To quote Rodney Dangerfield, "This place sucks."
Hey all.
Let's jog our memories, shall we? Well, it turns out that the job offer UCSD made to Michael Otsuka, who was going to be a new fantastic committee member, who was going to write me a sterling letter of recommendation, and who was going to whip my dissertation into presentable shape is not coming after all. Essentially, UCSD was unable to pony up a reasonable amount of cash to bring him here. And need I remind you, this news comes nearly THREE MONTHS after the hire was announced. Three fucking months. This, I take it, is not the fault of the department, but of the UCSD administration. But what I don't understand is this: with at least two other faculty members leaving next year, why don't we have the money to give Otsuka a little cash? What the hell is wrong with us? We have now officially become a joke. We are a joke. If I were a prospective student, as soon as this gets posted in the proper philosophical gossip pages, I'd run screaming. Frankly, it would have been much better had this just been a problem with the department. I'd chalk it up to the department's inability to hire anybody worthwhile. (With a few exceptions.) But now, even if we propose an offer to the greatest philosopher since Descartes, and she accepts it, it's still highly likely that the administration will turn down our hire proposal. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now floating in space. And space sucks.
So I received that news yesterday at around 5:30. After throwing things for about an hour, I decided to leave. What follows was a strange journey that almost gave me a heart attack with sheer rage. I was so pissed off I walked 3/4ths of a mile in the WRONG DIRECTION from my car. Turning around (and now with a significantly longer walk head of me, about a mile, if not more), I see a bus going in the direction I need to go. I hail it, it picks me up, and because of all the crappy construction going on around campus, it takes me not where I need to go, but on a bullshit detour that goes through campus, and drops me off all the way back at the department. 20 minutes later, I get to my car; I almost bash the windows in with my bare hands.
If I were a little younger, if I weren't already in my 6th year of graduate school, I'd consider starting over somewhere else. UCSD has been one round of bullshit after another: no funding, writing program first year, etc., etc. I'm angry. Perhaps I'll calm down in a few days, but that's an open question.
Let's jog our memories, shall we? Well, it turns out that the job offer UCSD made to Michael Otsuka, who was going to be a new fantastic committee member, who was going to write me a sterling letter of recommendation, and who was going to whip my dissertation into presentable shape is not coming after all. Essentially, UCSD was unable to pony up a reasonable amount of cash to bring him here. And need I remind you, this news comes nearly THREE MONTHS after the hire was announced. Three fucking months. This, I take it, is not the fault of the department, but of the UCSD administration. But what I don't understand is this: with at least two other faculty members leaving next year, why don't we have the money to give Otsuka a little cash? What the hell is wrong with us? We have now officially become a joke. We are a joke. If I were a prospective student, as soon as this gets posted in the proper philosophical gossip pages, I'd run screaming. Frankly, it would have been much better had this just been a problem with the department. I'd chalk it up to the department's inability to hire anybody worthwhile. (With a few exceptions.) But now, even if we propose an offer to the greatest philosopher since Descartes, and she accepts it, it's still highly likely that the administration will turn down our hire proposal. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now floating in space. And space sucks.
So I received that news yesterday at around 5:30. After throwing things for about an hour, I decided to leave. What follows was a strange journey that almost gave me a heart attack with sheer rage. I was so pissed off I walked 3/4ths of a mile in the WRONG DIRECTION from my car. Turning around (and now with a significantly longer walk head of me, about a mile, if not more), I see a bus going in the direction I need to go. I hail it, it picks me up, and because of all the crappy construction going on around campus, it takes me not where I need to go, but on a bullshit detour that goes through campus, and drops me off all the way back at the department. 20 minutes later, I get to my car; I almost bash the windows in with my bare hands.
If I were a little younger, if I weren't already in my 6th year of graduate school, I'd consider starting over somewhere else. UCSD has been one round of bullshit after another: no funding, writing program first year, etc., etc. I'm angry. Perhaps I'll calm down in a few days, but that's an open question.
posted by dd0031 at 9:37 AM
6 Comments:
Jetson, you're fired!
-Mr. Spacely
P.S.--I guess you needn't worry about job security since univ's cut their staff a shitton of slack (see: that whacko prof from colorado)
--Shelby
Clarification: apparently the problem was not cash. Can't reveal any more details.
Also: Shelby - watch yo'self on that wacko prof. from Colorado. The lengths to which the Colorado legislature went to try to get the guy fired are an absolutely freaky sign of the apocalyspe as far as an independent education system are concerned.
I'd like to think that a university, any university, that found out they were facilitating a guy who had those types of unintelligent/radical/wacko beliefs (and flat-out lied about his heritage for political reasons) would realize their error in hiring him and would get rid of him, regardless of tenure.
If by "independent education system" you mean "education system devoid of any moral standards", perhaps YOU should watch YO'self. Then again, maybe an "Obstacles Facing Infanticide In The 21st Century" class would be a good addition to Anything Goes U.
ZING!
-Shelby
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ugh. These incendiary comments coming in from a 'mindspring.com' address are growing tiresome. Keep writing them, I'll keep deleting them.
Bummer, dude. I don't know anything about philosophy, but what you need is some good food in your stomach. Food that's real tasty but quick and easy to make. That's what helps me get through the hard times. Check this guy out:
http://www.thecookingguy.com/index.html
And he's on TV every day at noon and 8:30 pm on CTN—ie. Time Warner 22, Cox 19, or Adelphia 66 (depending on who your cable provider is).
He's based in San Diego and has cooking classes too. You'll love him. He's funny as hell. And, once you start watching his show and making his recipes, you'll get addicted to both.
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