<p>Strawboy: What is your problem? It tried to make nice. Why so angry? You are proving my point.</p>
<p>Ok. Sorry, just a little annoyed at this whole prof suing teacher thing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Strawboy: What is your problem? It tried to make nice. Why so angry? You are proving my point.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think your original post was a tad presumptious. Not saying you intended it or anything, but I think it might have come off that way.</p>
<p>You basically said Dartmouth's English Department sucks because a) this woman was trained by Dartmouth's English Department and b) she was hired by Dartmouth. And the culmination is that they made a poor choice in hiring her because c) this woman can't even write a grammatically correct email. Because spelling and grammar in emails are an accurate reflection of one's true writing ability. I must note that despite the fact that I am one of few with the patience to type in a grammatically satisfying manner, I am far from a great writer.</p>
<p>Then you go on to insult students, by calling us hostile and arrogant... essentially needy brats, expecting to get an education AND a pleasant learning environment. I guess that's too much to ask from one of the best undergraduate institutions in the country. Then you employed a few facetious lines intending to mock how students point out irrelevant grammatical errors, when you were the one who judged the professor's writing ability by a grammatically incorrect email. </p>
<p>So all in all, I started off not knowing why Strawboy was getting so worked up, but now I see why he's being so defensive. And I agree with him.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think this reflects poorly on Dartmouth administrators, particularly the English Department. They educated this prof (1990 grad) and hired someone who can't write a grammatical email. Oy vey!</p>
<p>OTOH: It is hard to teach in the atmosphere of hostility and arrogance we often encounter. We have to PLEASE our students, not just teach them. It's a balancing act to teach, engage, and please at the same time, especially on the high wire. It aint easy. (Oops. Grammatically challenged post. Oops! Fragment. Again! I'd better stop.)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>also, if we're going to rag on departments, the least we could do is be accurate.</p>
<p>Priya Venkatesen does not have a BA in English from Dartmouth College.</p>
<p>Rather, she was a double major in Biochemistry and Comparative Lit ... which, which is its own separate department. Furthermore, the English department and the Writing program are not one and the same.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Furthermore, the English department and the Writing program are not one and the same.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My mistake.</p>
<p>This just makes me laugh. Considering she has a PhD, it's quite pathetic to think that she doesn't understand what "civil rights" are. </p>
<p>How embarrassing for Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Uh.... not so much. More embarrassing for her career b/c she just ended it with this ridiculous rant.</p>
<p>Serious question: Actually, two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What subject is her PhD in?</li>
<li>Assuming it's not in Writing or something similar, how come she got to teach Writing??</li>
</ol>
<p>I think her PhD is mentioned earlier in this topic.</p>
<p>As for how she got to teach writing, if you look at the student course reviews, she had amazing reviews the first 1.5 years that she was here...but I assume that something must have happened to change that. </p>
<p>Most professors (esp. in the non-sci) departments are encouraged to make their own curriculum for a first year writing and a first year seminar class. Please don't see this as a general reflection of Dartmouth faculty (obviously). My seminar prof was amazing, and I would say a great majority of the first year writing 5's and seminars have great topics and profs. </p>
<p>It's just that this one was a psycho.</p>
<p>Wow! I found this quite humorous. Does she think she is actually going to win anything?
I'm not surprised to hear that she didn't get a degree in English.
