Patti Adler

[Cold Hard Truth]

Dec 17, 2013 15:39:46 GMT -5 job?? said:

So does this mean Colorado will be hiring next year??

Probably not.  The course will be deemed too controversial to staff, the department too dysfunctional to reward with a line.  So, you can stop your salivating now.

[Puh-leeze]

If a male sociology prof had his students "volunteer" to dress up like prostitutes, gave them nicknames like "Bar Whore," and had them perform a skit in front of fellow students, his career would be instant dust. There would be tons of hand-wringing over patriarchy, misogyny, and hegemonic masculinity -- and how male profs create hostile environments. And no one would be arguing about academic freedom and what this was supposed to "teach" students. The only reason there is any debate about this whatsoever is because Adler is a woman. Were Adler a man, this would be an entirely different issue and he would be burned at the stake. Typical double standard from sociologists.

[agreed]

Exactly right. Puh-leeze hits the nail on the head. Sociology is really bad about gender double-standards, but that is why gender is such a 'hot' area.

[Insider]

I don't want to go into too much detail here, but there's a lot of misinformation out there about this incident and what's happened as a result. I'd be watchful but withhold judgment until all the details have come out (if they ever do).

I'm not endorsing everything in here, but FWIW, the entire campus received this email from the Provost on Monday:

Dear CU-Boulder Faculty, Staff and Students,

The University has received a number of queries from faculty, staff, students, media and external stakeholders regarding the status of sociology Professor Patti Adler.

Professor Adler has not been dismissed from the University and is not being forced to retire. Dismissal requires extensive due process proceedings, and the University does not coerce its faculty to retire. She remains a tenured faculty member in sociology at CU-Boulder.

A number of you have raised concerns about academic freedom and how it may connect to this situation. Academic freedom protects faculty who teach controversial and uncomfortable/ unpopular subjects. However, academic freedom does not allow faculty members to violate the University’s sexual harassment policy by creating a hostile environment for their teaching assistants, or for their students attending the class.

In this case, University administrators heard from a number of concerned students about Professor Adler’s “prostitution” skit, the way it was presented, and the environment it created for both students in the class and for teaching assistants. Student assistants made it clear to administrators that they felt there would be negative consequences for anyone who refused to participate in the skit. None of them wished to be publicly identified.

The Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and the Chair of the Sociology Department determined that Professor Adler would not teach the class in the spring semester (2014). Pending a review by faculty in sociology and in accordance with the needs of the department, Professor Adler may be eligible to teach the course in the future.

To reiterate, Professor Adler has not been fired or forced to retire. As to comments she has made that she might be fired in the future, I should note that any employee at the University – including faculty members – found responsible for violating the University’s sexual harassment policy, is subject to discipline up to and including termination.

The University fully supports the teaching of controversial subjects, and the ability of faculty to challenge students in the classroom and prompt critical thinking. At no time was the subject of Professor Adler’s course in question. Rather, it was the manner in which the material was presented in one particular classroom exercise and the impact of that manner of presentation on teaching assistants and students.

Russell L. Moore, Provost
University of Colorado Boulder

[Insider]

Strangely, we just got a second email addressing this issue somewhat obliquely, without any context. This is the entire email:

At the University of Colorado Boulder, we can achieve our educational mission only in an atmosphere of free inquiry and discussion, where our students and faculty pursue their study, learning, research, and discussions with true academic freedom. It is also crucial to this freedom of inquiry, that we are equally dedicated to providing a working and learning environment free from harassment and discrimination. These two primary objectives – academic freedom and providing a positive and challenging working and learning environment – can successfully coexist. We know the faculty of this great institution is dedicated to achieving both. When questions do arise, we are dedicated to working through them in accordance with the principles of shared governance. Our commitment to academic freedom is unwavering.

Philip P. DiStefano
Chancellor

[Who gets first named]

I love how people in this thread are referring to a prof they don't know, in public, by first name. My students do this with people we read... When those people are women, that is.

[It's Patti!]

Dec 20, 2013 10:18:48 GMT -5 Who gets first named said:

I love how people in this thread are referring to a prof they don't know, in public, by first name. My students do this with people we read... When those people are women, that is.

It's worse when people first name and, as in this thread, folks don't even spell the first name right.

[crazy]

I interviewed for a Job at Boulder and the dean at the time was a female sociology gender scholar. During my meeting with the dean she point blank asked me if I was married and had kids. The whole line of the conversation was completely inappropriate.
If the female sociology gender scholar dean is so clueless about this kind of thing how bad must everything else be there.

Just saying.