The Academic Version of “A Rock and A Hard Place”
Mike Adams, a colleague in the UNC system (he’s at UNC-Wilmington), shares with us a letter he has written to the UNC system president. In it he describes how in 2001, he was told by campus police that he should “avoid all contact with another professor in my department.” According to Dr. Adams, his colleague was delusional and had filed false police reports accusing him of poisoning her.
So, what does this mean? Well, in particular, it means he can’t attend departmental meetings, because this woman also attends them. And the result: a bad annual review this spring, because, in part, of “failure to attend most departmental meetings.”
Yikes! Somebody in management has fallen down on the job. This is an intolerable situation. I don’t think I would have had the patience to put up with this situation for four years, but I do know that Dr. Adams’ patience has run out. As he says to the UNC president at the end of his missive:
I expect to hear back from you soon. If you do otherwise, you underestimate my resolve.
Having read many of his columns, I believe him.
July 13th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
I’ve read Adams’ stuff in the past as well, and I agree with you. He’s been targetted before for some of his viewpoints, which are pretty conservative in nature. I wonder if this is some kind of witch-hunt in disguise?
And this other professor is in the criminal justice department? Scary/ironic.