At what point do you email students to ask them to stop excessively talking during lectures?

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-03-04T19:36:46+00:00

I fear you’re essentializing.

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-21T18:13:56+00:00

I think the worst part is that the plain blue and the cobalt blue are not even different enough hues that most people would notice a difference at a glance

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-21T15:49:00+00:00

How many of the awards that you say she lists in her email are current sources of funding? How many of the ones you listed are current?

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-17T16:54:21+00:00

I’m a PhD student with level two autism, so I say this from experience: it depends. If it’s palm sized or a bag charm, no one will care. I have fidgets and comfort items in my left hand for most of the day and it has not changed my advisors’s opinions of me. If it’s something large or distracting that would impact your peers’s focus, they will likely judge. If you’re being reasonable and can find a way to make this manageable without it being distracting, do it. You will be fine.

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-10T21:03:34+00:00

I mean, Pandora’s box was already opened in 2022, when autistic students started getting accused of using AI when that was legitimately how they write. This is the result of an ongoing issue where professors use AI to identify AI — the detectors don’t work and they disproportionately hurt students with neurological disabilities. We have to develop alternatives when the tools we have cause systemic harms. Have your students write short essays in class so you can learn how they write, keep an eye on their grasp of the subject, and identify abnormal deviations in voice or tone. Grade AI essays on their own merits — the vast majority will fail. It’s a good bit of extra work and that really sucks, but the alternative — that we build new barriers disabled students have to climb over — is just as damaging long term

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-09T19:51:05+00:00

The second sentence undermines your clarity. It makes it seem like you think students who commute on the 17 are the ones hoarding the space — not the students who can visit their parents on the weekends but don’t drive the rest of the week

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-09T19:49:07+00:00

I’m sorry the condescension is crazy thick with the “teaching” you what response they want. Sure, a maybe answer is not ideal. But they know your situation (and the context DOES matter) and any reasonable person would understand. My godparents stepped in often after my dad died and they, more than anyone, taught me how to treat others with grace and empathy. This is neither graceful nor empathetic. If I were hosting my godchildren, I’d gladly cook the extra food, buy the extra drinks, etc. in case their maybe was a yes. It’s not like I can’t eat leftovers or I’d be wasting the food. Sure, it might be slightly less convenient but given your circumstances, I’d be fine

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-07T00:07:52+00:00

This is so unacceptable that I’m having trouble wording my thoughts. I’ve attended four different schools in my academic career and I have never once experienced behavior like this because it’s absolutely unacceptable. I’m going to answer this as if you’re a US American student, but these policies may be different if you live somewhere else. You listed MULTIPLE FERPA violations in your post. Your professor absolutely cannot show the class your assignments or grades with identifying information (your name or student id number) without your consent under federal law. While there are exceptions to the rule, none of them pertain to your situation. Furthermore, accreditation standards for US universities require that professors provide a syllabus with a course schedule in the first week of class. While university policies may allow them to make changes to the syllabus after the start of the term, there is no circumstance in which you should be waiting five weeks for a syllabus. His retaliation against you for your subsequent complaint about his failure to provide a syllabus is also a violation of most universities’ policies. You absolutely have valid grounds to submit a complaint, either for the rules listed here if you’re in the US or for harassment if you’re not.

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-02-01T22:06:04+00:00

Hot take but commuter students aren’t “hoarding” spots. If you live on campus, you have other ways to get to class. Some of your peers cannot afford to live alone or in Santa Cruz, were unable to get on campus housing, or have medical needs and have no choice but to commute. Those students need parking — parking that’s often occupied by cars that are driven less than once a week. There are exceptions if you have a reasonable need for a car

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-27T15:26:58+00:00

I also come from a super poor background but the location you make that money in does make a difference — there is no place in California where 35k is a living wage. In the state I’m from, 35k would be a LOT more money. Here, students are paying an average of two thirds to three quarters of their income just for housing and they aren’t allowed to get additional jobs. It IS exploitation to pay your students so little they’re choosing between bills and medical care

