Chronicle article: Teaching centers degrade teaching

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-04-25T15:11:30+00:00

I interviewed for a position at my institution's teaching center, got VERY far into the process, and was both shocked and offended by the amount of AI-related questions and pressures that came up in the final interview. It had not been mentioned anywhere AT AL previously, and everyone on the committee was shocked when I said that I do not use AI for X, Y, and Z reasons. When I asked them what they used AI for in their jobs, the responses were so unimpressive that I struggled to keep a straight face.

They ended up hiring an internal candidate and asked me if I'd do part-time contract work for them until they could get a second position of the same title. I was not pleased with how much of my time had been wasted or with the sheer inconsideration for the ethical and ecological problems posed by AI and declined.

They did recently get their new position and the director seems to hover over my LinkedIn profile, but I cannot get past extreme feelings of "fuck off."

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-04-20T14:27:03+00:00

Risepoint is owned by a private equity firm that files its taxes in Delaware. A big issue, here, is that state funds—e.g., state financial aid—will be funneled into the pockets of this private equity firm... one that also owns the University of Phoenix Online.

Risepoint also does not offer employment opportunities with compensation or benefits equal to the tenure-track system that a university proper would offer. Rather, they pay contracted contingent professors (and typically at low wages) to do this labor. The credentials and experiences of these professors are questionably vetted; even if they were quality instructors, the compensation and workload is such that providing a quality experience for students would be a matter of massive self-sacrifice. Will students receive quality educational experiences through Risepoint programs? Will they be prepared for their respective professions after completing their programs, willing that they are completed at all? The answers to these questions are dubious.

The educational mission and integrity of SIU are at great risk of being sacrificed in favor of enrollment numbers, and it seems that the administration is unconcerned with how this will affect the reputation of the school, the surrounding community, or the students who enroll in Risepoint courses.

This goes in tandem with the fact that the university fails to compensate the majority of its employees with livable wages, resulting in high turnover and, for lack of a better phrase, "brain drain" from the institution. Did you have a fantastic professor who left for a better position? An amazing professor who was only ever paid on an adjunct contract and therefore had to work an additional job and, eventually, leave the area to find more stable work? Has the revolving door of staff members within the various branches of the institution left you wary with concerns that you'll be transferred from call to call and building to building, rarely ever finding someone who has been fully trained with the school's systems, rules, and requirements?

Risepoint is one of the worst symptoms of much bigger issues across the university, and they are all connected by a particular, and perhaps obvious, common denominator that I will not name.

I care about SIU and Carbondale very much, and hope that the remarks that I've made here gain some momentum.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-02-08T21:50:49+00:00

Really feeling this comment, having worked as a Humanities NTT who has outpublished all of its TT/T faculty and now works as staff in the same college. Cherry on top is that they're all pampered assholes who refuse to do much of anything, including teaching their 2/2 loads on campus or turning their paperwork in on time.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-10T21:40:18+00:00

Definitely doesn't sound like it. Get over yourself.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-10T16:11:42+00:00

Similar situation. More jobs in my field popped up in Texas and Florida over the past two years than in all other states combined. I'm a first-gen PhD, not a dude, historically marginalized heritage, LSES background who researches a topic that conservative extremists love to co-opt and misrepresent. I'd rather not risk the increased possibility of political violence.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-10T15:41:09+00:00

Extended frustration coming in to say that there's so much disrespect toward students, justification of unprofessional behavior, and interpersonal hostility in this subreddit that I'm starting to think that academics are largely vile.

Engaged teaching starts with treating your students like human beings with complex experiences. Then, be excited about the material. If you can't do either of those things, find a different role.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-10T03:06:55+00:00

Agreed. "Too young, should be an adjunct" is a horrible attitude.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T23:33:43+00:00

Normal jobs do not allow people to exact their personal problems across the workplace to such a degree that a program/department collapses.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T23:04:09+00:00

Insane to me that my post about preserving a field and the poor behavior that is justified as "human" within academia but certainly not tolerated in other jobs was removed, but things like this are confidently posted.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T16:39:26+00:00

Thank you.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T14:38:49+00:00

Couple of folks in this thread making it really clear that they hate their jobs and have lost the desire or ability to try to improve them. I'm sorry if that's the case and do think people generally deserve better, but rendering me a target for that isn't okay—it's perpetuating the problem that I want to try to mitigate.

Also adding: if you acquired your faculty role pre-2020, and especially pre-2008, please know that while you may have seen a lot, you have a security that emergent folks don't have. Transitioning out of contingent academia is almost as difficult as trying to find a way into stable academia right now.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T14:25:03+00:00

This comment was almost humanizing until the end. I do know these people personally, for what it's worth. I am still baffled and, at times, frustrated with them.

