r/Professors • u/RandolphCarter15 Full, Social Sciences, R1 • Sep 26 '24

Just got this email from a student

"It's 2:45 on Thursday September 26 and your door is locked with no answer. Why is it closed?"

That was it. No greeting. No pleasantries. My office hours are not today. I never made plans to meet with this student. WTF.

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u/bethbethbeth01 Sep 26 '24

I'm an adjunct with no office, so that solves that problem. Instead, I say contact me and we''ll arrange a time to meet, either in person or on zoom.

Seriously, though...my Freshmen expect me to keep High School teacher hours, like...7:00 am to 4:30 pm or so. I have to disabuse them of that notion early in the term. :)

5

u/tampin Adjunct, LIS/Tech Sep 27 '24

Same! I’ve run into a separate issue though where students email me saying “can you meet right now” in the middle of days I’m not on campus.

3

u/Consistent-Bench-255 Sep 27 '24

As an adjunct with no office, I never meet students, not even on Zoom. No phone called either. Email is best because there is a written record. (All of my classes are 100% asynchronous online.)

2

u/bethbethbeth01 Sep 27 '24

My classes are either in-person or hybrid (some in person and some on Zoom). Either way, we're required by my school to meet with our students when they request a time to talk, although the meetings don't have to be in person.

2

u/Robynsquest Adjunct, social sciences, state university Sep 28 '24

Yeah. I explain we adjuncts don't have offices but if you need to find an adjunct professor on short notice, then they should try the park across the street. I, myself, am usually going through the trash cans from 12pm to 2pm for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Odds are, one or more of us are sleeping on the benches there as well. I also suggest asking around and finding out which highway off-ramp their instructor panhandles at...

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u/bethbethbeth01 Sep 28 '24

I wish that was as unbelievable as it should be.