Sometimes I hate this school -- but I love my students ...

[The Lone Ranger]

The past few years at this college have been … interesting.

Sometimes, I feel truly disgusted with this place. Despite that, I feel that I’m where I need to be.



So, why do I sometimes hate this place?

Let’s start with the hypocrisy and the fact that they fail to protect our students. Every time our College President gives one of his speeches, he talks about how he and everyone else in the Administration is committed to doing everything possible to nurture and protect our students. And he talks about how important it is for us to live up to our “moral values,” and to be “inspirational,” and “responsible.”

Does the college live up to those values?


Well, just within my Department, we have Professor Groper, who loves to perv on pretty young women. And it’s not like this is something that the Administration doesn’t know about; a sympathetic acquaintance in Administration told me that they have a very large file on Professor Groper, detailing many student complaints over the years. But Professor Groper has never even been reprimanded, to my knowledge. Then we have the professors who openly belittle students in the classroom, openly acknowledge that they care nothing about teaching, and display no teaching ability whatsoever. Again, students have been complaining about these so-called “teachers” for years now, but the college’s administration doesn’t seem to care in the slightest about whether or not the people they’ve hired to teach can or will actually teach.

On the other hand, they have fired at least two people during my time here who had the temerity to call out the Administration on its hypocrisy.


Then there’s the faculty member who has gone well beyond Professor Groper. He has been grooming impressionable young women and talking them into sleeping with him. (And yes, he is married, and has children.) When his colleague stated that she could not work with such a sexual predator, she was fired. He continues to be employed by the college, despite it being common knowledge on the campus that he tries to seduce every pretty young girl who crosses his path. One of the young women he targeted came to me: he had sent her suggestive messages, including photos of himself in his underwear and requests for sex. [It’s not like this is hearsay – she showed them to me.]

Does he have some sort of dirt on the Administration? That seems like as good an explanation as any that I can think of for why he’s still employed here.




The President, aside from being a complete hypocrite, is a Right-wing jerk. At the beginning-of-semester talk he gave to all of us, he announced that Covid-19 is all a big “conspiracy,” and that we shouldn’t really be concerned about it. (He did say that we would be practicing “social distancing” and “encouraging” students to wear masks, but that’s about all the Administration is doing.) I haven’t seen our President wear a mask on campus even once, and very few others in the Administration do so. They’re setting a terrible precedent.

He announced that Covid concerns were “overblown” and the result of “media hype” and insisted that it would “go away just as soon as the election is over.”

He announced that young people rarely, if ever, contract Covid – and if they do, they don’t spread it anyway. Thus, there’s no real need to be concerned about it putting us (the Faculty and Staff) or the students in danger.

Many of the “facts” that he gave were blatant falsehoods.

In short, his speech could be summarized thus: “1.) welcome back, 2.) God is great, 3.) Covid is nothing to be worried about, 4.) we’ve done everything possible to protect everyone on campus nonetheless, 5.) God is great, 6.) Did I mention that God is great and that he’ll keep us all safe?”


One of my colleagues and I spoke afterward, and we agreed that the only positive thing about his speech was that both of us managed to avoid blurting out anything in response that would have gotten us instantly fired. After the speech, there was a brief Q&A, during which each of us tried to get him to answer some questions – both of us were blown off, and he gave no real answers.

Actually, I did slip up and blurt out something that – if it weren’t for the fact that he was speaking at the time, and thus, few others heard it, (he had a microphone; I didn’t) – probably would have gotten me fired. You see, he was going on about how he was sure that Covid-19 wasn’t anything to be concerned about, because he had spent months becoming an “expert” on it, and thus, all of our preparations would ensure that the campus would remain free of Covid-19. He even insisted that he was “in frequent consultation with the CDC,” to ensure that he was a bona fide expert.

Then, to illustrate both his expertise and his certainty that we had taken all necessary precautions to ensure the disease would not affect the campus, he mentioned how we’ve already discovered and studied Covid-20 and Covid-21.

I honestly didn’t intend to say anything out loud, but I heard myself blurt out, “No, we have not discovered and studied Covid-21! It isn’t even 2021 yet!” I mean, geeez! He doesn’t even know why it’s called Covid-19! Did he really think anyone in the audience didn’t see through his bullshit?


[One of the students later told me that he had heard me, and was glad that he did. “I thought I was going crazy for a while there, listening to him speak!”]



