Faculty Herald 2020
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The Temple University VOL. LI, FALL ISSUE 1 FACULTY HERALD 2020 BLACK LIVES MATTER AT TEMPLE THE OPTIMISTS By Timothy Welbeck, Esq. By Sam Allingham Adjunct Assistant Professor, Africology & African American Studies Adjunct Asst. Prof., English Trayvon Martin wanted nothing When I was asked to teach an more than to spend his Sunday eve- in-person class in the fall of 2020, I ning watching Dwayne Wade and chose a certain brand of optimism. LeBron James play in the NBA All Maybe it was cruel optimism, as Star Game. Considering the game Lauren Berlant coined the phrase: took place at the Amway Center in a desire that is either impossible— neighboring Orlando, the annual what she calls “sheer fantasy”— or NBA exhibition, and the stars it rou- too possible, “toxic,” dangerous in tinely gathers, seemed much closer the way it renders the subject com- than usual. He did not have a ticket plicit in their own degradation. But to attend the game itself, so turning if my optimism was cruel, I shared to channel 11 to watch it on TNT Art by Timothy Welbeck. Used with permission. it with many of the more than six seemed the next best option. Slight- of his home to a nearby 7-Eleven hundred Temple professors who ly before tip-off, he strolled outside [continued on page 6] [continued on page 5] Reflections from the Pandemic: Where Are We Now? By Dr. Andrew Mossin Associate Professor of Instruction, Intellectual Heritage Program Eight months into the global pan- lived realities of students coming We can know some things. Across demic (I’m writing this at the begin- here for an education. tracks and ranks, the pandemic has ning of October 2020) and roughly It’s a truism in higher education only heightened and brought to the two months into Temple’s latest shift labor talk that “faculty working con- fore divisions and hierarchies that to fully online teaching, what’s be- ditions are student learning condi- were in place well before the virus come apparent to all is that we’re in tions.” For some that can be read arrived. Here, I will cite just a few this for many more months to come, as a statement of faculty priority instances from recent scholarship. if not years. We may need in the over students in the process of man- For tenure-track faculty of color, coming months to rely on that “un- aging the multiple demands of the Covid-19 has only accentuated the dercommons” specified by Stefano university experience. That would “marginalization, racism and sex- Harney and Fred Moten, a fugitive be, in my view, a misreading of this ism manifested as unintended barri- space where all of us might meet in statement’s primary emphasis: fac- ers…faculty of color face in success- mutual need and common uncer- ulty experience in the workplace fully navigating the tenure process” tainty to graft a better future from dictates if and how we are able to (Gregory A. Diggs, Dorothy Harri- the one we’re otherwise currently foster learning in our students, who son, et al. 312). As childcare and re- facing. In the meantime, it’s worth in turn can only be as successful as mote schooling responsibilities have reflecting on where we are and how this dialectical relation allows. How disproportionately affected women the current shifts in faculty experi- has the pandemic shaped this rela- faculty across tracks, “long-standing ence have come to define both the tion? What are the impacts on fac- inequalities in both paid and dom- university as an institution and the ulty working conditions so far? [continued on page 10] IN THIS ISSUE: Cherry Pantry, page 7. Grad Students & COVID, page 8. Pandemic and Precedent, page 2. Surveillance, page 3. Textbook Affordability, page 2. 1 Editorial: Pandemic & Precedent; Surveys & Surveillance By Dr. Anna Peak Associate Professor of Instruction, Intellectual Heritage Program What Views Does the Herald of various ideologies, backgrounds, The current pandemic has led to Promote? genders, sexualities, ethnicities, and various ad-hoc adaptations, driven, religions. It also means the Faculty doubtless with the best of inten- “One ought not reject the words of an op- Herald is by and for faculty, not ad- tions, by people in administrative ponent. It is preferable to seek them out and ministrators. Administrative views roles. Budgets have been cut; sched- study them.... Such words should not be sup- are certainly of interest to faculty, ules changed; new classrooms creat- pressed. For every man of valor who wants to at times, and will be printed when ed; new systems of surveillance have wrestle with another and to show his strength relevant, but the Herald is primarily been, and are being, put in place. is eager that his opponent shall have every op- a space for faculty discussion. A pandemic is shocking, and prec- portunity to demonstrate his real powers. But what strength