As an undergrad, I used to keep a blog as a way for my friends from all over the world to procrastinate. In my final year (I studied in University College London, in the UK), I received offers from several graduate programs in the United States and had to make a decision among some very prestigious institutions, so I flew across the pond to visit a few of these. As this was only my second trip to this country, I naturally had many things to convey to my friends about my experiences, which duly went on my blog.
Some weeks later, my undergraduate adviser told me I had pissed off faculty members at one of my prospective grad schools with my blog postings. It transpired that I had mentioned that some graduate students there said negative things about certain professors, though I didn’t name names, nor did I go into any specifics. Apparently some faculty at that school had found my blog, presumably while Googling me, and subsequently followed my updates with sufficient zeal to catch the perceived slight. Such was the uproar I caused that this matter reached my adviser in England, who proceeded to chew me out, warning me of the terrible damage I was doing to my academic career.
Having spoken to some sympathetic professors about this, I learned that peculiarities of the academic system require one to tread carefully, as a few ruffled feathers can mean the end of a career. As evidenced by my little debacle, a perceived affront not only can spread far and wide (even trans-continentally, in my case), but within the confines of academia, anyone known to be a source of conflict — however broadly defined — is much less desirable.
What bothered me about this was that my blog was a personal matter. I never attempted to promote it as anything beyond something my friends could use to catch up with me. Perhaps my fault lay in not protecting it with a password, but I didn’t bother as I never posted anything particularly intimate on it, nor did I generally have much vitriol to spew. Nevertheless, this incident made me decide to stop writing my blog and indeed stop writing anything with a personal voice.
But the times, they are a-changin’. Blogs have now become positively archaic in the age of Twitter and the Facebook live update, and much more of our personal lives are in public view. Even with privacy settings set, with a little digging a lot can be learned about a person’s personal life, some of which might not be entirely flattering.
Most of us who grew up with the internet would find nothing unusual about having some portion of our personal life in public view, but most academics are still from an era when personal thoughts were to be compiled into memoirs at the end of a distinguished career. Would a job candidate who manifests something more than an airbrushed resume be at a disadvantage? Perhaps people who are more zealous about privacy, or more boring, would be in an advantageous position?
This issue now holds true for almost any kind of employment, but within the confines of academia, wagging tongues can reach a large fraction of the community. Or maybe having personal information in cyberspace will become normal and widespread even among academics, a trend which I began to suspect after discovering my advisor’s Facebook page.
Personally, I have recently decided to stop being so skittish about such things and just be myself. I started writing in this paper to provide a voice for the grad student population, so I will have to speak frankly about the issues that we collectively face, rooted in my own experiences. Prospective employers will easily discover that my life is not always rosy and that I do not necessarily say nice things about everyone and everything all the time. Perhaps in the process I am sabotaging my future career, or perhaps employers will learn to judge people solely on their professional merits even if their personal details are just a click away.
Khee-Gan Lee is an astrophysics graduate student. He can be reached at lee@astro.princeton.edu.
Read More
Why can’t lecturers win the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching?
Jerry ZhuLet’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Let’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Princeton’s administration of justice is Trumpian
Frances BroganThe disparity between the University’s approach to Giberson and its approach to pro-Palestinian protestors reflects a concerning trend of appeasing an increasingly emboldened right rather than resisting the threat it poses to academic freedom and the wellbeing of Princeton students.
Secular Opening Exercises? Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water
Frank StrasburgerThe secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
The secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