The official party line is that the virus has not reached the campus; that there are no infected people on campus; and that there is no reason to be concerned, since we have taken every precaution to ensure that it never will reach the campus.

Meanwhile, at least 8 students and 3 staff members (one of them a cafeteria worker) have tested positive and been quietly sent home. [One of those students is in one of my classes, and has told me that she was told that she isn’t allowed to return to campus until after her quarantine period expires.] Despite the fact that several students and staff members have tested positive and have been sent home, the Administration still insists that there is no Covid-19 on campus.

*********

In my time here, I’ve been told on numerous occasions that I’m one of only two people in the Department who are both competent teachers and who actually care about the students.

As a consequence, students often come by my office to talk about various concerns. I’ve lost track of the number of students who have complained about the incompetent and uncaring teachers; the teachers who sexually harass students (or worse); and the hypocritical, uncaring Administration.

*********

The thing is, I do love my students. And I feel a great sense of responsibility toward them. With all the frustrations this school has inspired in and inflicted upon me, I have frequently considered leaving. But, at the risk of sounding arrogant, these students – many of them, at least – need me. I feel like I’d be “abandoning” them if I left.

*********

I’ve mentioned “Jennifer” before. A few nights ago, she sent me a message, and told me that she wanted to arrange a time to come by my office and talk. She’s very concerned about Covid-19 and other matters. She told me of how frustrated she is with this place – the hypocrisy of the Administration; that some of the teachers are sexual predators but somehow remain in positions of authority; that many of the teachers don’t even pretend to care about the students or their responsibilities to those students; etc.

She told me that, in her time here, she believes I’m the only faculty member she can truly trust. She went on to tell me how much she appreciates that she can come to me to talk about things, and that I have always been so supportive and willing to offer advice. She went on to say that if it weren’t for me, she “wouldn’t be here.” From the context, I’m pretty sure that when she said she “wouldn’t be here,” she wasn’t talking about the college.

Jennifer has hinted on numerous occasions that she has been sexually abused in the past. When she came to my office, we talked for some two hours.

As I said, I’ve long suspected that she has been sexually abused in the past. Obviously, I’ve never pressed her on the issue, feeling that if it’s something she wants to talk about, she knows that I’m willing to offer sympathy and advice at any time. After all, practically every time I talk with her, I tell her that she’s always welcome to come by to talk – about anything at all.

Anyway, she came by to talk. She said that outside of her immediate family, there’s no adult whom she has been able to trust enough to tell me what she wanted to talk about.

It was SO MUCH WORSE THAN I EVER COULD HAVE IMAGINED!


She told me of how she had been sexually molested by a coach/clergyman from the time she was 16 until she finally “escaped” to college. He manipulated her. He made her feel like it was her own fault. He told her that if she reported it, that it would be her word against that of a “Man of God,” and it would be him that people believed, not her.


He HURT HER! When she tried to resist, he would “punish” her. Over the years, he gave her bruises, he broke two of her ribs, he broke her wrist – twice – and he broke one of her fingers.

For years, whenever anyone asked why she was so “accident prone,” she claimed that her injuries were the results of sports practice.


Jennifer finally worked up the courage to tell her parents, and they put a stop to it – somehow. But she has never tried to press charges, for fear that a.) she’ll be “slut-shamed” for “seducing” a Man of God, and 2.) she’ll be forced to re-live all of the pain, trauma, and humiliation – in public, no less.

So, she has had to live with the pain, the humiliation, the guilt, the depression, and the self-blame for years. And a big part of it is her conviction that there’s no one outside her family whom she can trust to share it with – she doesn’t believe a counselor can help (apparently, her family doesn’t believe it, thus she doesn’t). She told me that she needed to talk with someone about it, to help ease her pain, but simply couldn’t bring herself to trust anyone else.

She told me that, to deal with the guilt and pain, she had been cutting herself for some time. At this point, I made her show me her wrists. Once you know to look, the scars are clearly visible. They’re small, and I made sure that none were recent. She had carefully hidden the cuts, making sure they were on the inside of her wrist, and small-enough to be covered by her watch band.


She swears to me that she hasn’t cut herself in over a year. She told me that she hasn’t, because she’s actually much happier and more self-confident now than she had been just a couple of years ago. She says that it’s largely because she appreciates that I care, and that she has learned that she can come to me to talk about her concerns – and that I will listen with sympathy, will not judge her, and will do my best to offer useful advice.