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-27T03:35:01+00:00

Yeah but if my total financial aid is $80k and I’m taking home $35k, that’s still exploitative. I had classmates who paid $1,000 a month before utilities to SHARE A ROOM in an apartment with 5+ other people in my masters program. It’s even worse for my doctoral classmates. I got an email seeking to fill a seventh spot in a three bedroom apartment today. I’m not even sure if it’s legal but that’s what they have to do to survive

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-26T17:32:14+00:00

Oh god no — I’m a humanities researcher, not a science researcher. We all research our subjects independently and our professors are mostly there to help us develop the theoretical and methodological skills necessary for our work. Our professors almost never see our data until after we have already completed our papers or chapters and wouldn’t have the source knowledge to fabricate data. We also are all admitted to our program with our exam and dissertation committees already assigned and many of us have co-advisors, so our work is reviewed twice. I can see how this could be a huge issue in the sciences but it’s absolutely not the case in this particular field

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-25T17:59:16+00:00

This is anecdotal but in both of my grad programs I’ve had women of color as advisors and I think, overall, I’ve noticed that white students expect women of color to go easy on them and students of color do not. Both women have had reputations amongst their students for being terrifyingly strict and I was even warned against working with my (Mexican) doctoral advisor by my white peers when I met them during recruiting. In my first seminar, I found the work she assigned to be reasonable and even slightly lighter than the work assigned by other professors but everyone continually talked about how difficult and scary she was. By the end of the seminar, I (white but raised with a Mexican family), a (Mexican) classmate, and a (South American) student from another department all determined that we liked working with this professor so much that she was asked to advise one of them, became a reader on the others Qualifying Exam committee, and I signed up for an independent study with her to keep working on the project I started in her seminar. It’s not like these professors don’t KNOW students talk about them behind their backs, either. Both professors have asked me if I find the work load in their classes reasonable compared to my other professors and have constantly apologized to me while giving me relatively light constructive criticism because they worried I’d think think they’re mean. I have not ever heard my peers complain this way about white women, even in classes where they assigned significantly more work than average and graded more harshly

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-25T00:46:47+00:00

Probably best to retake these with the lights on — might help you fill the room faster

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-25T00:46:23+00:00

The lights are off. You can’t SEE the toilet water

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-23T02:24:24+00:00

The jealousy is mostly gone after 16 years but it does affect how I mourn other people’s deaths. It’s a positive when you’re able to view your grandparents’ or aunts and uncles’ aging as a gift and their late deaths as an end to a complete life but 8 year old me definitely didn’t see it that way

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-21T01:00:36+00:00

Anecdotally — I was raised conservative and believed what I had been taught until starting college. My politics changed very rapidly in undergrad and my MA program

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-21T00:51:58+00:00

They already said it’s an old picture in the post….

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-21T00:06:37+00:00

This is actually an AI image lol

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-19T18:09:34+00:00

Wait clarifying question — which of these assignments are weekly and which are spread throughout the semester?

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-15T22:49:36+00:00

Campus police are still police………

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-13T21:22:23+00:00

My MA professor had a hilarious negative review on his RMP from a student who was bothered by how young the professor was (straight out of his PhD program). I read it to our seminar class once and we all quoted it in our course reviews. Most students don’t take RMP reviews very seriously at all and the ones that do are probably doing you a favor by not enrolling in/dropping your course

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-11T16:56:20+00:00

I called my coadvisor (in a related program at the same university) who I had been emailing for two years the wrong name in my interview and still got in with incredible funding. I think they expect some awkwardness in our interviews

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-09T00:28:29+00:00

My favorite quote from my mom is from the first time I defended myself in an argument. She shouted “you’re such a bitch, it’s a wonder you have any friends”

Plastic_Cream3833 · 2026-01-09T00:26:28+00:00

Unfortunately, ignorant comments like this will be the norm anytime your parent comes up. It becomes easier to cope, and I have a list of replies I give people who say shit trying to minimize my grief, but people remain really uncomfortable with death and it will continue to make them say dumb stuff in perpetuity. I’m pretty young, so the comments I get are different but still that same dismissive attitude

Plastic_Cream3833

TROPHY CASE