I belong to a fairly unknown regional public university in the US, and we just found out yesterday the handful of our international students have been targeted by ICE and are being told to leave the country immediately. It looks like they used police records to identify these students. And they weren’t serious police records, or not even anything the student was found guilty of, just their name on a report. The suspicion is that really bad AI is being used to just find anybody that ICE can find an excuse to deport.

Edit to add: I’m sending this from an anonymous account that I don’t usually use which is why my karma is so low.

It can just sit on canvas ungraded, and when someone questions why I didn’t grade it, I can tell them I think it’s AI and I don’t want to.

It’s the time of the semester where I let some students know they’re too far behind to pass a class. I nag nag nag about homework from day 1, but I still have students who attend class then submit no assignments.

I emailed a few students to let them know they might consider dropping so they will have a W ( withdrawal) on their transcript instead of an F.

A student wrote back and asked if they could go back and do missing work to try to pass. They need to complete the class this semester. I calmly explained that it’s too late because I don’t have time to grade old work AND they failed the test on that material so they haven’t learned it.

The student was polite but I am still crabby because grading is time intensive. 😏

(Thanks so much to the mods for allowing us to post here!)

Hi r/Professors,

We’re a team of reporters at ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization that aims to hold power to account, and we’re trying to learn more about the real-life scope and impact of the Trump administration terminating NIH grants.

We understand that for many of you, it might be an unpredictable time. Back in January, our reporter Anna Maria Barry-Jester wrote about how the Trump White House signaled that it wanted to shift research away from infectious diseases and vaccines. And last month, our reporter Annie Waldman wrote about how the NIH has ended future funding on the health effects of climate change.

We know this doesn’t cover all of the important research that is being cut. To that end, we’ve created a short form for academics affected by NIH grant terminations, and we would appreciate you sharing your experience. Please feel free to share it with others who have been impacted. You can find the form here: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/national-institutes-health-nih-canceled-grants-research

We take your privacy seriously — only ProPublica will read your responses. We are gathering this information for the purposes of our reporting, and we will contact you if we wish to publish any part of your story.

While the form is the easiest, most efficient way to share information with us, you can also send us your responses via encrypted Signal message at 917-512-0201, or call us at 301-388-5405 if you prefer.

If you have any questions for us, please feel free to reply below or message us. Thanks so much.

Awesome, just what we need in time for finals 🙄

https://chatgpt.com/students

Teaching an advanced undergraduate class for the second time (first time I taught it was last year).

I had a fantastic time last year. The students were so full of energy, intellectually curious and asking all the right questions. Every class was full of banter and laughter and I woke up each day looking forward to going to this class. I'm still on good terms with my students from last semester and some of them are sitting in on my graduate level course etc. All in all one of the most positive teaching experience I've ever had in my career.

This year it's the complete opposite. I might as well be lecturing to the wall because the students have nothing but dull looks in their eyes, all they care about is whether the material would be on the exam, and less than half of them show up to my class. It's being taught at exactly the same time as last year but since the students have no energy or motivation or intellectual curiosity, I have managed to cover maybe 60% of what I covered last year and I can feel that they're struggling with that already. At this point after struggling with them for like 3 months I've finally given up and I'm just teaching them the bare minimum that needs to be taught.

This is an honors level class that should have the best students in the year so I'm disappointed. Last year (and all the years before that) the honors students were very independent and fun to talk to as scholars but this year the only times they talk to me are 1. To request an extension on their homework because they're "sick" (when I ask for a doctor's note they all stop talking to me) 2. To ask for a detailed list of topics and practice exams (I've never done this even for my non-honors classes, this is just not done in my field). In addition I'm pretty sure that they cheated on all my exams because during 50 minutes so many people went to the bathroom. The latest exam, I asked them to leave their phone on my desk if they were going to the bathroom and no one went lol.

The straw that broke the camel's back was an email from a student that asked whether he could be granted some leniency because he did the homework but forgot to submit it (the homework was already graded and returned). I actually started hating teaching this class and the students in it, which is surprising because it's one of my favorite subjects and normally I get along really well with my students (like many of them keep in touch after they have graduated). Maybe they're the "covid generation" that had a very different school experience in the past but thinking about them depresses me so much and I can't wait until the semester is over. I'm already dreading declining to write recommendation letters for them because I don't have much to say even for the "best" students in the class.