I’ve met Jennifer’s mother on several occasions, and she has told me much the same thing. She has told me that Jennifer has told them on numerous occasions that she appreciates how much I’m willing to listen to her and offer sympathy and advice. Jennifer’s mother has gone out of her way to thank me for “being there” for her daughter.



After some two hours of this, Jennifer – that sweet, silly girl – apologized to me! She told me that she was sorry to “burden” me with all of this, but that she simply had to talk with someone about this, and that I was the only one she could trust to do so.

I told her, “Don’t you DARE apologize! And don’t you DARE think that you’re somehow ‘burdening’ me!” I assured her that I would always “be there” for her, and that I would always be happy to offer any support or advice that I could.

By this point, we were both in tears. I told her that no matter how terrible I might be feeling at the moment, I was so very glad that she had come to me to talk about this. Because a.) if I can help to ease her burden even a little, then I’m so VERY happy to do so!, and because b.) I very-much appreciate the trust that she has shown me.



When she finally left, she gave me a long, hard hug and told me that she loves me. I told her that I love her with all my heart, and that she is always welcome to come to me for help, advice, or support. Or at the very least, a sympathetic ear.



I can’t even BEGIN to imagine what Jennifer has been through! But I haven’t been able to sleep well for the past several nights, because I just can stop thinking about the … evil of someone doing that to an innocent young person! I’m torn between pain and anger.

Of course, I told Jennifer that she really should seek counseling, that a trained professional could surely provide more help than I can. I’ve even said that I’ll help find a counselor, if she’d like. But she’s resistant to seeking professional help.

************

So, long story short: there are many things about this place that that I don’t like. But I’ll say this: If I’ve helped that girl, then every bit of frustration, grief, anger, and disappointment that I’ve felt about this place over the years is ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT!

[Oxymaroon]

So it just goes on, and on and on, and keeps on going on?
Does nobody have any power to stop it?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Wondering if you got some legal advice on your obligations here.

[The Lone Ranger]

Yeah, a few people have quietly left over the past few years (and one left rather ... loudly), disgusted by the hypocrisy of the Administration. That's the thing, though, a College President can have an incredible tenacity, so long as they're on good terms with the Board of Trustees.

And though our Illustrious President is, as far as I can tell, viewed as a hypocritical buffoon by pretty-much everyone in the Faculty, he does seem to have a talent for convincing people to give the college money, and thus, he's beloved by the Board of Trustees.


At least two students, so far, have posted on Facebook how disappointed they are that the college isn't doing more to keep them safe in light of Covid-19. One of them was, I understand, quickly contacted by two of the deans and pressured to remove the post -- not before word of the post got around campus, though (one student had taken a screenshot of it, and showed it to me). And, of course, the fact that it disappeared quickly and that the student claims he was pressured into taking it down made its way around campus rather quickly, too.

I checked: according to the handbook, it's not actually against school policy for a professor to date a student. It says that it's "strongly discouraged, but not forbidden." So, this guy who is texting young women and trying to talk them into sleeping with him isn't actually breaking any rules. But a number of us are convinced that it's only a matter of time: whether it's him or Professor Groper, it seems all but inevitable that one of them is eventually going to go too far. Either that, or somebody is going to get seriously ill and they or their family will sue the school for failing to provide proper protection.


I've lost sleep for the past several nights, because I can't stop thinking about how horrible it is that Jennifer has had to suffer through what she has. I can't imagine how she has managed to deal with it! [I know; she hasn't "dealt with it" -- that's the problem. Still, that she remains functional at all strikes me as a remarkable testament to her courage and determination.]

Until someone winds up suing the school, I don't know what can be done. Most of us here who actually care about the students are trying to keep our heads down and do what we can for the students without slipping up and saying or doing something that will get us fired -- while we hope against hope that our Illustrious President will be announcing his retirement soon.

[The Lone Ranger]

The guy who has been trying [and sometimes succeeding, I'm informed] to talk impressionable young women into his bed is married, I mentioned. I should have pointed out that he's recently separated, though. His wife left him not long ago, and took the children. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the fact that he was trying to talk his students into having sex with him might have been a factor in her leaving him.

The female students on campus have taken to calling him "Professor Wolf." Some of the male students, apparently, have taken to calling him something rather less flattering.


How on Earth is it that he's still here, though? This is a private college, and every year, at the "Beginning of the Semester" speech, our Illustrious President makes a point of reminding us of how lucky we are to be here -- while not-so-subtly suggesting that if any of us fails to toe the line, we'll be fired.

