Vicious Academic Politics - Why is there so much?!

I always wondered why children of successful academics also tend to be successful academics. The way you describe things seem to be very conducive to forming academic dynasties where the scions are propped up by older members.

It does feel like standing in a room of feral cats sometimes, trying to herd them towards a common good. Sometimes it feels like if you would release a swarm of mice, they would still be too busy fighting to catch em.

I remember someone pointing out long ago that Academia is like the military or a big church (e.g. Roman Catholic): rank is EVERYTHING. I have not seen any reason to question that.

I’m getting a headache as I listen to what you’re saying. It’s pretty much the opposite of what I have always anticipated academia would be like. I’ve always thought of it as this community of science, research & knowledge loving & serving people. I thought their main driving motive was the love & passion for discovery, contributing to science as an intrinsic value in itself, and ultimately contributing towards eliminating human suffering. How foolish of me.

Doesn't Ph.D. stand for Doctor of hokey Politics? Great video---especially liked the part about academic castles---explains so much.

My experience is in the humanities and it is thirty years out of date, but one kind of person I haven't heard of here is the empire builder. When I was in SOAS, London, there was a man there who had this lovely external aspect - thick thatch of silver hair, lovely manners, eager to listen to what you had to say - whose activity amounted to building an actual institutional position for himself. He had taken the lead of the local Christian student group, practically excluding the Anglican chaplain, because this made him the leader of a group within the environment, a group that could be seen as permanent. He was incredibly manipulative. The last thing I heard was that he had managed to set up a new History Department, and guess who was the head? SOAS had never had a history department as a separate entity, because the study of each Asian and African culture involved its history, and most of them were very separate. That was pure empire building, and it detracted from the mission and specialization of the college. As a person, I don't even want to discuss him, because I personally had a lot of problems with him.

I am a sucessful scientist that worked in a national lab. I had competed for academic positions out of grad school but eventually was very happy I did not have to be in academia. I was able to do some good basic research, but I almost got physically ill when I was surrounded by academics at conferences, society meetings. It was just the collective weight of petty politics and nasty competition that felt so stifling. It wasn't until I published a few major papers in really good journals that I got the respect of colleagues in academia. That first Nature paper was a salve.

Talking at the end about the personal and academic side. When I went to industry and left the academic part behind, I was WAY too much of a softy and it threw me off. Had I taken my academic side with me to work tho, oh boy, it would have been way too much! It's an awkward process honing in a balanced approach. 😆

Very true. I’ve seen supervisors cause problems within their own ‘castle’ also. PIs who pit students against each other by only giving high quality and impactful projects to students that they feel deserve them. To be one of those students you had to work 12+ hours everyday, even having lab meetings on a Saturday morning.

Your videos makes me satisfied why academia need a change

Cheese in the middle? More like the wet tomato that nobody actually wants but is added to make the sandwich look more healthy.

"the cheese in the academic sandwich" why did this make me laugh so hard, thanks for all the creative videos! I'm a relatively new subscriber, is content creation your main job now? Thanks for the quality videos :)

This video has been very factual with relatable points addressed about how politically toxic academics are 💯

Your videos are great! The academic politics do not stay just on the academic side of the the house. Student affairs has a nasty politics that destroys people and end careers. The same department heads who tout diversity and what it brings to the university, fire those same candidates not a year later. Glad I got out of the game when I did,

I can totally relate to your analysis. It seems there are general academic laws which go beyond the boundaries. Time to write the general theory of academic systems. Cheers from Italy!

Thanks Andy

Spot on!!

I have been a public school teacher for over thirty years and have worked in Academic Administration for many years at the University of MN, Minneapolis, MN, USA, and everything you state and have stated on past videos is correct. It's exactly how I would describe the environment. It is as vicious as you present it. Thank you for speaking the truth. I am very tired of the professors in academics with whom I had to work.

Spot on

I like all your videos. (Ph.D. in computer science - from Algeria)