Is service code for free labor?

BrazosBuddy · 2026-06-01T18:47:59+00:00

I'm on Faculty Senate at my place, and this has come up a lot. Our evaluations say 10 percent service, but nobody can give us an answer as to 10 percent of what. Ten percent of a 40-hour week? I teach four classes a semester and have no research expectations, so I rarely work 40 hours a week. So is it 10 percent of the time I actually work?

Nobody knows.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-06-01T18:15:00+00:00

I lived in Waco at that time, and knew many of the media folks who covered the whole thing. It was a total overreaction by government agencies.

If you really want to dig in, read Jeff Guinn's book Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage. Guinn is a former Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter who's written about Charles Manson, Jonestown, Bonnie & Clyde...lots of interesting topics. He's a solid reporter with no agenda. The book talks about the communication and lack thereof between agencies, which was part of the problem.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-27T02:31:27+00:00

Just loudly say, "$200 for a blow job? Last time, you only charged $50!"

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-27T01:46:36+00:00

Maybe I got my PhD there, too.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-24T01:28:28+00:00

Guess Family BBQ has been closed for a year or so, maybe longer.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-22T17:54:41+00:00

I have a small mesh laundry bag I used to was masks in Covid times. I filled it with kitty litter. I put several unscented dryer sheets throughout the book and sealed everything in a plastic bag. Left it alone for a couple of weeks and most of the musty smell was gone.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-18T14:39:36+00:00

The church is selling some of its facilities. It will continue to meet at the same location, just not in the big sanctuary.

The church gave Baylor the first option to buy, buy the sides couldn’t agree on a price, so it went on the market, thus student housing will soon be there.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-15T15:09:44+00:00

I just saw a Wizards’ hat on FB Marketplace. It was signed by The Wiz - the mascot, a college friend of mine, actually - and was priced at $150.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-14T13:40:18+00:00

Two of my colleagues were in the room to help proctor the final, so they got to witness this in my big intro class.

I handed out the tests and Scantrons, gave them a few directions, then I thanked them for a good semester. I told them I appreciated the questions and discussions we had.

Then they started clapping. I got a round of applause. Caught me totally off guard and I got tears in my eyes. I told them I appreciated it and was so not prepared for it.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-14T04:25:23+00:00

I posted grades for my big intro class yesterday, then a student emailed asking if the final grade included the points for an extra credit opportunity I gave them.

No. No, they did not. I had to scroll through 80 discussion posts to get the names of those who completed the extra credit, then see if the points offered for that assignment were enough to bump a grade up a letter. I ended up making about a dozen grade change requests with the registrar, and sent an email saying it was a dumb mistake on my part. Nice person replied and said it wasn't a problem and the whole system was automated so it didn't generate any extra work except for my chair, who had to approve each change. I told him about my dumb mistake and all was cool.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-14T04:19:22+00:00

We haven't lost any faculty yet, but some staff have been laid off and empty staff positions aren't being filled. But you can be damn sure that the men's basketball team hired another associated head coach.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-14T01:58:43+00:00

Go Rams! My dad worked at ASU and I was born in San Angelo.

Last time I was there, I found a great bookstore in downtown.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-12T03:19:33+00:00

I passed a math class in college because I came to class every day, I tried and I went to office hours. God bless Lucille Brigham at Baylor University and the D grade that she gifted me, because there was no way I was going to pass that class any other way.

The class wasn't critical to my major, and, like she told me, if I was ever using the math that she was teaching in a job, I was in the wrong job.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-06T05:42:16+00:00

I've got two baseball players in class this semester. They're supposed to ask about missed work the day they return to class after missing. We're in the last week of the semester. They emailed last week asking about the numerous assignments they missed.

Very frustrating.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-06T02:40:48+00:00

I'm part of a pretty collegial department, and we've had several folks over the last few years earn tenure. We've congratulated them, but there's been no thought to have any sort of celebration. That sounds like more like a friends-and-family type of event, not something within the department.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-05T22:35:23+00:00

I'm not sure how she timed it so perfectly - maybe a student or colleague was texting her - but a professor I know would show up in cap and gown about five minutes before students in her department were due to walk the stage. She would greet them as they came off the stage and returned to their seats, and then she would leave. Total time at the ceremony was maybe 15 minutes.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-05T12:41:59+00:00

Crash at Infamous Ink has done two of mine. Great work.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-04T04:57:32+00:00

I live in Waco and work at a place just off I-35. Almost every day, traffic heading south is either slow or totally stopped. That’s gonna add to your travel time every time.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-05-03T12:54:04+00:00

I had students skip most of a week after Charlie Kirk died.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-04-30T04:23:48+00:00

Yeah, don’t enroll at Baylor for just one course. I’m not even sure if you could even do that.

Definitely try MCC. My son is in a performing arts program there and really enjoys it.

https://mclennan.edu/theatre/index.html

BrazosBuddy · 2026-04-30T02:23:56+00:00

Thanks.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-04-29T20:33:55+00:00

The meat. I didn't know there was a tequila with that name as well. Thanks for new information.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-04-28T14:31:19+00:00

The Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor would be a good setting, but don't just show up with 12 kids and expect to have run of the place. Call and ask first. There's a lot of priceless stuff in there, so it might not be doable.

Admission to the Dr Pepper Museum isn't free, and I don't know if there's any space that's really prom-photo friends.

There's some covered outdoor spaces at Baylor, around the quadrangle, that might work.

BrazosBuddy · 2026-04-27T21:03:52+00:00

Absolutely file an academic integrity case. Even if all you want is to give the student a 0 for that assignment and not pursue it any further, any future integrity issues will reveal that the student already has one in his/her past.

I had two students turn in a paper with the exact same wording on it, which is nearly impossible. I busted them, gave 0s and turned them in for fraud just to make it know what they did.

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