An Academic Institution???

Today was the season opener for the Georgia Bulldogs (and many other university teams), who soundly defeated Georgia State – anyone not see that coming? Several events this weekend have me thinking about the athleticization of higher education in the U.S. Surprisingly, I had great attendance in my classes yesterday. Guess those pop quizzes are working! However, as events unfolded yesterday and today, I began to ponder if the primary function of UGA is academic or athletic in nature. For your consideration, I offer the following facts (with commentary of course):

The Main Library was closed today for fear the tailgaters would use it as a pit stop. As an academic, I find the closing of the building that most symbolizes knowledge and education quite troubling. The message is clear – focus on the game rather than your academic pursuits. The even greater concern is that no one seems to care that the library was closed – except those of us who needed to use it. I truly needed to work today, but did not have access to the tools I needed for my research. Further, given that there are 10 of us sharing an office (because the university doesn’t have the space to house our department), I have a cubicle in the library where I work. Closing the library denied me a space to work. The fact that the media reported the reason for the closing as fans propensity to use it as a pit stop furthers the notion that the library now symbolizes nothing more than a restroom to our society. We visit football stadiums for fun, excitement, etc., but we visit libraries to relieve ourselves.

Students, faculty, and staff who pay for university services forfeit their rights to those services on game days. Aside from the closing of the library, I provide two examples for your consideration. First, parking increased $120 this year, but most of us forfeit our right to park on campus during game weekends (see previous blog entry). The university is prohibiting people for using their offices and the library as well as accessing facilities for which they pay fees (which aren’t cheap). Second, last evening I tried to take the dog (I’m keeping Puff while Jillian is in DC) for a walk at Lake Herrick (the nature center located next to the intramural fields). I went online and checked the parking map to make sure that I could park there (many individuals must surrender their parking spaces at 4:30 pm on Friday). The parking map indicated that two of the lots were designated for RV parking, but that the rest were open. As I turned into the drive that leads to the parking lots, I was stopped by three staff members who informed me that I was not allowed to park there. I explained that I wanted to use the walking trails (a facility I pay a fee to use every semester) and that I had checked online and the 2008 map indicated that there were some lots available. The proceeded to inform me that I was not allowed to use the facility regardless of the information on the map. Some of us pay so others may play. Note that my payment is in educational sacrifice as well as monetary forms.

Education receives massive budget cuts, but the athletic budget seems to be fine. Many states are facing huge economic problems this year, and the state of Georgia just implemented some fairly drastic budget cuts for higher education (although states such as Arkansas and Missouri seem to be faring much better). UGA is currently in a situation where it will not be hiring desperately needed faculty this year, departments have cut travel for faculty and graduate students to attend conferences to further their own education, and some departments are even cutting staff positions to decrease their budgets. My department cut one staff position, cut travel, and is trying to get us to cut copying expenses (hard to do when most of us are virtually paperless). While we cannot get alumni and others to provide funds to defray these cuts, we can get donations to build things such as the Vince Dooley Memorial Garden. True, the athletic association is monetarily independent from the university (this is the same with most institutions), but this is about principle. The state takes a hit in tax dollars, while athletic departments don’t seem to be struggling (I’ve yet to hear about any travel cuts associated with an athletic team). Have we reached a point in our society where we’re willing to fund a university’s athletic endeavors, but not it’s academic ones? The state budget cuts received about two days worth of media coverage – athletics receives an entire year. After all, news stations have sports anchors rather than education anchors. At what point did our society begin to privilege athleticism over education?

UGA suspends campus alcohol policies during game days. At the beginning of every fall semester, the UGA instructional faculty receives a letter from the provost instructing us to be careful of our discussions about alcohol in classes. Further, the campus has a relatively strict policy concerning the use of alcohol by minors (although recent media reports have questioned the equality of enforcement). However, on game days, come one, come all with the alcohol! Tailgating on campus is quite the tradition and alcohol is a must for tailgaters. What sort of message is this sending students? Clearly, if this was tantamount to the safety of students, the university wouldn't acquiesce to the desires of football fans. Would it? Do we value entertainment above education? Where does concern for the other fit into this picture?

I have come to the conclusion that, in the minds of most, institutions of higher education no longer exist to provide an education to the next generation, to seek solutions to critical social problems, or to discover new knowledge that improves the human experience. Rather, they serve to meet the athletic/entertainment needs of the masses. In no way do I intend for these comments to serve as an indictment of the University of Georgia. This is not a UGA phenomenon – it’s happening all over this nation. I am deeply disturbed by the move our society is making with it's view of higher education. At what point do we stand up and say, “The purpose of universities is education, not athletics!” In the words of Dennis Kucinich, “Wake up America!”

