Complaint Review: University of Pikeville

So many things are competing for worst thing about the Universty of Pikeville. But random preferential treatment of athletes or relatives of staff might be the worst. I taught at "Upike" for two years. The head of nursing showed up in my office one day and demanded that I give her nephew a chance to make up all the work he had not done that semester. He didn't even pretend to have any kind of legitimate excuse; he just didn't feel like going to class or doing homework.

Same thing when a basketball player sat there in my class for six weeks with his hands folded, doing nothing. He sat there doing nothing *during a multiple choice test.* Couldn't be bothered to buy the book because there was a line at the bookstore. Dean showed up in my office, pressuring me to let him make up all the work he hadn't done all semester.

It isn't my imagination. Many students, especially young women, wrote papers in my class complaining about the preferential treatment that they observed was being afforded to other students. Faculty in the English department don't know what good writing looks like or what a good assignment looks like or how to respond to student papers in a way that prioritizes higher order considerations such as organization, quality of research, vocabulary, tone, etc.

They sit around counting comma splices which are cultural, not even a universally practiced standard. One faculty member of twenty five years' standing explained that "exposition" is "exposing your feelings." And this is a department that still teaches rhetorical modes. You might think they'd know what exposition is. After that meeting, they all wrote emails praising themselves for having such a great meeting.