reacting to statements, proposals, or even gaffes.
Zoom doesn’t identify camps or voting blocs very well. Where faculty members choose to sit in a meeting can speak volumes about their political alliances. In large faculty gatherings, some departments always sit en masse, while others wouldn’t be caught dead doing so. And you can’t see the “back benchers” (those who sit and carp in the back row of the meeting room) or watch when they get up and leave. Even the way they close (or slam) the door can be revealing.
Kremlinology is lost. Zoom precludes you from seeing where administrators, or faculty members with more power than you, choose to sit. Such observations can reveal who may be in good graces or on the outs with those who wield important formal or informal power.
Zoom fatigue is real. Routines of campus life that we used to take for granted turn out to offer a welcome respite in our workflow. An informal chat when you run into a colleague on campus or a walk across a quadrangle can restore the spirit. The convenience of Zoom has fueled a boom in the number of meetings we’re all being invited to. The result: Many faculty members are suffering from meeting overload, which is not only tiring but distracting us from doing the work we love.
As institutions plan a return to campus life in the fall — including in-person faculty meetings — many experts predict that the convenience of digital meetings may forever change how academics interact. One of those changes is very likely to be allowing people to have a virtual presence at faculty gatherings — and there are good reasons for that. Colleagues who are traveling or feeling under the weather can participate in virtual meetings, for example, and foul weather need not lead to the cancellation of important meetings if people can participate from their homes. Faculty members with young children and those with disabilities no doubt find it easier to attend virtual meetings than some face-to-face ones.
What about other advantages? Any would-be troublemakers very likely find it more difficult to derail a Zoom meeting than an in-person one, especially if their antics are being recorded. It is also true that online meetings tend to be shorter in length than in-person gatherings, but given that we are meeting more often on Zoom than we ever met face-to-face, that probably is a draw.
Although we hope for a resumption of the quirky aspects of face-to-face faculty meetings, we are realists: Some of those idiosyncrasies may be lost or forever altered. Here are some suggestions that could help all of us make the adjustment to meeting together once again in the new academic year:
- Expect some clunkiness when we reunite, and be patient. For many of us, it has been a while since we have reliably flexed our professional social muscles.
- If you do move to a hybrid-meeting platform — in which some people are virtual and others are physically present — set up some rules of engagement so that the Zoomies don’t get left out or ignored when the in-person discussion heats up.
- Construct virtual opportunities with clear expectations for how to participate. For example, set a simple rule that faculty members attending a meeting virtually need to have their cameras on. Similarly, while the chat function has its place, give virtual participants an opportunity to speak and share their opinions aloud.
- Determine and announce — in advance — which meetings will be recorded. Remind all attendees at the outset of a recorded meeting, as some folks in the physical room might forget their words are being saved for posterity.
- Check to make sure you don’t schedule multiple institutional or departmental meetings at the same time.
- Institute some practices that maximize engagement. For example, reserve some time during a meeting to celebrate faculty accomplishments (awards, publications, sabbaticals).
- Announce the length of the meeting — say, an hour — in advance and stick to it. If the work cannot be accomplished within the identified time frame, schedule another meeting rather than risk (Zoom or other) fatigue by dragging it out.
- Express gratitude to those who run effective and efficient meetings. It is an underappreciated art form.