Thanks for listening to my rant...

I’m puzzled by a student paper. They submitted it on time. I read it and it’s not great but ok. I go to check the references and I can’t find them. I look up the journal they cite, and that volume and issue is not the paper title. I email them and they email back saying they are out of the state but that they used owl Purdue citation engine to do the references. They then send me links to the references and they do exist, sort of. One is a blog post but in the citation it’s in a journal. One is in Spanish. Another seems to be an unrelated paper.
So my first question is, can the Purdue citation maker just make up stuff? I haven’t really used it but it looks like you paste in the web address and it makes a citation.

My suspicion is that the references are AI hallucinations. But some seem partly real. Could this be an innocent mistake on the students part?

They also said they used Chegg to proofread and edit. I wasn’t aware that Chegg provided that service. Is this a valuable service? Is it an unacceptable use of AI? Or is it just a grammar checker?

Am I missing something? The references are not cited in the paper by the way. Also no images.

I was mostly convinced that the references were fraudulent but now I’m not sure.

In a recent all-faculty meeting with university leadership, several faculty members asked the leadership to reveal the demographic composition of the faculty who will be let go at the end of the school year. This seems to be part of an ongoing conflict in which the faculty are accusing the leadership of secretly targeting a particular demographic. The leadership is refusing for privacy reasons, and they claim that this type of information has not historically been published. The aggrieved faculty do not accept this reasoning and assert that the real reason behind their refusal is an attempt to conceal discrimination.

Do you think the leadership's reasoning about protecting privacy makes sense to you? Have you ever seen information like this published at your institutions?

For my Florida colleagues, has your institution told you what’s on the horizon or did you have to find out from external sources?

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/oh-brother-florida-doge-targeting-public-universities-colleges/D5AFPFFAK5CXFMOVHH6D4TSWVY/

I am curious ability what’s happening in the human services field. So much work in this field is based on inclusion, accessibility, and more. Psychology, therapy, mental health, social work, disability, education, etc.

How are professors in these fields feeling these days and have your universities asked you to remove anything related to DEI?

No we don’t.

In fact, student, I don’t need your permission to do things.

They said I’m putting unnecessary pressure on students and that’s upsetting. The essay is not due for 4 f-ing weeks and you are already hounding me. Guess what? Your focus is in the wrong place. Instead of pushing boundaries constantly maybe do your work.

I saw a post in my school sub about how getting good grades is impossible and students are suffering and something needs to change. Something does need to change dear student- it’s YOU. They were also discussing how professors are “graded” and what’s the best way to make us get a “bad grade with the school.” I loved most of my faculty in undergrad and truly enjoyed the time I had with them. I wasn’t sitting around plotting against them. WTF.

I’m really struggling with the chronic complaining, the disrespect, and the self pity. Does anyone feel like your students are living inside a nonstop pity party?

This job is getting harder every year.

I just wanted to share a nice experience I just had.

The students in my major organized an awards night, they invited all the professors and we all showed up. We were asked to present some of the awards. Students dressed up. Some made some funny videos to show.

Everyone gushed over everyone else. Every student supported the other students. They were so wonderful and excited and proud.

Tomorrow, we are having a conference almost completely organized by our students, with professional speakers. And students are going to show off their projects.

I am on an amazing high, being so blessed to be a part of their passion for the industry we are in.

I see a lot of negative things about kids these days. And I am so lucky to be surrounded by such smart, funny, passionate kids.

Anyway, just want to brag on my kids for a bit, and maybe add some positivity to the scene. Love to all.

I’ve been interviewing and feel I have done well but always up for more advice from folks in academia. If you’re on a search committee, what do you need to hear for the following questions? I’m trying to make sure I’m hitting main points without going on tangents. I’m interviewing at R1s and R2s. Thank you!

