We here at the Bugeater Offices have heard that emails have been going out from Mark Button stating that you need to have administrative approval to cancel class this Friday, December 5th, to attend the BOR meeting, Or so that your students might attend.
This is, how shall we put this? A desperate lie designed to scare you into not standing up for your university, your students, and your colleagues.
It seems like faculty pushback, from the historic vote of no confidence to today’s mock funeral, is getting under the skin of administrators who would like all the mistakes they have made in this process to disappear quietly into the night.
You are in Charge of Your Classes
Have you ever had to have administrative approval when you got your kid’s stomach bug? When your car wouldn’t start? That time you locked your keys in the house?
No!
You let your students know, and maybe your chair, just so they know you are still alive.
Instruction is the sole purview of the faculty of record for the course. That is you. Not your chair, not your dean, not the EVC.
Knowing that, you could assign your students to attend the BOR meeting. It will, after all, be very educational for anyone between the ages of 18 and 22 who is about to embark on their own lives as a civically engaged adult. We’re not saying you should, just, ya know, that you could.
But if you don’t, you can still cancel class without any fear. And in fact, the more of us that do cancel class, the harder it is for them to retaliate against us. That is the power of solidarity. To stand together and say, heck no, not on our watch. That is the power of collective action. We hang together so we don’t hang separately.
We’ll keep a seat warm for you at Varner Hall!
See you starting at 8 am! Bring your pots, pans, signs, t-shirts, speeches, hugs, handwarmers, and snacks. We are One Faculty, One Nebraska!
P.S.: In the future, we do hope that everyone will let Mark Button know personally, and in great detail, when they are home with their kids’ stomach bug. In whatever form is identified as scholarly or creative activity in your field, naturally.