Speculation abounds that "Professor Wolf" has something on the President. Otherwise, how is it that he is still employed here? (There's widespread speculation that Professor Groper has some dirt on the President, as well.)

[JoeP]

The approach you must take is clear then: TLR, you too must get some dirt on this Illustrious President.

[SR71]

Perhaps by shoveling a few feet on top of him in the solitude of some quiet Appalachian hill county forest. j/k. j/k

[The Lone Ranger]

Well, only Week 3 of the semester and we've already had more than twice as many students test positive and get sent home than our Illustrious President said could possibly occur even in a "worst case" scenario.

I wonder if he even knows what an "exponential growth curve" means? My guess is, "no".

[Ensign Steve]

Or "worst case" scenario.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

That's one way to protect students from sexual predators.

[The Lone Ranger]

So, it has been a year since the last update. It has been an … interesting year, to say the least.

You may remember Jennifer. She and I talk via Facebook fairly often, and once during the summer, she mentioned that she’d be in the general area. So I contacted my colleague Laura (the other faculty member who loves the students and consistently tries to help/support/nurture them) and suggested that the two of us should take Jennifer out to dinner. Laura was up for it, so I contacted Jennifer and told her that we’d love to meet her at a nearby restaurant and treat her to dinner.

Laura and I arrived a bit early and hung out in the parking area, chatting. When Jennifer arrived, she got out of her car as Laura and I walked over to greet her. Jennifer broke into a sort of run and grabbed me in a ribs-squeezing hug. We then went into the restaurant and stayed for about two hours. Jennifer chatted and smiled the whole time, and I honestly don’t know that I’ve ever seen her look happier. When it was finally time to go, she gave me another great big hug and told me that she loves me and really missed me, and I told her that I love her and really missed her. Jennifer then briefly hugged Laura.

On the way back to campus, I remarked to Laura how wonderful it was to see Jennifer looking so happy, and how nice it was that we both got a hug from her. Laura replied, “Be honest: she hugged me; she practically tackled you!”


Jennifer has a class that meets near my office on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and she always stops in to chat for a while after class, before she has to go to her next class. She always makes a point of giving/receiving a hug before she leaves.

And since all three of us (Laura, Jennifer, and myself) are free on Thursday afternoons, Laura and I decided to offer to take her out to late lunch/early dinner as a regular Thursday event. Jennifer seems to quite like the idea, and so we’ve been taking her to dinner on Thursdays for the past couple of weeks. As we were driving her back to campus last Thursday, Laura and I were both praising Jennifer and talking about what a truly decent and admirable person she is. Laura said, “Everyone loves you.” I heard Jennifer draw in a breath to reply, and I just knew what she was about to say, so I quickly said, “Everyone who matters loves you!”

There was a pause, and then Jennifer replied, “I can accept that.”



On Friday, Jennifer and I talked about how much more self-confident she is than she used to be. I told her of how she used to be – speaking only when spoken to and always looking at the ground, refusing to look anyone in the eye. She admitted that she has gained a great deal of self-confidence in the past few years, and sweetly told me that it was largely due to my unwavering support.

We talked for a bit about how there are plenty of things about this college that we don’t like. That they tolerate teachers who sexually harass students; teachers who send sexually-suggestive photos to students and solicit them for sex; teachers who don’t even pretend to respect the students or to have any interest in teaching; teachers who openly call students “stupid” in the classroom and outright say that they hate teaching.

Meanwhile, if you dare to publicly criticize the Administration’s unwillingness to protect and support the students, you’ll get yourself fired.


I told Jennifer that I’ve often wondered why I stay here. After all, I was earning more than twice as much at the college where I previously taught, and wasn’t living in constant fear that I might slip up and blurt out what I really think of the Administration in front of the wrong person and instantly get myself fired. Jennifer very sweetly replied, “You might be earning only half as much here, but you’re doing twice as much good.”


Just then, Gibson and Elizabeth walked in to chat for a bit. Elizabeth pressed something into my hand and I looked down to see that it was a lovely chunk of Rose Quartz. She said that she’d found it and thought that I’d like it, and so saved it for me.


Once they left, I told Jennifer, “That is why I’ve stayed here – people like you and Gibson and Elizabeth.”



