Review: Faculty Meeting in the Red Room
It was another long night: El Presidente presided over a room full of bundled-up professors only tenuously aware of the subtleties of parliamentary procedure. Why were they bundled up? It's chilly in the Red Room.
Unlike the last time the Faculty Meeting packed this venue to capacity, when a bedraggled junior faculty member ran in after the gavel had fallen, snagged the last available comfy seat and thrilled to pie charts through a ninety minute set and 17 encores, last night the Faculty Meeting was devoid of pie charts. And pie.
What's the first to hit the chopping block after a budget crisis? The high-end snacks.
Undaunted by a singular choice of cookie, however, the Faculty kicked out the jams last night: motions were proposed, amended, and voted on. Amendments were amended. Points of information were obtained and held up to the amps for spine-numbing reverb. The question was called, twice. Someone fell asleep.
Having played this room a mere two weeks ago, mesmerizing rowdy meeting-goers with a long, improvisational jam session, the Faculty were clearly eager to shake up the set list, and the unanimous vote to establish a "Middle Eastern Certificate Program" was an absolute stunner with quick riffs and a haunting and impassioned plea. And who would have guessed that they would dig up a rarity like "Commendation of the Women's Hockey Team"? No one called for an encore. We had seen enough.
The next time the Faculty Meeting plays the Red Room -- and they will -- they'll surely bring back some old favorites -- "Pie Charts," "What's the Difference Between Writing Intensive and Writing Attentive?" and "Dogs on Campus Policy" -- but can anything top last night? Stay tuned.
Opening for the Faculty Meeting was a woman sitting to my right who ignored my feeble attempt at conversation and expected me to take off when the students were asked to leave the room.
Unlike the last time the Faculty Meeting packed this venue to capacity, when a bedraggled junior faculty member ran in after the gavel had fallen, snagged the last available comfy seat and thrilled to pie charts through a ninety minute set and 17 encores, last night the Faculty Meeting was devoid of pie charts. And pie.
What's the first to hit the chopping block after a budget crisis? The high-end snacks.
Undaunted by a singular choice of cookie, however, the Faculty kicked out the jams last night: motions were proposed, amended, and voted on. Amendments were amended. Points of information were obtained and held up to the amps for spine-numbing reverb. The question was called, twice. Someone fell asleep.
Having played this room a mere two weeks ago, mesmerizing rowdy meeting-goers with a long, improvisational jam session, the Faculty were clearly eager to shake up the set list, and the unanimous vote to establish a "Middle Eastern Certificate Program" was an absolute stunner with quick riffs and a haunting and impassioned plea. And who would have guessed that they would dig up a rarity like "Commendation of the Women's Hockey Team"? No one called for an encore. We had seen enough.
The next time the Faculty Meeting plays the Red Room -- and they will -- they'll surely bring back some old favorites -- "Pie Charts," "What's the Difference Between Writing Intensive and Writing Attentive?" and "Dogs on Campus Policy" -- but can anything top last night? Stay tuned.
Opening for the Faculty Meeting was a woman sitting to my right who ignored my feeble attempt at conversation and expected me to take off when the students were asked to leave the room.
Labels: Amherst, esjmusicology, Profa
posted by SJB at 3:21 PM
7 Comments:
I've only been to one of these things, but it seems to me that they consist of indignant faculty complaining about the conditions under which they must work, and administrators attempting to convince them that -- despite all evidence to the contrary -- progress is being made.
Sometimes elections are held for committees that rarely (if ever) have any actual meetings.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hmm. This style seems familiar. Is it homage, or mockery?
Homage.
And jealousy that you get to write reviews of awesome shows while I have to count the number of people wearing glasses for 2 hours.
All things merge into one...
Will the press call you Seric or Erah?
Well, definitely not the second one: I don't spell my name with an h.
It could be Era, but "the press" misspelz shizle all the time.
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