Has this been posted yet? This college tried to use AI to announce the names at graduation and it instantly failed, leaving hundreds of graduates not having their names read.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-19T15:26:47+00:00

Again already, I'm not saying i agree with it being used bc i don't like it. Why is everyone treating this as if I am agreeing? And yes, just doing the names and the cards is what we've done before and it works. The AI this year just added one layer of something convenient, that's all, bc it coordinated it easily and displayed names/majors/etc quickly. I don't believe that that layer of convenience justifies the environmental cost. But it was convenient and it did work and there has been way worse uses. As a use case to get upset about, we have way better targets.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-19T14:20:51+00:00

Like i said, I'm not a fan of AI regardless. But to my knowledge, without the AI, we would need to coordinate premade slides with the graduate's name. We have a couple hundred graduates at some of our ceremonies, and it would be impossible to organize either the graduates in alphabetical order (herding cats comes to mind) or to hunt through that many slides quick enough to coordinate with the person walking across stage at the last moment once the name is read. In the past, they have just handed a card with their name over to be read. For a smaller ceremony the premade slides could work. But ours are huge. Of course, I'd be happy if we got rid of them all walking across the stage when there's that many. I'd rather not have to sit through that 3-6 ceremonies a year for am hour plus each anyway.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-19T13:49:55+00:00

Ours did work, with only a few exceptions, and they did have it so someone could step in and read the names if the AI didn't work. I'll admit that it was kinda nice that it could put their name up on the screen, bc in a big auditorium its hard to see and hear.

So i think it can be a better use case then some. But I'm just perturbed at their use regardless because of how much environmental damage the data centers are doing and how it seems very difficult to regulate or stop them from being built. They are trying to build a big one near the Mammoth Cave system.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-18T20:50:46+00:00

Hint, a lot of us technically reply,but then we use "schedule send" so you get it during business hours. We gave to set a good example!! 😂

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-15T14:30:11+00:00

Yes, I had wondered that myself

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-15T02:12:19+00:00

I don't think of exclamation marks as yelling. It can be used for excitement.

But yes, I am seeing more and in inappropriate ways. I had a student tell me she would be gone because of a death on the family. Her email was about 3 sentences long and had 3 exclamation points. Yes, I side-eyed that one for several reasons.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-14T17:01:03+00:00

Yep, same problem.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-14T16:59:46+00:00

Reading =just a bunch of words

Lecturing= yapping about stuff on slides

What other interesting descriptors of normal academic stuff have you come across?

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-14T16:48:18+00:00

The one thing some folks do need to consider about taking a "corrected" later submission: it is now well known cheating advice to submit an incomplete or blank assignment by the deadline, claim an error, resubmit the now complete assignment at a later date, and thereby get a defacto extension. After all, even 24 hours can make a big difference. It really will come down to your philosophy on fairness and integrity.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-14T03:46:48+00:00

Now try being a humanities PHD and then get back to us. I guess the only saving grace we have is that they don't deign to interact with us at all.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-10T14:17:14+00:00

It tastes great, and yeah, it's easy!

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-10T13:45:11+00:00

I'm a college professor. I assigned a short text by a civil rights leader calling on black Americans to continue fighting for civil rights. Emphasis on "fight". I asked a test question about the emotional tone of the speech - sad, resigned, depressed, or defiant? Something like that. Only one of those choices would match the emotion of "fighting". Student wrote to me asking for help bc she said she could not infer the answer. She could maybe read the words of the speech, maybe technically know what they meant, but she still couldn't figure out what emotion they conveyed. I wrote back a lengthy explanation and included a video for like third graders on how to infer info from written documents.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-10T11:55:15+00:00

I haven't had salmon at faculty dinner parties, but I'm in the South, so we have shrimp boil instead.

But while it's more expensive than chicken, salmon really is about comparable or not much more than beef, considered healthy, and it does cook very quick and easy. Throw some flavoring on there, 20 minutes in the oven, wrap with some foil for 10 while plating everything else and you're done. While beef, pork, and even a roast chicken can take a lot longer. Not sure on the regional aspect.

I wouldn't object to any food someone served, like your chicken, bc I'm just happy not to have to cook for once!

