University of Washington President Michael K. Young says:
Somebody once asked me how many professors work for me, and I said if you can ever find a professor who thinks he or she works for anybody, let me know.
I work for the State of Illinois. It’s a great state, and I’m happy to be working for it. I have no idea what this administrator is getting so pouty about.
If you are a professor, who do you work for?
Clarissa's Blog 
The administrator is just mad you don’t respect his authority. :p
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Well I teach at a private university so I don’t quite work for the state. Come to think of it, I just say I work for the university itself. Not any specific person or even group of people. I would never say that I work for the students for instance. I certainly wouldn’t say that I work for the president. I’m not sure why exactly I say that and why I’m uncomfortable saying I work for a specific person. I will have to think about it more. But it’s an interesting question. I’m curious what other academics have to say about this.
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You can always say that you work for humanity at large. It is true, so why not?
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“You can always say that you work for humanity at large.”
I truly feel this way. 😉
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I’m not a professor, but I’m going to put my “pretentious” hat on and say that surely the only person a professor works for… is their students?
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Or “the only people”, rather. Poor grammar adds to the pretension.
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@ Benoni: I understand where you are coming from. But the notion that faculty work for students implies that students are somehow in charge of faculty. And that attitude can be very limiting for faculty; in order to provide a meaningful eduacational experience, faculty–not students– need to remain firmly in charge of course content and of student evaluation procedures.
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@ Benoni: I understand where you are coming from. But the notion that faculty work for students implies that students are somehow in charge of faculty. And that attitude can be very limiting for faculty; in order to provide a meaningful eduacational experience, faculty–not students– need to remain firmly in charge of course content and of student evaluation procedures.
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Yes, I agree with Evelina. I can’t say I work for the students because they can’t fire me or define the terms of my contract in any way. Which is obviously a good thing (see the most recent post.)
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Sorry for posting twice!
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