Why Committees Go Rogue -- An Inventory of Hypotheses IV

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In previous episodes [infra] Festering Groupthink among Fixtures on the Academic Standards Committee ["Rump Parliament" 3 December 2010] maturated into Captious Shibboleths, Slogans, and Other Rationalizations ["Rump Parliament" 4 December 2010] that were in turn carried by Recidivists from THE Rogue Committee of All Time ["Rump Parliament" 5 December 2010].

In this entry's episode, suppurating contagions meet little resistance from faculty who are simply punching a clock or a tenure-ticket on the ASC.
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Explanation 4 -- Sentence-Servers

I do not claim that all or most faculty on the Academic Standards Committee were malfeasant in 2008-2010 or in any other period. A majority, to judge from the committee's minutes, were merely nonfeasant [or nonsapient or non-sentient]. Why?

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Many faculty serve on committees the way convicts serve in prisons. They do their time.

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They avoid displeasing colleagues who have loud voices or sharp remarks. To get along, they go along. They do not resist; they submit. They keep their heads down. They turn their senses off. They avert their eyes as ravishers commit ravages in the name of "Rigor."

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Indeed, I suspect that one of the recidivists who served on the Starr Chamber [as I call the Professional Standards Committee of 2003-2004] was barely cognizant of what was going on at the ASC because the goings-on had nothing to do with what he values. To my knowledge, that colleague has only seen matters that way for 25 years. This colleague on 3 May 2004 informed the Faculty Senate that the Starr Chamber could not keep track of its less substantial interpretations of The Faculty Code because the Starr Chamber was inventing interpretations too quickly and wildly even to write down what they were deciding.

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What a moment for the senators present!

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Great defense of the committee, colleague!

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"We work too fast and loose to keep track of what we're doing."

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"I was never in the Texas Book Depository, officer. I was cleaning my carbine on the grassy knoll when it accidentally discharged a few times."

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In short, the ASC or any other Faculty Senate committee teems with time-servers, especially dutiful junior faculty who will go along with any outrage or stupidity lest they be thought less than rigorous.

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Just as human innards have reduced resistance to infections where evolution has not "anticipated" introduction of sepsis, time-serving shirkers and slackers barely resist groupthink and doubletalk, especially when blunders and blather are wielded by experienced dupes, dopes, and dodgers.

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But the students on the ASC know better, don't they? Why don't the students resist nonsense on the march?

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Radar O'Reilly: "Wait for it!"