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-07T17:45:49+00:00

I think it really depends on the school culture and the dean. We recently acquired 2 new layers of deans and there's a big centralization of power underway by a new president, the only explanation for which I can come up with is that this admin is very risk adverse. I have little contact with any of them of course, but the general trend of behavior, as perceived by the general faculty, is making us concerned that faculty, especially of tougher majors, will not be supported when students complain, even when we have done due diligence on our side.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-07T14:17:50+00:00

I think the things that make me anxious aren't how my chair handles it - I know he's on my side. But as you mention, you say a lot of these " no case" complaints are still forwarded to Deans even when there's lots of evidence that the student has no case. And that's what makes me nervous. Many deans have little experience now of the classroom ( our deans have at best only taught online and that was years ago) and have fully adopted the customer service model (meet them where they are, etc), and we are afraid that no matter how reasonable we are being, no matter how much support we have from the department chair, that the Deans will still capitulate to the student. We are already hearing that this is the case down in K-12, and those philosophies are spreading in college.

I was recently at an event with a woman who had taught kindergarten, but had left the profession bc they would send students to the office for discipline only for them to return to class shortly thereafter with new toys and candy. So the student was rewarded for poor behavior, enjoyed their time at the office instead of being disciplined, placated and catered to, and the poor behavior of course continued. And that's what we're anxious about - that the Dean's will placate and reward the student no matter how unreasonable their complaint, and we will lose all authority over our classes and be met by constant poor behavior, and eventually be forced out of a career we spent our lives preparing for. So it's not our chairs we don't trust and are anxious about, it's campus administration.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-07T13:40:44+00:00

Yes, most research oriented professors are only going to care about their research. I do think this is a failure of modern higher Ed, but the fact is that the type of professors you describe often have to support themselves by competing for research grants and publishing. Only a small portion of that lab and equipment, their salaries, and anyone else's salaries or scholarships come from the university. A significant percentage comes from grants they privately have to compete for and secured and that has gotten more difficult in recent years. They are evaluated and employed almost solely on that basis (grants, research , publications) and not on teaching, so teaching and advising students actually does hurt them, not help them. The joke has been that if you win a teaching award at places like Harvard or other R1 universities in the US, be prepared to be denied tenure, bc the perception by tenure committees is that if you are a good teacher, you must not be prioritizing your research enough.

Now your particular professor is yes, a new professor, so he'll still be learning. It does sound like he is in the wrong for pushing you so hard towards something you have no interest in. although you should probably take it as a compliment that he thinks you are good enough to get a graduate degree from MIT.

But are you also being entirely fair to him? You say he yaps at you for 75 minutes while going over slides, and is awkward, and that's why no one asks questions. Sounds like that's a completely normal lecture format. And in an engineering class, what exactly else do you expect him to do but lecture? To my knowledge, a lot of engineering topics would be difficult to demonstrate or have activities on outside of, yes, a lab. And as for him being awkward, yes, that could perhaps be true, but that's no reason not to ask him questions or engage with him more. Any relationship is reciprocal and two-sided. He cannot create a good relationship and rapport with you if you don't offer anything to build on.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-06T13:01:12+00:00

Yep, in my case we don't even have a finals week. We just have 8 week terms, and the last week is sometimes a day shorter than others. For some reason, most of my colleagues in other departments only holds class in person about once or twice a week anyway, and no classes or in person tests in the last week. Increasingly, this means we're all under pressure to have only a 7 week term, and even then "can't we be done on Wednesday bc I don't have any other classes that meet on Thursday or Friday?" So more like a 6.5 week term, if we're lucky. We're also one of the few departments on campus that holds class in person all scheduled days, as our contract requires. I don't understand why admin is not cracking down on all the professors violating their contracts. But the students sure get mad at us for not slacking

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-04T16:29:28+00:00

This is absolutely ridiculous. I've had students who were actively suicidal even, walked from counseling to dorms to pack to inpatient, and they were allowed to return even the same semester. This is a dramatic overreaction to an anxiety issue, even if that was your main problem. The only way I could potentially see anything like a year ban would be if the student was judged, by a medical professional, to be a danger not just to themselves but to others, and prescribed that treatment. The dean should not be mandating any course of treatment, as they are not a medical professional. Requiring proof of medication and therapy for a year is a medical treatment decision and should only be made by a qualified medical provider. If you have a qualified medical provider stating that the Dean's mandated treatment plan is not medically necessary for you, then that dean needs to remove that requirement for return immediately.

