Beyond the Dark Side

Carolyn Dever asks faculty members to stop shaming their colleagues who step into institutional leadership — faculty governance depends on it.

Transcript:

You’ve just agreed to chair your department or direct a center. Surely, this was a big decision for you. It represents a huge commitment of your time. And it also takes you out of your comfort zone.

But who knows? Maybe it’s exciting. Maybe you feel good about the opportunity to step up and help out. That is until one of your friends, or colleagues, or a frenemies accuses you of going over to the dark side.

This is a feature of faculty culture. We shame each other when one of us steps out of rank. We patrol the boundaries between faculty and administration. And we work to maintain the culture of us versus them.

It is very hard to change culture. But in the name of faculty governance, let’s quit the shaming. Let’s get beyond the dark side. Instead, let’s seek out opportunities to lead and lead well in the areas that we care about.

And let’s support our colleagues, and our friends, and yeah, even our frenemies as they do the same.

Video provided by Dever Justice LLC.

Learn more about The Chronicle’s Strategic-Leadership Program for Department Chairs