does he show when he forbids his edents are powerful. When people opponent to defend himself and to fight against Pandemic and Precedent are shocked, distracted, and fear for him?” their jobs, they ask fewer questions. ~ Rabbi Loew, Be’er HaGolah, 1598, A mode of behavior that has been adopted When people in adminstrative roles chapter 7 without protest creates a precedent, and no one are more highly stressed than usual, will object to actions that conform to prece- they are liable to be less friendly, or My aim for the Faculty Herald is dents. The principle of inertia transforms every more threatening, in their respons- habitual way of doing things into a norm.... A that it provide a voice for all facul- es — which tends to depress further customary form of behavior ... needs no justi- questioning. Thus, precedent-set- ty. This means contingent as well fication.... It is only when someone maintains as tenure-stream (not as a supple- that what ought to be is different than what is ting ad-hoc adaptations are being ment, but as the so-called new fac- that proof has to be supplied. made with less faculty input than is ulty majority); faculty from a range ~ Chaim Perelman, Justice, Law, and healthy for a university. In the mean- of schools and colleges; and faculty Argument, pp. 27-28 [continued on page 3] Textbook Affordability: Helping Our Students to Have a More Affordable Education By Dr. Steven Bell Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services, Charles Library Options for selecting, acquiring learning. According to the 2018 projects and activities that you and and delivering course learning con- Florida Student Textbook and your colleagues can support if text- tent are greater than at any time in Course Materials Survey, 64% of book costs are your concern as well. the past. From requesting the cam- students reported not purchasing a Textbook Affordability Project pus store to order a traditional print textbook owing to its cost, 41% re- (TAP): In operation since 2011, with textbook to choosing from a diz- ported not registering for a course to 90 faculty participants to date, the zying array of digital options and avoid textbook costs, 36% reported TAP has saved Temple University providers, faculty have more choice earning a poor grade because they students over $1 million in textbook but also confront more confusion in could not afford to buy the text- costs. Grants of $500-$1500 are deciding what is the best option for book and 23% reporting dropping a provided to faculty who replace their their students. Where most faculty course owing to textbook costs. See traditional commercial textbook can agree with their students is that this Open Textbooks Guide for more with an open textbook, convert their traditional, commercial textbook on the impact of textbook costs on course to zero-cost learning materi- costs remain prohibitively expensive students and hear Temple students als or conduct an open education and add thousands of dollars to the talking candidly about their own project. Hear from past faculty TAP cost of a college education. challenges with high textbook costs. awardees on why it was important Even when textbooks may seem The good news is that Temple Uni- for them to eliminate textbook costs affordable to faculty, their cost can versity is now confronting the prob- for their students. have negative effects on student lem on multiple fronts. Here are the [continued on page 4] 2 Editorial: Surveys & Surveillance, continued time, precedents are being set that ing faculty to questions that “align Surveillance: A Case Study may affect faculty for years, or de- with the university’s ... values” cades, to come. might even make sense as well — How bad can it be? Readers of the Faculty can only question or re- so long as faculty have a significant Herald may be interested to read of spond, however, to what they know number of seats at the table where the changes wrought by surveillance about. those decisions are made. And “fac- of online teaching at Southern New ulty” here again refers to all faculty. Hampshire State University, in part Surveys under the leadership of Daniel L. Surveillance White, who is now Associate Vice Last year, the Research Programs Provost and Director of Digital Ed- and Policies Committee (RPPC), The move to online teaching — ucation at Temple. with the support of the Faculty Sen- while necessary for the health and From a study published in the In- ate Steering Committee, decided lives of people at Temple, in Phila- formation Systems Education Journal: to conduct annual faculty surveys. delphia, and wherever people travel • “Each morning a list would This year, the RPPC was informed — has made new levels of surveil- be produced that supplied the by the University Survey Commit- lance and performance evaluation names of the faculty members tee (USC) that they may only con- possible.