So, what has happened over the past year? Well, you may recall “Professor Wolf,” as some of the female students had taken to calling him, who was openly soliciting young women for sex, up to and including sending them pictures of himself wearing nothing but his undershorts.

He was quietly “let go” over the summer. No one is quite sure why, but rumor has it that he tried to talk the wrong young woman into his bed and she contacted her parents, who threatened to sue the school for allowing such behavior. Even if his behavior wasn’t actually illegal or a violation of college policy, it would surely have brought the school a lot of bad publicity if the girl and her parents went to the local media about it.

So, he’s gone. Whether his replacement is much better remains to be seen. Jennifer is taking one of his classes, and she told me that one of the very first times he spoke to her, it was to tell her how good she looks. So … progress?



You remember the Bio teacher who would always come to class 10 minutes late or so, read straight from his Powerpoint slides, then walk out of the room? He would refuse to answer questions and would belittle any student who dared to try to ask him one. Rarely did his classes last more than 15 minutes or so.

Since he wasn’t teaching them anything, and wasn’t really even pretending to, probably more than half the students in his two Majors classes came to me to learn the material. I wound up teaching the classes, in practice, since he couldn’t be bothered to do so.

So many students complained about the fact that he didn’t even bother to pretend that he had any interest in teaching his classes that the Administration was forced to reprimand him. That didn’t last long. He’s already back to where he was – he walks in 10 minutes late, reads his Powerpoint slides word-for-word, then walks out without answering any questions. So I’ve already got students coming to me for help with the class, since he can’t be bothered to actually do his job.

Did I mention that he coaches one of the sports teams? That’s only reason he still has a job, as far as I can tell. Apparently, being a successful sports coach means that you don’t have to teach, even if that’s supposedly your job!


Then there’s the new Physics guy. What to say about this person? Well, he came in last year, and students immediately began to complain about him. He would belittle students in class, call them “stupid” or “idiots” if they didn’t answer questions to his satisfaction, and outright scream at them on occasion. Plus, he’s super Right-wing in his politics, and frequently rants about how “stupid” are “Liberals.” One student told me that the guy once ranted for almost the entire class about how Abraham Lincoln was the worst President ever, and was this close to outright saying that the South should have won. Supposedly, he also rants about how Black Lives Matter is a “terrorist” organization. How these rants are relevant to Physics classes escapes me. (And the students.)



The Opening Convocation for the Faculty, Staff, and Resident Advisors was downright surreal. Our Illustrious President ranted about how we’re surrounded by demons, and how he can see them all around us. He ranted about how they’re out to destroy our “Judeo-Christian heritage.” He reiterated his belief that COVID was nothing to be concerned about and that it was just something that politicians and the media were using to manipulate and control people.

He then went on to acknowledge that a lot of people were sick and dying, nonetheless – but it was entirely the fault of all those dirty immigrants. He ranted for some time about how terrible it would be to live in a place like Mexico, and talked about how “superior” the U.S. is. And he made it very, very clear that he thought that the U.S. is “superior” because it’s a White-majority nation. He ranted about “Western values” and “our shared Judeo-Christian heritage” and came this close to outright saying “We’re the best because we’re White.” It was one of the most blatantly racist things that I’ve ever heard, and I clearly wasn’t the only one who thought so. I glanced at two of the people in front of me: one had written sarcastic comments in her notebook and underlined some with the addendum “Is he serious?!”. Another of my colleagues simply wrote “IDIOT” over and over in her notebook as he spoke.

Honestly, if his speech had been delivered from a street corner while he was wearing sackcloth and a tinfoil hat, it wouldn't have sounded at all out of place. A couple of us got together afterward and debated over whether or not he has had some sort of psychotic break. As one of my colleagues pointed out, his rant was entirely consistent with what someone suffering from schizophrenia would say.



At the Faculty Meeting afterward, Physics Guy was ranting about how COVID isn’t a thing, and even if it was, you’d have to be “an idiot” to believe that a mask would help prevent its spread. He went on to insist that he knew more about such things than “those idiots” in the CDC, or anyone else who thought that wearing a mask would help. He insisted that he not only would NOT wear a mask, but that he would UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES get vaccinated – and that anyone who believed that the vaccine would be effective was “stupid.” [David (who teaches Microbiology and Virology) and I both pointed out that he didn’t know what he was talking about. He basically called us both idiots and insisted that you’d have to be “stupid” to think that wearing a mask would help or that taking the vaccine was a good idea.]

