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As we start a new year, many issues will come before Faculty Senate and the
University as a whole. I suspect we will be dealing with continuing scarcity
of funds, but other substantive issues are still unfolding and may only become
clear with time.
So in my VERY BRIEF remarks I should like to suggest a way for the Faculty
Senate and the University as a whole to tackle the issues that WILL face us
this year.
When we were children, we played games in which someone was “IT.” The
person who was IT had to surreptitiously drop the handkerchief or another object
behind someone's back, or run away from being captured, or ferret another child
out of hiding to make him IT. No one really liked to be IT. The object of most
of these games was to get rid of the role of ITNESS as quickly as possible
and try not to be made IT gain any time soon.
Several years ago a situation came up in the English Department in which some
people really needed to be treated better. I tried to interest several colleagues
in the problem, but they did not see the situation as a problem. They thought
things were fine as they were, and, truthfully, they may have been right. Finally
it dawned on me, “If you want to see anything done, honey, you're IT.” I'm
not sure what I accomplished by being IT, but it made me feel better to try.
The University is a large entity with many players: faculty, students, staff,
and administrators. And the steps of the dance, or rules of the game in which
we are all engaged are very complex. There are textbook issues, student aid
issues, health care issues, as well as “how long does this paper have to be?” issues,
and “do you count off for spelling?” issues. Even such basic issues as, “Where
is the ladies' restroom?”
If the majority or indeed a significant minority in the University avoid dealing
with the many issues which confront us—most of which are extraneous to our
stated jobs—the University will run very poorly. The only way for us to have
a good academic year is for everyone to agree to be IT.
The problem is that you never know when the handkerchief will be dropped behind
YOUR back or you will be ferreted out of YOUR office to direct a lost parent
or see that a student gets the counseling he needs So being IT is often inconvenient.
ITNESS often descends upon you when you least expect it.
I admire the people who see a need and fill it. By agreeing to be IT. Every
semester Dr. Mary Dave Blackman of the Music Department stations herself at
the crossroads in front of the Music Building on the first day of class and
directs lost students. Most of these students will never play a flute, but
they ARE lost and they DO need help. Dr. Blackman agrees to be IT for these
students for a day—a very important day.
You may be thinking, what does all of this have to do with the Faculty Senate?
The Senate is a deliberative body that passes resolutions and enacts policies,
much like the Tennessee Senate or the US Senate, but not as important. Of course.
But, let me ask you, what would those august bodies be like if everyone decided
to drop their own selfish concerns for a day and be IT? Jobs might increase,
healthcare might become more widespread, and education might improve. Domestic
tranquility might prevail in the land.
Fortunately our task at ETSU in both the Faculty Senate and in the wider
university is a smaller one but not a simple one. Complexity meets us at every
turn requiring that many of us agree to be IT at any given moment. Properly
understood, being IT is an opportunity, because the person who is IT controls
the success or failure of the game, the success or failure of ETSU as a learning
community.
As we walk out the doors of the Culp Center today, any one of us may be tagged
IT. Be ready!
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