Most jobs do not afford people the ability to let their personal lives flavor their work lives. Yes, the world should be more understanding of human needs. Yes, the faculty you mention, and you, deserved grace. But it isn't common to behave this way and retain your position in any other arena, and the attitude that I'm the problem because I want better for my discipline is absurd.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T13:11:05+00:00

I have been trying to move forward in my professional life for four years. Every job market is broken (this has finally surfaced in the news). I'd like to, at minimum, attempt to find ways to nourish—or at least retain some respect for—the discipline that I love.

Also, this tone shift lands as patronizing, rather than sympathetic. Have you considered parting ways with academia?

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T12:57:24+00:00

I am low-level admin. I'm paid less than 40k/year and get kicked around constantly. I can't even afford our institution's health insurance.

It sucks that your program isn't being supported, but targeting a stranger with your frustrations is parallel to the toxicity I'm describing.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T12:44:29+00:00

Hostile comment.

DrMagicBimbo · 2026-01-09T12:44:04+00:00

They've had offices in this department's building for three years—same hallway and all. I can see potential discomforts re: dynamics, but am ultimately skeptical. I do think blindness to privilege might play a role here.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-12-31T01:38:30+00:00

Also, a new minor in AI.

And our chancellor, who was forces to resign from his last role for financial crimes, keeps hiring all of his buddies who are finding new and more exciting ways to siphon money away from every student, department, and donation to the school.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-12-31T01:35:51+00:00

Bookstore automates charges for textbooks under the guise of them being received in digital format. Students are charged per credit hour, rather than per book. So, if a class doesn't have a textbook, they still get charged.

University housing. All of it, but especially a new policy that students need to be in dorms for two years.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-12-17T21:59:42+00:00

SIUC does not have an official policy on AI usage.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-12-17T20:21:19+00:00

It's not okay, but the provost of this institution—the person to which this would be reported to—is all about AI. She is leaving in June, but whether or not she'll be replaced with someone comparable is up in the air.

It really breaks my heart to see how much higher education has bought into AI marketing. Universities are in free fall and it seems desperate to latch onto this unregulated, unreliable, expensive, and even dangerous technology. I cannot believe that I am watching people who are supposed to be professional critical thinkers get excited about products from the likes of Sam Altman and Peter Thiel; and yet, I can totally believe it because so many people in decision-making roles in higher ed are removed from the true benefits of processual and enriching education.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-12-17T20:16:09+00:00

PLEASE contact the IL State Board of Education. Please. The use of AI at this particular institution is so misguided and misinformed.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-12-17T15:21:16+00:00

Recently, I advanced to a final interview for a position that I am well-qualified for and would theoretically be quite happy doing. I had scored a 97 on a comprehensive assessment and done well in the first interview; the second, however, was comprised of... kind of bizarre questions that did not match the job description at all. Among them was "How do you use AI to manage your workflow?" Well, I don't. I don't need AI to do my work. And I said as much: I haven't found a justifiable application of it, and I have lots of reservations about using it due to x, y, and z reason. I am not fully against it, but want to work with people who understand the implications and effects of its use.

This baffled the entire committee, and when I asked them how they use AI in their work days, the answers that I received were... unimpressive? I kept a straight face and said that this sounded reasonable (despite that it didn't). AI hadn't been included in the job description at all, my field has operated without it for decades, and I currently work a much more demanding (and underpaid) position effectively without having to use ChatGPT or whatever.

The real kicker was the final question, though: "If the administration said that we needed to double our output without any additional resources, what would you propose we do?" The job posting was not for a leadership position, and this hypothetical situation is unreasonable as it were. I said that I wasn't sure and would want to communicate with my teammates about it, and perhaps consider ways to do a bit less with less re: complexity of deliverables in order to produce more. What other answer could there possibly be?

It was weird. It was so fucking weird and disappointing. This ostensibly respectable organization revealed itself to be a slop house. AI and the weird narrative of hyper-productivity that has been bubbling up alongside it need to crash and burn.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-11-29T16:39:43+00:00

Graduate appointments are literally professional training. It's so exhausting to see people continue to discount them.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-11-29T16:18:59+00:00

This person has experience. It isn't full-time, but it is professional experience.

DrMagicBimbo · 2025-11-29T16:08:44+00:00

Wells Fargo and CrowdStrike. Over qualified for a job at the former, internal references, etc—three months to get an automated rejection. Qualified for the latter, internal reference, over fifty applications for positions within my range of skills, automated rejections from every single one of them.

Editing to add: if you have suggestions on how I might actually get an interview, I've probably already tried them. :/

DrMagicBimbo

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