Meetings

The faculty meetings that close the year begin tomorrow. I have to look at the agenda, but I think that we are discussing students who are in danger of getting kicked out. That usually makes for an entertaining meeting, and sometimes it can get pretty heated. I rarely feel very strongly one way or the other, so I vote based on my feelings towards other faculty members. If a teacher that I don't like wants a student to stay, I'll vote for that student to leave. Sometimes I really don't like colleagues on both sides of the debate. Then it gets tricky.

In general, teachers are pretty good about keeping their personal feelings towards students from affecting the grades they give them. On days like tomorrow, however, the personal relationships that students have with faculty can be crucial. Usually, if a student is well liked, people will vote for him to stay. On those rare occasions when we vote for a well liked student to leave, it's fun to see the tortured justifications we come up with. Anonymous Academy is "not a good fit," "too conservative," whatever, and the student "will be happier somewhere else." Noone believes it, but it makes us feel better.