My assistantship is about to end. I've had it for the last four years, and it appears that it is in its last year. Last summer, I was already convinced it was at an end because the program I was tied to (Forensics and Debate) was moving from Theater to Communications, and I knew that Communications wasn't too excited about paying for an assistantship, even though it originally had come from the Provost's Office. This year, I'm still not sure what happened, but the Graduate College picked up my assistantship for the year, and I was pretty much told that it would be ending at the end of this year. That's fine. I wasn't really expecting it to last this long anyway. I'm presently applying for an associateship through Political Science, and I hope I get one. If not, I'll live; not happily, but I'll live. I'm only a year away from writing my dissertation anyway, so it's not a big deal.
The problem I'm running into is Forensics and Debate itself. There are about ten students tied to this team, and I am really concerned that they continue to be able to do this activity. Unfortunately, it's not just my assistantship that's a problem, but the problem is money for the team itself AND the fact that they won't have a coach next year. Sure, they might be able to scrounge up someone to manage the team, but there's a big difference between someone with a lot of Forensics experience and someone who pretty much doesn't really know a lot.
So, at tonight's meeting, I tried to pass onto the team how important it is for them to start going back through the Provost's Office to continue funding (the funding came from there as well as the assistantship). For some reason, no matter how much I kept trying to tell these people, I don't think they were really listening. The "fantasy" of getting a doctorate professor to coach the team seemed to completely blanket the realities of the situation. After awhile, I gave up trying to suggest what they need to do in order to save this team. I feel horrible about it, but I'm so tired of trying to work in the background for this organization only to feel like I'm fighting the team as well as the administration. It's been very frustrating, and I think I'm going to slowly just pull out and take care of my own stuff from this period on.
Stumble It!
The problem I'm running into is Forensics and Debate itself. There are about ten students tied to this team, and I am really concerned that they continue to be able to do this activity. Unfortunately, it's not just my assistantship that's a problem, but the problem is money for the team itself AND the fact that they won't have a coach next year. Sure, they might be able to scrounge up someone to manage the team, but there's a big difference between someone with a lot of Forensics experience and someone who pretty much doesn't really know a lot.
So, at tonight's meeting, I tried to pass onto the team how important it is for them to start going back through the Provost's Office to continue funding (the funding came from there as well as the assistantship). For some reason, no matter how much I kept trying to tell these people, I don't think they were really listening. The "fantasy" of getting a doctorate professor to coach the team seemed to completely blanket the realities of the situation. After awhile, I gave up trying to suggest what they need to do in order to save this team. I feel horrible about it, but I'm so tired of trying to work in the background for this organization only to feel like I'm fighting the team as well as the administration. It's been very frustrating, and I think I'm going to slowly just pull out and take care of my own stuff from this period on.
Stumble It!
posted by Duane @ 9:46 PM
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