Anger and Incompetence

A friend once told me that she never wanted to be in the situation where I was mad at her. Her logic was as follows: In all the time I have known you, I have never seen you angry at another person. In fact, you don’t seem to get mad or angry at people (although I’m often upset with people). Several other individuals present concurred, and stated that my lack of anger was probably a good thing as I possessed the power to be incredibly vindictive. As I reflected on the statement, I responded that I could only ever remember being angry at a person once in recent memory, and that all were correct concerning my desire for revenge. Since this conversation (about four years ago), I can recall two additional events where I was actually angry at someone. In the past 10 years, these three incidents are the only situations where I can actually recall being angry at another person. One was a circumstance in which someone said something about a member of my family, one was a circumstance in which someone who should have known better made a completely inappropriate comment that was offensive a large number of people (including myself), and the final one was upon learning that someone whom I trusted implicitly had betrayed a clearly private conversation. Although I had never fully considered it, I now recognize that one of the qualities I like best about myself is that I do not anger easily and only when justified.

However, I have recently become aware of a threat to my relative lack of anger to others that could potentially render this quality detrimental to me. The beast: INCOMPETENCE! If I were on Inside the Actor’s Studio, my response to James Lipton’s “What turns you off?” would be incompetence. Historically, my response to such individuals has been dismissal. After all, why tolerate incompetence? However, recent events have demonstrated that it is not always possible to escape incompetence (although not for lack of effort on my part). I currently have no choice but to maintain relationships with a handful of individuals whom I deem incompetent. Not only are these people trying my patience, but I have found myself on the verge of intense anger on numerous occasions. While this may seem understandable to many, it is a new experience for me, and one I am not quite certain how to handle. I wonder…am I becoming less tolerant of people as I age? Do I simply not possess the ability to work with certain types of people? Have I reached a point where my standards are so high that people cannot meet them? Am I setting people up for failure? As both a scholar of interpersonal communication and as a human being, I am troubled by these questions. I find myself replaying situations over and over again in the hope that I have somehow missed the slightest glimmer of ability in another. I offer more help than I should. I consult friends and colleagues, and yet, I still find myself on the verge of anger when I encounter incompetence. Will I leap from the precipice into full blown rage? Do I need to undertake some intense change? Will this experience lessen with time? How long with this progress? I find myself with more questions than answers. Yet, the fact remains – I detest incompetence!

A Night of Firsts

Delta Flight 4397 leaving Atlanta at 9:25 pm on 31 July. I arrived at the airport super early because there were no traffic delays in Atlanta, was the only passenger on my shuttle from long term parking, was the first person in line to check my baggage, and got through airport security in under 5 minutes. Wow! A series of firsts for me. When I checked my bag, the skycap informed me that the flight was delay to 11:00 pm, when I arrived at the gate (which had been changed), the flight was delayed until 11:36 pm. After I had dinner ($17 worth of a sandwich), I settled in to wait for two hours. I opened the laptop and connected to the Internet via my AT&T laptop connect card (I refused to pay $10 for 24 hours of Internet service). Before I could pull up the Delta website so that I could receive updates on the flight status, I received an e-mail from Delta confirming my flight delay. I opened the Delta website, typed in my flight number, click go, and received a glaring red message screaming CANCELED.

Although a tad perturbed that there was no announcement at the gate to this effect, I immediately packed away my laptop and grabbed my phone. I called Joanna (whose wedding was the purpose of my trip) and had her look up the Delta Skymiles phone number (I learned this on Morning Express with Robin Meade some weeks ago – it’s quicker than waiting in line – people were in line for hours). Bob informed me that Delta had graciously already booked me on a 6:15 flight the following evening. Since Joanna and Clint’s wedding rehearsal is scheduled at 4:00 pm tomorrow (yes, I’m writing this in the airport), I informed Bob that this was unacceptable and requested to be put on a different airline. He informed me that he could not do that since Delta had availability. Having taken persuasion and numerous other communication classes, I responded that Delta actually did not have availability given that I had to be in Hot Springs, AR at 4:00 pm tomorrow. He asked if he should transfer me to someone else who might be able to help me. I, of course, said YES!

It was then I met Debbie from Tampa. I informed Debbie of the situation (okay, I actually told her that the wedding was tomorrow at 4:00 pm as I figured this would make the situation appear much more dire). Appalled at being the person responsible for the lack of an officiant (how odd, Spellcheck doesn’t know this word) at a wedding an running the ceremony for 400 guests (Joanna, I know the chapel only holds 160, but I thought a larger number might produce better results). Debbie, with whom I am now in love, said, “I can book you on an 8:30 am flight.” Wow! Debbie has got to be the best Delta employee ever – she deserves an award! Although this is not the first time I have been stranded at an airport, this is the first time that I have received such service.

Currently, it’s almost midnight, and I’m sitting in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. I’m spending the night here because the hotels are so expensive in this area, plus, I need to be back here at 6:30 am. By the time I got to a hotel, I would only have about four hours to sleep before I had to be back here again. So my final first, I’m spending the night in the airport. My concerns right now: where is the bag I checked, and what am I supposed to do in the morning.

By the way, I may scream if I have to listen to the instructions for traveling with an infant over the loudspeaker again.