Professor Sharon

Memo: I have not phoned it in.

Today I went to the All College Meeting.  It likely occurs at other colleges as well, but once a month, many of the faculty and staff gather for an hour at lunch in our lecture hall.  The President fills us in on current economic news (as we are a state college), announcements are made, various things are discussed, and on occasion students and their work is highlighted.  The latter is definitely my favorite.

I contributed to the discussion today; but found I was very reluctant.  In some other meetings recently, I’d noticed that some of my colleagues were “rolling their eyes” when I spoke.  I know that on occasion, in the hallways for example, a colleague will ask if I’ve phoned it in, or left in spirit already.  I was very struck with the idea that somehow my leaving at the end of the semester for some folks means I don’t wish to be a fully contributing member of the community.  I don’t care for the idea, yet, of course, there isn’t much I can do about it, but keep getting involved when I feel it’s important.  Just weird.