This recollection is *not* about a student. It’s about one of my colleagues. I know people like to hear about my experiences with students, but this was something that blew my mind. It happened just this past weekend and I’ve been thinking about it so much that I needed to write it out ASAP. Maybe people will like it.
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So, one thing that sucks about universities is that there is a ton of administrative work to be done. There’s so much that we hire people specifically for these tasks, and we generally refer to them as “office staff”. These people are underpaid and overworked. They make very little money compared to professors and they do so much work. Seriously, they do *everything* in our department. Want to reserve a conference room? Staff handles that. Need to purchase a new item for your research lab? Staff handles that. Want to allocate some of YOUR OWN RESEARCH FUNDS to pay a student, travel to a conference, etc.? Staff handles that. They are the hidden engine behind every university academic department.