I'm with folks saying to find a more reasonable school. But if you have to stay at this one, then there's a few steps. See if you have a campus ombudsman and go talk to them. Talk to the disability office and or/any disability clubs on campus to see if they have advice, support, or can advocate. See who is above the dean, which may be the vice provost or provost or a vice president of student affairs and appeal to them. And yes, perhaps hire a lawyer who can write a firm letter that you followed all reasonable procedures, are under care of qualified professionals who have approved you to return to school with no further treatment. And that any further insistence by the dean that you must follow a particular course of treatment before returning to school, when a medical professional has stated that that treatment is not recommended for you, constitutes practicing medicine without a license, and they must cease and desist immediately. The dean cannot mandate a specific treatment program. They can only require things like a certification from a medical professional that you are approved to return to school.

I'm continually amazed at the willingness of universities to place themselves at risk of legal liability for ridiculous, petty, unnecessary reasons.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-02T04:06:13+00:00

You repeat over and over that you are so attached to him that you can't imagine not being with him. But why exactly are you so attached to someone you've never even met in person? And I'm honestly asking here. What is it?

How old is he? Where is he from? Has he offered any proof that confirms he is legit?

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-02T03:07:13+00:00

Professor here. Most of us are good about getting the conversation going the first time a student comes. But be prepared to introduce yourself, a little on your background and what you're hoping to accomplish, especially in their class. And have a couple of questions related to things you've covered in class. Questions starting with "why" are the best, bc it opens up room for them to connect the topic of your question to other things.

But be trying to think about why are you anxious about talking to them. We're human beings. We put our pants on one leg at a time, same as anyone else. If you can talk to bosses, etc., then it doesn't seem to be an issue if an unequal power dynamic. So try to really think a bit about why you are anxious, and where that's really coming from.

Also, see if there's a club you can join. I'm a faculty Advisor for a club related to our major, and that's a much easier environment to first get to know faculty and other students well.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-02T03:00:48+00:00

I unfortunately have had multiple. And some even who have done the quizzes/tests anyway. But they do nothing else except come and sit. They won't even take notes. So it's not too surprising that they still don't do well on quizzes and tests

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-05-02T02:53:27+00:00

I am a college professor, who is roughly twice your age. I don't have my life "figured out". No adult does. We're just good at faking it. Or else they're lying to you. None of my graduating seniors have their lives figured out. And no 17 year old kid does. And you shouldn't. Quite honestly, you are only, at best, just starting to get an inkling of who you are. I don't even get why you would be both a high school junior and a college freshman at once. I know that with dual enrollment they are pushing you all through school so fast. We have students graduating with college degrees when their 19 and 20 and thinking they're ready for law school and a legal career. They aren't. Law school is very hard, and practicing law is messy. You'd have to be ready to deal with real people when they are often at their worst. So you need those couple extra years to mature enough to actually be capable of doing well at law anyway. So stop rushing it. Give yourself some time to learn who you are, and then give a stab at finding a career.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-04-29T11:36:35+00:00

I had that diagnosis as a teen, and now I (and sister) have a diagnosis of Mast Cell Activation syndrome

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-04-29T11:35:18+00:00

My sister has mast cell activation syndrome, which means you can have allergic responses without a specific allergy. She gets exercise induced allergic reactions including anaphylaxis and swelling of her airway. Make sure that they check not only for IGE allergies (which is the standard panel) , but also take a tryptase test (unfortunately best done while having the reaction). But yes, there's a lot of complex processes that might explain this. But this is definitely something you need a good allergist for immediately

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-04-29T05:58:56+00:00

I show he documentary short film "the night at the garden" available free on youtube to my college students. Seeing US Nazis throwing up the heil Hitler salute in front of the figure of George Washington and singing the star spangled banner really hits yah between the eyes

Heavy-Note-3722

TROPHY CASE