Physics Guy then went on to rant about how he disgusted he was at the notion that some students had preferences for what pronouns they liked to go by. He ranted that EVERYONE is EITHER male or female, that it’s entirely genetically determined, and that anyone who disagrees is “stupid.” David and I both pointed out that sex determination is far from that simple, but of course, he refused to even listen, and continued with his rant that anyone who disagreed with him was “stupid.”

Sadly, several people were actually agreeing with him.

He went on to say that he actually hoped that some student would tell him that they preferred to be called “they” instead of “he” or “she” – because he looked forward to the opportunity to laugh in their face and call them an idiot.


Now I really, really HATE to make myself the center of attention, but I’d had ENOUGH at that point. I said – and I made a point of looking right at Physics Guy when I said it – “If a student wants to be called ‘they,’ that’s perfectly fine with me, and I will comply; I’m not so bigoted or small-minded that I feel threatened by such a request.”

No one responded.


But I was later informed that I may have made a tactical error in doing so, and that I may now be on the radar as a “malcontent” of sorts. In fact, I was flat-out told that maybe I should start updating my C.V.



Yeah, I love my students – but sometimes I truly hate this place!

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I’m sure they can get another football coach to teach biblical biology in their little Jonestown campus and you can get paid twice as much surrounded by vaccinated and masked libtard terrorist Antifa.

Huh, that sounded blunt. So be it.

ETA : Don’t sign anything they demand you sign while they’re hustling you to the door.

[fragment]

Nice to hear from you, TLR!

[JoeP]

TLR! I have been wondering how you've been getting on - almost to the extent of posting on this thread - yes, that seriously.

No surprise that you have some rabid anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers in your school. And anti-gender-choice, whatever the word is for that. They must live in constant fear.

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

But I was later informed that I may have made a tactical error in doing so, and that I may now be on the radar as a “malcontent” of sorts.

I have a sort of feeling that you're probably already identified as a malcontent - if only for the highly suspect behaviour of actually caring about your students.

[The Lone Ranger]

Oddly enough, I'm not too worried about getting myself fired. Not unless I do something truly egregious, like go public with my complaints. Or molest one of the Trustees' daughters or something. [Molesting random students is apparently A-OK.]

I'm certain that my Department Chair would go to bat for me, because he knows I'm a good teacher, that I care about the students, and that the students like me. So, they'd be hard-put to replace me. So long as I don't do anything stupid, I'm probably okay.

So ... yay?

[vremya]

It's good to hear from you, TLR! Wow, you are surrounded by a bunch of fools. (Though I'm glad you're there for the students, that's really important.)

[The Lone Ranger]

I've decided to direct my rebellious activities toward what I consider positive avenues. Aside from mentoring and supporting students, I've begun a sort of campus beautification program.

You see, I think this campus is downright ugly. It doesn't look at all like what a college campus should look. A big part of that has to do with how they manage the grounds.

For some strange reason, the President seems to think that the proper way to maintain a campus grounds is to keep everything mown down to a height of approximately 1 millimeter. I really wish I was exaggerating, but he has the Grounds people out there three times a week, mowing everything right down to ground level. There are a few designated areas for planting, but they're rarely planted -- and when they do plant anything in them, they plant non-native perennials that soon die.


This is especially bad because we are in the mountains, after all, and there's a creek that runs right through the center of campus, along the main campus road. So naturally, since we've got lots of steep hillsides that are meticulously kept free of vegetative cover, erosion is a huge problem.

For as long as I've been here, I have been literally begging the college to plant ground cover, to help control erosion. I particularly emphasized that we should plant native plants, ones that would both look good and would require little maintenance. I warned that it was only a matter of time until there was a collapse of one of the hillsides and/or part of the main road fell into the creek. [Every time it rains, the creek eats a little further into the soil under the campus road.]

I've spoken to the Campus Beautification Committee on several occasions, and they loved the idea. I even put together a Powerpoint presentation for them, showing what sorts of plants I think would work best, and where they should be planted. "And just think of how beautiful this campus would be if the hillsides were covered with native wildflowers and rhododendron, instead of deep ruts and sparse grass!"

And every single time I've made such a suggestion, it has been shot down by the President. Some of the reasons were ... strange. For example, when I suggested planting native shrubs along the creek bank, to control erosion, the given reason for why that could never work was that snakes would hide in the shrubs and then attack students. Ugh!

More on that in a moment.