1) what is your 3-5 year plan (I’ve had in general and in terms of research)

2) explain your research agenda and plans for funding (mostly with now and the unknowns of federal grants. I have smaller grants under my belt so far). I realize this might be uncertain

I have recently learned that I was denied tenure at my current institution (a lower-ranked R1 university), despite strong support from my department committee, department chair, and college dean. I heard that the external review letters were also positive, and no one involved in the process anticipated this outcome. While I recognize that there may be areas for improvement, I have maintained a solid publication record, successfully graduated one Ph.D. student, and expect another to graduate soon. In addition, I have contributed significantly through exceptional service in my research field. I am currently struggling to understand the basis for this decision and to determine the best path forward.

Any advice or solidarity would really help. I’m trying to stay focused and think strategically, but emotionally this is rough.

I teach at a small college. Despite being small, we manage to get some impressive guest lecturers to come every semester. We purposefully schedule the lectures so that there are no conflicting classes and yet the student attendance is abysmal, especially from my program. It’s embarrassing. I encourage all my students to go and I try to hype up the lectures but they usually give shoddy excuses for not attending. I’m considering giving them extra credit for attending but this is just one example of a larger issue of student disengagement. How do I tell them that things in life aren’t just handed to them???

I have office hours for 2 hours twice a week. A couple of weeks into the semester, a student started showing up religiously for one of those two days. Starting a week or two ago, they started showing up for both.

If I'm not in my office for whatever reason, they email me. They ask for private meetings outside of my office hours. Once they even asked me when I got into the office before my first class of the day (8am) and, when I told them around 7:30, they asked if they could meet then. The answer is always no.

When I do meet with the student, they basically want me to go over topics from lecture in gory detail. And they never leave after one question. They literally sit there and try to think of more things to ask until they have used up 100% of my office time.

I finally sent them a long email explaining that they are welcome to come to my office hours, but that they are not using them effectively. I am not a personal tutor who is available for 4+ hours a week for 1-on-1 teaching. I also explained that sending me emails requesting meetings outside of my office hours is not appropriate.

Their response? A request to meet with me 1-on-1 so that we could discuss it. smh.

The twist: the student is not even one of mine. They are taking one of the courses I teach from another insructor.

The double-twist: the other instructor also holds 4 hours of office hours each week and the student attends 100% of the time there, too.

Edit: y’all profsplainers need to recognize when someone is venting and sharing an amusing anecdote and not asking for advice. You know the secret to how you can tell? It’s the part where I didn’t ask for advice.

A bit of advice, a rule of thumb, a heuristic, a shortcut, some short guideline that you’ve found helpful in this job.

Hi everyone,

I recently accepted a TT assistant professorship in STEM at an R1 university. I'm really excited about the work that I want to do, but hiring is not something I've ever experienced before - I've never been on that side of the table. So what are your best strategies for recruiting good PhD students in STEM? If you're happy/willing to help out a new starter that is! :)

Update: Ah oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't clear. I wanted to ask for advice on picking students from a pool of candidates.

Thank you!

A Music Ed major in my Freshman Theory II class came up to me after class today and said "I looked ahead through the rest of the material for the semester. I'm pretty sure I could take the final today and get an A, but I don't want to miss any classes because I love how you teach. I feel like I'm learning so much from you about Theory, but I'm learning even more about how to be a good teacher."

I'm blown away. Saving this one to read on those tough days.

https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-average-college-student-is-illiterate

So, my provost just announced that the "AI Taskforce" had concluded, and a "highlight" of their report involved:

Microsoft Copilot Chat, featuring Enterprise Data Protection, is an AI service that is now available to all students, faculty, and staff at UWM. https://copilot.cloud.microsoft

Cool. So the University is now paying Microsoft to enable students to better cheat with AI?

WTF?

Over the past three years, I've noticed a trickle of faculty colleagues moving elsewhere in the US (not within any sort of reasonable commute to campus) and I have to admit to it making me sad. One of the things I really adored about the academic profession when I joined it was the engaging and thought-provoking hallway discussions, people poking their heads into my office, serendipitous conversations all over campus, etc., that used to happen regularly. As people move away from campus and rely entirely on virtual means to attend meetings and teach their classes, that intellectual culture seems to be diminishing. And I think we're losing something intangible, yet important, as it happens. (To be clear, I'm not talking about part-time faculty who teach online for an institution they don't live near...solely thinking about full-time faculty who, until fairly recently, would've absolutely lived in the same city because teaching and meeting were typically face-to-face).

