From a long ago email, discussing participation in a faculty development workshop:

I know we are providing something of value. I just continue to find the general deference and acceptance of faculty members' lack of accountability and unwillingness to follow through on commitments—not to mention the routine abandonment of even the pretense of the educational values they purport to employ—mystifying. We are talking about one of the most privileged groups of people in the country.

One third of a group couldn’t perform a simple task with a week of notice; one third couldn’t be bothered to add even a sentence to a document they were given meeting time to work on.

Not following through on one or the other of these minimal requests might be a one-off, but both? There’s a saying that when people tell you who they are, one should believe them. Similarly, when faculty demonstrate who they are, I believe them. I’ve been at this too long and seen that truism demonstrated too consistently to think otherwise.

It’s not complicated. When I make a commitment, I follow through. Or I work with whoever I’ve made the commitment to if something unforeseen arises—not just my being busy or not feeling it. I don’t silently ignore my responsibilities, secure atop the classist academic hierarchy.