7. Chapter Seven #3
Grace held up a hand and ticked off phases on her fingers.
“He submitted his material to the department committee, and they reviewed it first. It should have been easy to get past them. Then the head of our department was next and that, too, should have been easy to get past. The campus tenure committee is the most difficult group through the entire process. I’ve seen his packet, Penny.
His students love him, and he’s the most popular professor on campus. ”
I slowly nodded my head as I ran through the political ramifications in my head.
“That’s not the expectation for tenure, though.
I’ve heard about petty grievances being played out when it came to tenure application,” I said.
“Is this a fight against Lois and he’s a pawn? Shouldn’t he be looking for a new job?”
Grace nodded. “Sure, but he doesn’t talk to me. I get the impression he stopped trusting Lois just like the rest of the department has. Unfortunately, they think he’s being lazy and entitled.”
That wasn’t the Mason I knew. I was sure this hadn’t worked out the way he expected, but he gave his all to his students. I hoped this motivated him to get out of Lacock State before it was too late. “Everyone has suggested he get tenure though?” I asked, curious about how this was playing out.
“Yes,” she said and took another sip of her wine.
“The application progresses to the campus committee regardless of their recommendation. The department and the chair did recommend, but they had clear criticism about his lack of research, articles, and conference presentations. They even criticized how he priorities his work in EncycloWiki.”
I dropped the napkin I was playing with. “Wait, he didn’t submit any research?”
I was irritated that his work on EncycloWiki had been criticized, but it still wasn’t considered impactful work.
I knew there were efforts to change that, and I remembered seeing something about Mason doing a presentation about that topic.
I was curious about that session now that I knew he was getting push back from his colleagues.
Grace bobbed her head side to side, thinking about my questions.
“He did, but he wasn’t the first author on anything published and that’s all the committee cared about now that Lois changed the tenure requirements.
EncycloWiki editing is like writing for any encyclopedia.
It never counts toward anything except ego.
I can’t imagine they would have ever made it easy for him to get tenure, but this year they have the tools to push him out and weaken Lois. ”
I felt my jaw drop. Being listed as the first author on a research article was critical to getting tenure and promotions within academic.
It was the spot of the person who did the most work to conduct the research and write the article.
The only other position of importance was being the last author because it was a sign of respect for mentors.
Grace was often the last author on my early articles as my mentor.
She had let me be the second author as a grad student when she published.
It was just like Mason to generously give to those around him with no concern about what he needed.
I had seen it happen so many times when we had been together.
It had been something I loved and hated about him.
I learned to make sure that I thought about what he needed since he often forgot.
“You’re quiet,” Grace said as I sat thinking.
“I’m processing everything, but I didn’t realize they hated Lois so much.”
In reality, I was fantasizing about what could happen for him if he got the hell out of Lacock State.
He had only come here to be closer to his grandparents, his only living relatives.
If he couldn’t focus on teaching and he no longer trusted Lois, then he could get out of a bad situation before it got worse.
“She has routinely screwed over her former colleagues,” Grace said.
“She has pushed through projects that nobody agreed to. The Woodhouse Hall project brought negative attention to the campus. She’s refused to hire new faculty members for the Sociology department even though they’ve lost so many due to retirements.
They want to remind her that they have some power.
They’ll use her own rules to remove her favorite from campus.
I wonder why she didn’t prepare Mason for the changes she was proposing to the tenure process? ”
“Will she override all the other recommendations if the campus committee denies him tenure?” I asked.
Grace shrugged. “She can, and typically the trustees, who make the final decision, do what she suggests, but this will look suspicious. She risks a lot by backing him, but I’m not sure it will benefit her.
In fact, I think it may hurt her. This petty squabble in the department will make her look weak to the rest of the campus since this was the department she taught in and led for decades. ”
Grace had given me so much to think about, I was overwhelmed with thoughts as I got ready for bed later that night.
I played through memories of my years with Mason.
I knew exactly how Lois could pull the rug out from under him.
I had to hope he was already looking for a job that suited his passion.