So...as I've alluded to (stated outright?) I have a batshit crazy colleague. (Actually multiple, but only this one takes it to a level that makes me want to quit my job.) I'm really at a loss for what to do. It's at a point that every time I send an email to folks in my program I know she'll find some problem with some small detail and blow it way out of proportion. She'll use words like "equity" and "fairness" which makes it very difficult to disagree with her without coming across as an asshole, but what fairness really means is that she gets what she wants (that is, the definition is constantly changing). So spring break began for me with an email from her telling me I'm violating guidelines (that I made, and that she and all other faculty approved) because I asked her for clarification. Had I not asked her for clarification on this particular issue (that is to say, had I not given her the benefit of the doubt but just plowed ahead based on the limited information she provided) there would have been nothing for her to take issue with. She is, in the words of another colleague, a bully. Which is not a word I would have used, but I think it's right. And there's really no one to talk to (I have cc'd my dept chair from time to time, but I'm trying to be discrete, and professional, as she is a junior person) and even when I've explained the situation to friends who haven't been the target, I sound paranoid. I'm pretty fair-minded, even-tempered, and diplomatic when it comes to my job; I certainly don't like everybody, but she is literally the only person I simply cannot work with. And that's going to be a big fat mess when she goes up for tenure.
Ugh. This sounds rough. But it's actually a good thing she is untenured, as you can get rid of her. There was a guy who started on the tenure track the same time as me; he did not last past his 3rd-year review (his contract was not extended after the original 3-year one; nominally it would have been 1-year extensions until tenure time). Your colleague sounds very much like he did. He was abusive to staff and anyone he perceived lower on the totem pole, which includes berating students. The staff were terrified of him. He became the source of constant friction in his subarea. Technically he was good, but didn't get any grant money, because he thought those requirements didn't apply to him; his mentors should have pushed him more, but he was an a$$ to them as well, so they didn't want to bother. Very few people supported his contract extension and everyone was relieved to see him gone.
ReplyDeleteIf she is a bully to you, there are many others I am sure who feel the same. Luckily, she doesn't have tenure so you can get rid of her. I don't understand some of these junior people, they think the sun shines out of their a$$es or something, that they are irresistible? Tenure is a commitment to work with that person for the next 30 years. Get rid of her. Faculty jobs are stressful enough without inflicting additional a$$holes on yourself.
Yes, I'm hoping that tenure is a non-issue because she doesn't meet minimum criteria for publication.
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