The "deemster" problem LO19357

Sinte@aol.com
Sun, 27 Sep 1998 01:27:37 EDT

Replying to LO19154 --

At wrote:
>The word "deem" comes from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) word
>"deman". This word means "de"=of and "man"=human, ie
>"deman"=of-human. (My surname De Lange means "of length".) The word
>"deman" has been used orginally to refer to all possible intellectual
>activities of humankind such as to judge, to perceive, to consider, to
>comprehend, to analyse, to synthesize, to evaluate, to calculate, to
>assume, to think, to learn, to believe and to love. But when "deman"
>became "deem", it lost its incredible richness to become mostly "to
>judge".

I really appreciated learning this. The idea of the "deemster" or
"lurker" is very interesting to me as well as the idea that "hurt" is the
way we seem to be programmed to respond to judgment. The point I'm trying
to make revolves around our being aware of what is really going on in our
everyday lives. For example, just recently I was in what I thought was a
dialogue with a colleague. Actually this individual was the Department
Chair of our Engineering Technology department at the junior college in
which I work. He had hired me. I taught two years and in that time I
learned that there was a lot of negativity by the 20 some year tenured
professors/asst. professors toward the "autocratic" Division chair.

Because of the resentment built up over the many years before I began my
stay at the school, and the school expecting more for less by the
Department chairs, all but two of the department chairs quit there
positions. In our department, no one wanted the job and being new and
just out of industry with sixteen plus years in quality management, I felt
that I could bring some "paradigm shifts" into reality. I took the job.

I have had one department "team" meeting which I believed and all comments
back had indicated that things were going well. We had begun working on
some new ideas like a vision and mission statement for the department and
progress was being made.

After taking the department position, one of the division chairs retired.
The school chose not to replace her and instead reorganized the divisions.
They moved the autocratic division chair to another area and our
department moved in with the business division becoming what is now called
Business and Technology. The new division chair is a woman and manages in
a very team oriented way.

After class last Monday evening, the previous department chair met me in
the hall and we began what I thought was a dialogue about the department
team meetings. To my surprise, he began to tell me that the other tenured
professors did not believe that I deserved the position of department
chair. They supported their argument by stating that I was not a tenured
instructor, that I had not served on any committees, nor on the faculty
senate, I did not have any education courses but instead had a B.A. in
English and a Masters in Management. The final blow was that they did not
like reporting to a woman.

I have worked on a spiritual program of Self-realization for the last five
years. I have had joyful experiences in my meditation and try to keep a
conscious contact with my higher power at all times. ( This is a lifelong
journey.) However, my initial reaction to my colleagues statements was
hurt and then I remembered the thread here on the list about "hurting" and
my own spiritual conviction to stop hurting myself and others.

I replied to my colleague that I appreciated his comments and that I would
give them serious thought. I told him that I did not take them personally
and that I was sorry that "everyone" felt that way. I wished him good
night and went back to my office.

On my way home that night, I thought about hurt and how not long ago I
would have been very hurt by what he had said and that I would have wanted
to respond in kind and hurt back. I was grateful that I had a choice not
to choose that path but rather I felt sorry for the fact that others carry
hurt and hurting around with them. It must be a great weight.

I hope this hasn't been to disjointed but I wanted to share this with the
LO list because even though I don't join in a lot I am joined and I learn
so much from this list and all who do take the time to contribute. You
are appreciated.

Linda Ortberg
Department Chair Engineering Technology
Quality Coordinator
Tarrant County Junior College
Ft. Worth, Tx. 76078

-- 

Sinte@aol.com

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