Dear Faculty Relations: I find my department’s faculty meetings irksome. The chair never calls on those of us who are pre-tenured, and as a result, only the senior members of the department shape important policy decisions. My other junior colleagues say, “Why talk? Someone will hold it against you when you come up for tenure.” Are they right? I am frustrated at being seen but not heard. —Seen but not Heard
Dear Faculty Relations: An untenured faculty member came up to me (I am a tenured, full professor in the department) with concerns about the shifting nature of the department culture, the unwritten rules for how decisions are to be made. They told me they had been quietly waiting for three years to access a parking spot near the building they work in and believed they were next in line for one. Instead, the nearby parking spot was assigned to a newly hired faculty member. They then asked me to advocate for them. How do I support my untenured colleague? And how do we navigate these unwritten rules? —Supportive Full Professor
