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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Graduate of Honkytonk U
Post Info TOPIC: Graduate of Honkytonk U
Too much T&A for SACS?

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Graduate of Honkytonk U
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Another threat was discussing, amongst other things, the use of TAs as a cost-saving measure for 101 classes in math and science.  It reminded me of the experiences of my wife in the Education Dept. (K-8) while at USM ('03 undergrad.)


While there, she took an upper level course from Madame Thames herself.  Well, at least that's whose name was listed on the schedule. Dr. Thames did grace the class with her presence the first day of the semester, delivered a canned speech on the importance of education, and promptly disappeared. The class was taught (save one additional meeting) by an ill prepared, overworked, and completly frazzled TA who claimed to report daily to her Highness.


According to the nightly descriptions from my wife, the TA couldn't answer even the most basic questions about the subject matter, and eventually resorted to completely ignoring students who raised their hands in class (sometimes for the entire 50 minutes). There were also numerous bizarre, unprofessional, and downright embarrassing moments in class that currently elude my memory, but suffice it to say getting the report was a daily reminder of what a mess that department had become. 


Finally, the class had endured enough, and seven of them (my wife included) camped out at Thames office and demanded to see her and report what was going on in class.  Her two handlers (secretaries?) explained she was at an important meeting off campus. Previously, two other students had made appointments to see her, only to be called approx. 15 minutes before the meeting and informed Thames had to cancel. So this time, no one was going anywhere, and they settled in to await her return.  About 45 mintues later, Thames walks out of her office, spots the students, does a 180, and goes back into her office, locking the door. The handlers were visibly embarassed, but didn't attempt to explain the situation. My wife and her friends left immediatley, convinced there was nowhere to turn and just endured the rest of the semester.


I raise the issue because a friend of mine has said that using TAs for upper level courses is somehow forbidden by SACS, and can endanger accredidation.  Is this accurate?  



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nothing has changed

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since when did endangering accredidation matter to them?

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USM Sympathizer

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What a story!  Very sad . . . .

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Too Close to Willis Lott

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Too much T&A for SACS? wrote:
Another threat was discussing, amongst other things, the use of TAs as a cost-saving measure for 101 classes in math and science . . .
I raise the issue because a friend of mine has said that using TAs for upper level courses is somehow forbidden by SACS, and can endanger accredidation.  Is this accurate?  


Too Much, if there were graduate students in your wife's class, then DT's having a TA teach the class is a definite no-no under IHL regulations. Even if the class was strictly 300 or 400, what you describe is evidence of a department in trouble and a chairperson who is incompetent.

In a healthy department, resident faculty generally prefer to teach upper division classes. Since one of the chair's main jobs is to be sure that tenure track faculty are happy about their teaching loads, one of the main ways this is done is by doling out as many upper division and graduate teaching assignments as possible to these folk. What Too Much's scenario suggests is that DT was either hogging that class for herself, or punishing tenure track faculty outright, or unaware that what she was doing was deleterious to the morale of her department. Similarly, the story could indicate that DT was unable to find a qualified adjunct and just decided that the students were going to be the ones who had to suck it up and suffer. What needed to be done, the right thing, the difficult thing would have been for the chair to teach it herself even if it meant that she was overloaded. Any one of these possibilities suggests either utter incompetence or a conscious evasion of the responsibilities of leadership.

Finally, the other thing that stands out about Too Much's tale, of course, is DT's seeming blithe unconcern about her own incompetence/irresponsiblity and the damage she was causing. There's a classic story about this very thing at Gulf Park, one which has been confirmed by numerous, diverse witnesses: DT playing computer solitaire in her office there at the beginning of the semester while about a dozen Education classes have no instructors, and then trying to blame department secretaries when those classes meet the first week without instructors!

Chroniclers of all this will look back at stuff like that and think, "Somebody must be making this up!" If only it were true . . .

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