Just so you, folks, understand what I’m dealing with, here’s a real-life story. I have two people at my department who really love a certain classroom. They love it so much that they refuse to teach anywhere else. Every year they drive everybody nuts with their demands to be assigned that particular classroom.
The problem is, they also want to teach at the exact same time. But there’s only one classroom they both insist on having. So today they came up with a plan and unveiled it to the administration. Here’s the plan:
- They will both teach their different courses in that classroom at the same time.
- The classroom is to be split by means of a “portable room divider.”
- An additional teacher’s table with a computer should be brought in.
- An additional screen should be placed on the wall.
- And the pièce de résistance of the whole proposal – prepare for it – the windows in the classroom should be boarded up. Don’t ask why. I didn’t because I’d rather not know. Based on my experience, no joy happens when you start asking why.
You realize, I hope, that many other people teach in this classroom, so apparently, this entire set up should be taken down immediately after this one joint session. And then put up again. And then taken down. And then … And so on in perpetuity.
Welcome to my life, my dear friends.
Clarissa's Blog 
Sort of a academic twist on the story of King Solomon who proposed cutting a living child in half to resolve a custody dispute between two women claiming to be the mother.
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I’m very ready to cut somebody in half at this point, let me tell you.
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Hmmm. well, I can see that a particular classroom could have some unique value to both, but the time? Nope, looks a personal female, or near female, status grudge (pissing match). Being academics, I doubt that you are unlikely to kick their arsaes in the hope of them engaging their brains, might I suggest a colourful no holds banned topless jello wrasslin’ contest…you could sell tickets ;-D
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arses ;-D
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Do the people involved have OCD, or are they having some kind of status anxiety wrt to the other party?
ethyl
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One of them is hoping to be hired full-time and the other wants to help her because she’s his puppet and he can control her completely. So they are trying to generate this mystique of being extremely important specialists who are so unique that they need extremely special conditions to be able to work.
As a result, I’d rather eat toenails than hire either of these people.
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LOL, “…rather eat toenails…” Kid, for an academic, you are sometimes colourful ;-D
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No one ever considered flipping a coin in this whole process?
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Are they trying to get two for one here where they schedule two different classes in the same classroom at the same time and then just give a single lecture? I may or may not have seen something like that done before…
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No, these are two completely different classes. This is not a co-teaching situation. It’s more of a “people are trying to drive me barking mad” situation.
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Technically, the case I’m thinking of was not a co-teaching situation either. Some people can get very creative.
I really don’t blame people thinking academics have it too easy. I know some faculty who make sure to only come to campus twice a week. I do think that, unfortunately, AI is coming at least for some of these jobs.
In any case, why don’t you leave this for the next chair to deal with?
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“drive everybody nuts with their demands to be assigned that particular classroom”
Kids with toys. My first step in such a situation would be to start labelling rooms and giving that particular room a label they don’t like.
“So you want to teach in the loser’s room, during loser hours?” (I’d be a bit more subtle but that would be the idea)
Or I might start naming sub-groups of faculty.
“Okay the great guys are going to teach at these hours and the fussy donnas will be able to teach at these other hours.”
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Oh, we need a room-naming game, like the infamous “Boaty McBoatface” incident.
I would like to rename this classroom CLARENCE THOMAS HALL.
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