Anyway, the consensus, judging from the people I've talked with, is that the President refuses to approve such ideas not because he thinks they're necessarily bad, but because they aren't his. Being the control freak that he is, he won't approve of any idea that he didn't originate. As some of my students pointed out, we really need to come up with a way to convince him that these ideas were his all along.


Anyway, several things happened over the past year, including the inevitable. One of the hillsides partially collapsed in the Spring, and one of the campus buildings was flooded with muddy water. They had a huge fund-raiser and it cost them something like a million dollars to get all the damage repaired. Then, over the Summer, part of the campus road collapsed where it had been undercut by the creek. They had to shut it down for several weeks while they got a road crew in to put in a bunch of rocks and cement, and then re-build the road.

And they completed a new dorm just before the semester started. I noticed that they ... hired a contractor to plant a whole bunch of shrubs along the walkways in front of the dorm and along the creek bank in front of the new dorm. [Mostly natives, I was pleased to note.]

I was tempted to send a note saying something to the effect of, "But I thought we couldn't plant shrubbery, for fear of it attracting snakes that would attack the students!?", but I thought better of it.

Hey, if the President wants to claim that it was his idea all along, I'm more than willing to let him have the credit. Now if they'd only consider planting along the rest of the creek bank and on the hillsides!



In the Spring, two of the students from my Field Biology class bought some native wildflower seeds and bulbs and quietly planted them in strategic places around the campus. They were calling themselves "guerilla gardeners." I was so proud of them! Sadly, Grounds got most of them, but some of the ones they planted managed to survive and bloom, and did a lot to bring some welcome color to the campus over the summer. I was careful to take pictures and send them to the students!


And I've started a garden of my own. This is actually the second year.

Not long after I got here, I asked for permission to start a garden around the house that I live in, and was told that a garden wouldn't fit into the "campus esthetic" for ... whatever reason.

Last year, I thought to myself, "What harm could it do to plant a few natives by my house?" So I planted some lovely Liatris along the side of the house and a couple of native rhododendrons in the back area. A few weeks later, they were demolished by the Grounds crew. I was pissed.


Deciding that it was better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission, I started gathering rocks last Fall. I got a couple of heavy-duty containers from Lowes and put them into the back seat of my car. I'd then drive to rock slides and fill them with the biggest rocks that I could manage. Lacking any access to heavy machinery or anything, the biggest rocks I could manage to manhandle into my car were probably in the 150- to 200-pound range, I'd say. Not as big as I'd like, but plenty big-enough that they'd be hard to remove, once in place!

I borrowed a roto-tiller and dug up the area all around the house, then bordered the areas with the biggest, heaviest rocks I could manage to haul to the site. [Just to make sure that the Grounds crew could not possibly be mistaken that the cleared area was intended to be a garden, and to ensure that they'd have to literally haul their mowers over some great big rocks in order to get to the garden.]

(One Faculty member came to watch me hauling rocks early this Summer and said that she loved the idea. Not long afterward, her husband showed up, telling me that he liked the idea too, and that if I needed help moving rocks, he'd be happy to help. So I showed him my garden and he said, "You moved those rocks? By hand?" I said, "Yes." He immediately replied, "I withdraw my offer to help you move rocks!")


I've planted lots of native wildflowers all around my house -- all perennials. Many of them are still being established, so the garden will just get better-looking over time, as it fills in. But I've already gotten lots of compliments about it, with several people telling me that I've easily got the best-looking place on campus. Even the President stopped by once to tell me how good it looks.


I like how it looks, of course, and if it helps stimulate some ideas about planting native plants for erosion control and campus beautification, then that will make me happy. And I'll be honest: I like my garden because it's my own form of protest against some of the campus' more idiotic policies.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

And every single time I've made such a suggestion, it has been shot down by the President. Some of the reasons were ... strange. For example, when I suggested planting native shrubs along the creek bank, to control erosion, the given reason for why that could never work was that snakes would hide in the shrubs and then attack students. Ugh!

Maybe this is a time when my rule of thumb that every accusation (by a right-wing bigot) is projection fortunately doesn't apply.

Or maybe it does. Maybe that's exactly what your President would do if he were a snake.

[The Lone Ranger]

Well ... I have been told by more than one young woman that she doesn't like to exercise in the gym when he's there -- and he's often there -- because every time she turns around, he's staring at her.

[fragment]

Feel free to post some garden plant pics! Also interested in botanical and ecological details of your native species