Stay or go student, but stop asking me every damn day if you can walk without missing anything.

It’s not about an emergency. It’s some goofy attitude that I have to convince you that every single second is worth your time or you will dramatically leave the room.

I over prepared for class today, and for this week.

Please feel free to leave. I am so tired of people asking me at the beginning of class if they really need to be here. You don’t have to be anywhere.

I would have never interrogated my professors like this. “Justify this class or I shall leave immediately!” Get OUT.

I started out by writing this as a snarky policy that i wasn't going to actually add to my syllabus..just as a way to vent.. but now I'm thinking, wait - maybe this is not such a bad idea to do something like this??

Transparency requirement:

Rather than an AI policy, this course has a transparency system. Transparency is a fundamental requirement in this course. There are two options that you may chose from in order to fulfill your transparency requirement.

Tier 1 - Automated assignments:

I am the one who created the assignments for this class and I have already run them through AI chatbots. The AI bots have received a C grade. If you would like to use AI to complete your assignments, you may sign up for tier 1 and receive a C. There is an option to bring this grade up to a C+ by participating in person in class discussion.

Tier 2- Non-automated assignments:

If you would like to do the assignments for this class without AI, I will grade your assignments according to the course rubric (outlined elsewhere in the syllabus), with a grade of A as the highest possible grade. If you chose to sign up for Tier 2 and turn in AI generated work, the assignment will receive a zero.

For both:

Transparency goes both ways and I am here to also be transparent with you. I am a professional in my field and you have signed up to attend my class. I am not your parent and I do not care about your life choices. This is a professional environment. As with any professional environment, lying about your work will result in a negative assessment of your work.

The tier that you chose to sign up for affects only you and the amount that you learn. If you chose tier 1, you will learn less than if you chose tier 2. It does affect not me. If you feel that the tier 1-automated option is the best option for you at this time, I trust that this is a decision you have made with your own best interest in mind.

Lying or cheating, however, affects not only you but affects me. It wastes my time. And as a professional, I do not tolerate having my time wasted. It is in my best interest, professionally, not to have my time wasted.

Lastly, do not send me messages about why you cannot attend class or why you cannot complete assignments. I do not need to know why. Attendance is your choice.

I have/had two jobs, one at Hell Community College and the other at Heaven State University (a PBI that has made me feel very welcome in comparison). Very VERY unlikely I'll ever be assigned a class at HCC ever again. The probability is only non-zero due to this turn of events. I'm out of the classroom there but still in the loop. I can see the results. Those students make/made me feel like Denzel at the end of Training Day!

Four hard questions, one with two parts, in circuits and electronics that involve multiple mathematical steps. Even if one has the formula sheet at hand solving, and combining more than one formula, to get the answer would take time.

The first person was done in 17 minutes. Plausible that the student has good math skills.

Second person 8 minutes :/ Pushing it. This person deleted 1/2 of the graph data on a prior lab to make it look perfect.

Third person 4 minutes 🧐. 4 minutes 🧐 how dumb do they think we are? That is possible if one has the worked out and fully simplified formulas for the answers from some external source.

All scores first time out 100%. No 80%, No 95%, No one rounding wrong even.

Ok, maybe I am dumb? Maybe if you have a super great teacher, this can happen? So, I phrase it as a question. Can statistics like this prove cheating? This classic video from U. of Central Florida implies that it is possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbzJTTDO9f4

When I was primarily in charge, online proctoring settings were in place, and the students claimed it was so passive aggressive and scary and unfair ... that even though I said in class it was open book, and the system showed a link to the book ... that they were afraid to click it. I was too harsh in telling someone who deleted 1/2 of the data off a graph to make a best-fit line look like a perfect-fit line. I was told my reprimand was too harsh. I stood my ground in no uncertain terms because I knew I was right to.

Now, over the weeks since then, I have noticed suddenly the same scared, "confused", helpless 20-25-year-olds can get 100%, 100% of the time, on the first try, in timeframes that are physically impossible IF they are doing their work with integrity.

Am I missing some way this could be legit? Tell me how this could be legit.

I feel that with my kind of discipline and guidance, this would not have happened. Discipline is what we do to avoid having to punish someone.