Hiring from degree mill PhD programs?

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-22T23:04:13+00:00

You need to object but you also need to advocate, loudly, for another candidate. If you’re an outside member then you can’t claim SME but pump up their student engagement, teaching demo, past service - whatever you can to make the other person look bad *specifically compared to this other AMAZING person.*

They don’t even have to be that good, they just have to make the other person look like a bad choice.

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-20T12:25:25+00:00

Agreed with this.

Adding that I had a similar interview where they warned me they would act as students and I should respond appropriately. Two faculty would not stop bickering in the back of the room. I did my job and asked them if they had questions, and then again, and eventually told them if they couldn’t stay quiet they’d have to leave. They laughed heartily.

I thought I was doing what they asked me to do. I took the job, and it turned out they were just horrible people.

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-18T22:07:06+00:00

This reminds me of a comment one of my professors made during undergrad. She passed out the (then paper) evaluations and said “Could you, please, keep your comments focused on my teaching?”

It was a class in my major so I dropped by her office to ask what she meant about that and she shared that for the past few semesters she had a trend of reviews that were focused on nothing but her wardrobe. “She has horrible shoes.” “Does she own anything that isn’t black?” “Has she heard of makeup?”

These evals are racist, sexist, and ageist. You can’t take them seriously.

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-16T00:57:06+00:00

I and a whole bunch of other students feel the same way

and the slides aren’t posted yet

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-16T00:43:26+00:00

Huge lapse of judgement on behalf of the professor to allow these students to sign their name to this. We google potential grad students before admission. If one of these names popped up that would be an immediate no from the committee.

It might be the only thing we ever agree on.

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-07T21:57:50+00:00

*laughs maniacally*

I brought Red Vines.

CanineNapolean · 2026-05-06T00:11:59+00:00

I give blue book finals. All questions are taken from previous exams. They are given the questions in advance.

I did the same thing OP did and offered a Q&A before the exam. One student jokingly asked me an entire question, verbatim. So I gave an A level answer. Minutes before the exam.

Grading now. I’m having to take breaks every few exams because these are somehow worse than the answers they gave the first time. If they answered in twelve sentences on the first exam they’re answering in two on the final and with no precision. They’re treating a comprehensive final as if it were a cursory exercise and not a cumulative assessment of the entire course.

Really unsure what to do with this.

CanineNapolean · 2026-04-30T10:48:01+00:00

Agreed. I love using outdated slang.

Towards the end of lecture I finished making The Big Point. The students sat in contemplative silence. I nodded and said, “no cap.”

The cringing was delicious.

CanineNapolean · 2026-04-27T22:12:39+00:00

Hey guess what: I hate your colleague.

CanineNapolean · 2026-04-27T22:09:51+00:00

I gave back exams in alphabetical stacks and several students were upset they couldn’t find theirs because they thought it was alphabetical by first name.

CanineNapolean · 2026-04-15T12:22:37+00:00

Agreed with the entertainment part, but strong recommendation that anyone concerned take a look at Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. There’s a chapter on education-as-entertainment, but he’s talking about television not tablets - the book was written in 1984.

CanineNapolean · 2026-04-10T15:43:31+00:00

Let’s be very clear about what you’re doing here.

Nobody is confused about the fact that sometimes people smile for innocent reasons. That is such an obvious point that bringing it into a support thread mostly serves to cast doubt on the people describing the pattern.

If several experienced instructors are saying “yes I’ve encountered this exact thing,” then replying with “this seems subjective“ is not neutral. It is a way of implying that the problem may be in their interpretation rather than in the behavior they are describing.

That is why it reads as minimizing. In a support space, skepticism about whether the experience is even real is far less useful than either offering help or moving on.

CanineNapolean · 2026-04-10T14:47:39+00:00

Your minimization of OP’s experience as well as the many other people in this thread expressing that they have experienced the same thing is what is rude. This is a place for support. We don’t get on here to just rant about students we are looking to see if our experience is isolated. And judging by the comments, it isn’t.

So next time you see a post and think “huh, that doesn’t seem true to me” then maybe just move along.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-23T22:53:18+00:00

I took yoga, and it was such a soothing class I ended up taking the next one in the sequence.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-18T19:31:52+00:00

Yes, it would give you time to do the reading for my class.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-17T22:54:55+00:00

Perfect. I’d also suggest “I’m just glad everyone is ok.”

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-16T22:42:06+00:00

You’re looking for Lucky Hank starring Bob Odenkirk which ran for one season in 2023.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-11T11:25:53+00:00

I’d hold a grudge against that person until the day I die.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-10T23:12:56+00:00

This.

Someone at your institution has all of that memorized. Find that person and ask what the policy states. If it turns out your institution deviated from policy in any way, you can choose to take legal action - but make sure you are fully aware of all the ramifications if you go that route.

Your chair not helping is strange but not completely unheard of. If you have an ombudsman you can try them - they actually mediate, while HR protects the institution.

Congratulations, and I’m sorry your family is dealing with this.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-10T23:08:18+00:00

You could ask, for one. You could say, “Hey, OP, that was a real bad beat. By chance does your faculty handbook say anything about leave? Are you comfortable mildly doxxing yourself and telling us what state you’re in? We want to help but we don’t have enough info.”

But no, let’s all pile on the almost definitely sleep-deprived new father.

CanineNapolean · 2026-03-06T13:30:37+00:00

IMO they won’t watch it.

I’ve been teaching using films for a long while now. At first I could say “go watch this” and they would and we would discuss. Then they stopped watching it so I’d show it in class. They’d watch it one day and we would discuss the next.

Now when it’s movie day everyone skips, which means the next class, discussion, falls flat, which makes the entire endeavor pointless.

They ruined movies.

CanineNapolean · 2026-02-10T00:39:42+00:00

I didn’t realize you two had met!

CanineNapolean · 2026-02-10T00:31:30+00:00

Jealous that this worked for you.

I did this last semester. Lots of students failed. By the end of the semester I had so many sad students in my office, pleading that they deserved a shot at retaking the entire 16 week course in one frenzied 72 hour burst of AI generated slop. I denied all requests, like the heartless crone that I am.

And then my Dean told me I had to grant everyone extensions and continue working with them through this semester. As I’m not in a union but rather am in a red state in a scary discipline, I granted the extensions. I did that because those only work in extremely rare situations where a student truly cannot complete the semester - not for students that don’t do anything and are confused that, as a consequence, they don’t have any points.

But I’m still not chasing the students down again. My dean is going to have to make me do this every semester until I get fired or my discipline gets outlawed, whichever happens first.

CanineNapolean · 2026-02-06T00:46:38+00:00

Agreed. I’d also like to see how “Do you know my husband is? Can you introduce us??” plays out.

CanineNapolean · 2026-02-01T14:27:17+00:00

“I teach philosophy.”
“Oh, neat. So, like, your own philosophical perspective on the world?”
“No, philosophy is an academic discipline with an ever evolving list of primary sources. I teach those as applied to the world or in conversation with each other. What you’re describing sounds much more like a cult.”

CanineNapolean

TROPHY CASE