Jeez, I say that when a person acts incompetent, that person will be treated as incompetent.</p>
<p>
[quote]
American higher education would once again be an ally instead of an enemy of civilization.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What the hell is this? This prof obviously had problems, but don't complain about her and then post a guy who writes garbage like this.</p>
<p>Some more witticisms from what must be a "fair and balanced" (if you get my drift) site:
"For a PhD, this woman is a blinding idiot who has yet to look up the definition of “discrimination”. My guess is that she’s a Democrat"</p>
<p>"Priya is simply another link in the long tread of sorry losers whom the left has convinced are victims of one sort or another."</p>
<p>"it is NOT a Constitutional right that everyone must like everyone else and that no one is allowed to criticize anyone or anything, despite what you may have learned in your women’s studies classes."</p>
<p>"The cultural Marxists are in complete control now."</p>
<p>Why do these people always have to turn something like this into an ideological war? Why can't they just accept that she's a stupid person who overreacted? Why do we have to go from Priya Venkatesan to "the left brainwashes people OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"?</p>
<p>I described this case to my H this morning, after reading about it in various online venues. He remarked that it sounded as if she had had a breakdown. Given that her earlier evaluations at Dartmouth and elsewhere were reportedly excellent, I think he may well be correct in suggesting that psychological deterioration of some kind is responsible for her erratic behavior in the classroom and her somewhat bizarre communications since then.</p>
<p>Good point, Xanatos.</p>
<p>Right. Which is what I said 3 posts earlier.</p>
<p>I think she should sue herself.</p>
<p>Consolation, from what I hear, that seems quite likely. She reportedly had a lot of breakdowns during winter term, when she would even cry in class.</p>
<p>umm for what it's worth, her PhD is in Literature.</p>
<p>I had to laugh and cry at this story. Of course without knowing all the facts it is not possible to accurately comment, but really, to threaten to sue for rudeness?!!! Rudeness=Harassment??? I would think that there would be proper channels for a professor to discuss a situation where a student really was out of control, rather than litigation. I think she must have cracked up. Too bad she wasn't a little more quiet about it.</p>
<p>From IvyGateBlog:</p>
<p>
[Quote]
Talk about long-winded. The Dartmouth Review interviewed Priya Venkatesan, who babbled for two days straight. (Literally. The interviewer ran out of tape.) She flip-flops on whether or not she'll sue and explains how Writing Program Director Tom Cormen used top-secret alphanumeric codes for covert intimidation:</p>
<pre><code>PV: ...One time Tom Cormen was sitting in the class, and she [a student] asked me, how many T’s are in Gattaca. This was the kind of question she was asking, “how many T’s are in Gattaca?,” and I was about to answer her and Tom Cormen pre-empted me, “two t’s.” I’ll leave you to interpret it.
TDR: No. No, I don’t understand that.
PV: I have to tell you: it means tenure track.
TDR: Oh, okay.
PV: Because I wasn’t tenured track.
TDR: Oh, okay, yes.
PV: They were trying to intimate that I wasn’t ready for tenure track.
TDR: Yes, okay, I didn’t realize that’s what that meant.
PV: I’m kind of making this leap because this is the kind of subversiveness that was going on in that environment. That [girl x] would ask how many t’s are in Gattaca and that Tom Cormen would respond, “two T’s” as if I had no grasp on tenure track. ..but with [girl x], something’s going on with her. I’m not a doctor, but she’s not all there.
</code></pre>
<p>This interview is so bizarre, it's breathtaking. Venkatesan repeats every sentence at least five times, which explains why she never had time to answer questions during lecture. I tried really hard to imagine a context in which such loquaciousness would make sense—Dartlog is holding her captive? She is Scheherzade and silence is punishable by death?—but it's hard. The interview is nearly 8000 words long (that's 30 double-spaced essay-pages). And since you probably don't want to read all that, we've got the Cliff's Notes version after the jump.
[/Quote]
</p>
<p>I am seriously concerned for her health. </p>
<p>For those of you who are worried about having a horrible prof like this, fear not. This is an extremely rare case. Also remember that the school had already gotten rid of her. She is working at Northwestern this year. I think she just wanted to get some attention or something.</p>
<p>"I get annoyed just READING this woman. I can't imagine how her students felt listening to this **** several hours a week." </p>
<p>.....Yea.</p>
<p>There is something not right here. She needs care.</p>
<p>I'm not being facetious; I'm being serious. I agree with Consolation's H (Post #32). I hope she gets help.</p>