OT: Rutgers hires unqualified prof, suspends him for admitting it

[moqui]

Anthro dept. assigned a prof to teach a course for which he was unqualified. First day of class, he admitted as much to his students and told them he would be learning the material along with them. Rutgers officials then suspended him.

Seems the academic side is borrowing the hiring philosophy of the Athletic Department

 

[NineOneSeven]

That...is incredible.

 

[cto]

Crazy story. Sounds like he's a tenured professor there. Guess they are stuck with him forever.

 

[Lawrinson14]

Actually, it sounds like an interesting social experiment. Can someone who is learning the material on the spot teach it better than say someone who learned it years ago and now simply goes through the motions?

 

[Col. Bleep]

Anthro dept. assigned a prof to teach a course for which he was unqualified. First day of class, he admitted as much to his students and told them he would be learning the material along with them. Rutgers officials then suspended him.

Seems the academic side is borrowing the hiring philosophy of the Athletic Department

I like this guy...just for this quote alone:

“I don’t want to sound immodest, but I am one of the greatest social theorists in evolutionary biology alive, period,” Trivers told the campus newspaper.

He's the Charles Darwin of New Brunswick.
Wonder if he can explain how come Rutgers never seems to evolve into a good basketball school.

 

[AlaskaSU]

I like this guy...just for this quote alone:

“I don’t want to sound immodest, but I am one of the greatest social theorists in evolutionary biology alive, period,” Trivers told the campus newspaper.

He's the Charles Darwin of New Brunswick.
Wonder if he can explain how come Rutgers never seems to evolve into a good basketball school.

What the hell is a social theorist in evolutionary biology? How would one know who is the greatest or the poorest? are his theories provable or are they like global warming whose advocates garner proof whether temperatures are rising or falling? why are NJ taxpayers paying his salary? who else would hire him?

 

[midloviking]

What the hell is a social theorist in evolutionary biology? How would one know who is the greatest or the poorest? are his theories provable or are they like global warming whose advocates garner proof whether temperatures are rising or falling? why are NJ taxpayers paying his salary? who else would hire him?

My dad always said, "Son, it doesn't matter if a turd sinks or floats it still needs to be flushed."

 

[JoeSU]

Rutgers didn't just hire this guy off the street to teach the course. He is a distinguished, tenured, 70 year old professor.
It is a lot of work to prepare lecture for any course for the first time (let alone a subject outside your area of expertise), and my reading of this is his Dept Chair assigned him to teach this course in an attempt to prompt his retirement. I'd be willing to bet that there's more to this story, but it seems like a shoddy tactic to get rid of someone. Wait until the AAUP gets a hold of this.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Also, it is entirely possible to remove a tenured professor. Also also, there is no such thing as being "qualified" to teach a college course ... teaching assistants often teach courses and don't have graduate degrees yet.

 

[moqui]

Rutgers didn't just hire this guy off the street to teach the course.

yeah, I know . . . but I couldn't figure out how to make a clever thread title, so I massaged it a little.

Just like the real headline writers do.

 

[JoeSU]

Also, it is entirely possible to remove a tenured professor. Also also, there is no such thing as being "qualified" to teach a college course ... teaching assistants often teach courses and don't have graduate degrees yet.

1. It is possible to terminate a tenured professor, but it is extremely difficult. Usually it involves egregious offenses like academic dishonesty and moral turpitude. Nationally about 2% of tenured professors are dismissed in a given year.
2. Being "qualified" to teach a course refers to competence and knowledge of the subject matter, not how long someone has been teaching or their degree. To use an analogy, the situation at RU would be like a medical school assigning a world-renowned cardiologist to teach a course in Podiatry. In this case, a 1st year Resident who specializes in Podiatry would be eminently more qualified.