by Nancy Fioritto Patete

I AM, AMONG OTHER things, an adjunct instructor at a community college. Recently, the politics of my job got to me. This happened quite innocently while browsing through my e-mail messages at the beginning of last Spring semester. It included an attachment of an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The sender, a full-time faculty member, commented on the urgency of the article, but I, as a part-time faculty member, found it disturbing for different reasons.

The article recounts the experience of a university professor who said the wrong thing to his class at the wrong time. Gerald Wilson cracked what he thought to be a joke to a class where not everyone appreciated the humor. The “joke” came as a retort to a question having to do with how the class was going to be run. The question was an awkward one: “Do you have any prejudices?” a student asked. The answer was flip: “Yeah, Republicans.” Oops, I thought before reading any farther. The remark was ill received, at least by the inquiring student. The joke seemed harmless enough. Let’s face it: It can be a chore to break the ice at the onset of classes, and gaffes happen to even the greatest wits among us.

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