7bec3b03_s_to_fear___Academic_Jobs_Wiki___Department
[School] Univ. of Northern Colorado [Issue and Date] Where to start? A third of faculty have left in the past 2 years. Mean and/or deadwood colleagues, horrible college president, low salaries, and an unattractive location. I'm a tenured prof. in a different discipline who's worked at UNC for a very long time. While I like my job a lot and find the location to be totally liveable, I can also testify that this first poster's assessment is, unfortunately, quite accurate. There are several duplicitous, mean-spirited and down-right crazy faculty members in this department--in fact, they are infamous for it across campus. There are also many lovely people in the program; unfortunately, a vistor or a new hire will find it very difficult to distinguish between the two at first. So whether a visitor or the successful candidate, watch your back. I'm also in another program/department and just discovered this wiki after it came up in conversation as I discussed our own job search with colleagues. Let's just say I'm not surprised to see the above comments about the English Department. It's known for in-fighting and contentiousness--and the problems will almost certainly be more severe if you're female. As the PP said, the department's lack of collegiality, both internal and external, is widely known across campus. If you're a visiting candidate, see if you can't have a candid conversation with female junior faculty members to see how they feel about the program--though I imagine they'd be very reticent to speak frankly to an outsider. (REBUTTAL APPEARS IN DISCUSSION, ACCESS ABOVE BY PRESSING THE DISCUSSION BUTTON NEAR THE EDIT PAGE BUTTON) I removed the comments I put here 4 years ago Very poor at communicating with candidates; almost disinterested. 2 April 2012—Looking back over the distance of some years, now, the four most distinctive things about the UNC English Dept. that made it extraordinary were: (1) The threats from some of the senior faculty used against newer faculty members; one newer faculty member actually used the words “lords of the department” to describe those in charge at a gathering of the faculty. (2) The coercion of votes against tenure for very well qualified people (i.e. vote rigging). (3) A lot of “bullying.” One senior colleague from another department very helpfully showed me an article about academic bullying (Chronicle of Higher Ed featured this), and it did describe the activities of some of the senior UNC English Dept. faculty quite well. I saw personally a new faculty member reduced to tears by a senior faculty member, and I was threatened personally by that same faculty member to get "in line" or there would be bad consequences. I also believe that I recognize who is being described above as the “crazy” faculty member, and there was one senior faculty member who was famous for regularly "bullying" other faculty and students, and this person once yelled threats of physical violence at me in a shared office space with people around. And (4) The most appalling things were when some of the senior faculty would go out of their ways to do grave harm to the careers of (mostly) newer colleagues and/or to create hardships through various administrative and/or other manipulations that could appear like business as usual. The really terrible things were so appalling there that I would not want any one I know to have to work there, ever. There were good reasons why many, many good people—even with tenure—left en masse in the midst of a terrible job market. July 2012. Three of the comments above have been posted since February 2012, so this entire section (about UNC) should be moved to the 'chronic issues' table (I would do it if I knew how! [EDIT 09/2012: section moved per request]). Anyway, everything above is unfortunately true; though the bullies and the crazy constitute a small group, they have managed to have a disproportionate impact on departmental life. UNC has a lot going for it - great students, a decent workload, okay salaries (and the administration is aware finally that salaries need to be improved), and a decent town (not great, it is true) relatively close to urban amenities and outdoor pursuits. And no wildfires! But the bullying and harassment are a real problem, and many members of the department are powerless to stop it. [Department] 
English
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