LSU has fired a tenured professor for her repeated and off-putting use of the F-word in class, and using a vulgar term for genitalia. It doesn’t help that she is training future elementary teachers. But let’s put aside the fact that academe is home to crackpots as well as serious thinkers. Most of us deal with a potty mouth at work. In varying degrees, they offend … or inhibit group interactions. Does ignoring them address the issue? Don’t think so. How about a training module? Don’t think so. How about firing them? Don’t think so, unless there are aggravating factors, such as actionable harassment. Is a potty mouth on email or social media worse than in person? I don’t know, but to me, it often seems worse in print because these terms are not in my spellchecker. I have no panacea, but I wonder: How did the hiring or promotion process break down in bringing these social pollutants to our work lives? Were these tendencies observable and predictable at an earlier point? Your ideas and suggestions are invited. If I receive enough comments, I’ll follow up by sharing them.
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