For this grad student column, I planned to write about a book called, Killing the Spirit by Page Smith. It was published in 1990 and given to me as a gift from one of my mentors. In it, Smith issues an indictment against higher education for promoting research over teaching in the “publish or perish” world of academe.
As I began, however, I was inspired to address a related and much more significant practice that permeates our profession, namely, killing the spirit of female faculty. By and large, this phenomenon is embedded in our day-to-day university lives as an invisible presence. Moreover, it is not acknowledged as it lurks in the halls of the academy. It is an unspoken force that women in department meetings, classrooms, conversations with faculty, and student encounters feel, experience, and recognize every day. I would like to share one recollection here.
As a justice studies faculty, I include lectures and dialogue in my courses on intimate violence and have done this for many years. It is one of the most important topics students must learn for their professions and personal lives. When I taught as a graduate student, I shared with my classes that I had been a victim of domestic violence at one point in my life. I continued to disclose this information as I taught these courses as a faculty member. Not long ago, the department chair was discussing with me some complaints students had about my teaching. On the list was their displeasure at hearing that I had been victimized, and I was advised to omit that in my lectures. I did.
Let this column serve as a reminder that female graduate students will face these obstacles as they enter the academy, particularly if they make their presence known. Speak up, speak out loud, and own your power.
-Kathleen A. Cameron