I have decided to quit the sociology graduate program at the University of Florida after my first year. I have definitely learned many invaluable lessons and grown immensely, but most of these were gained from my experiences outside the classroom. It seems many in academia are primarily in it just for the money, status, and cushy privileges. The classes were monotonous and far from challenging; the politics in the department absurdly immature and even down right nasty (there are still many ongoing repercussions of these articles). The students and faculty who I previously held some respect for their ability to critique, proved themselves to be hypocritical when some of us attempted to turn the gaze of sociology back on itself and stand up for the rights of all students to be treated with respect and dignity within the department.

Some say these are just issues particular to the sociology department at the University of Florida. However, my experiences at academic conferences, where professionalism was fetishized and “activism” said to be “poor” scholarship (even something as simple as applying the same lens to sociology that sociologists apply to others), leads me to believe other departments have similar issues. Besides, all that sticking around in graduate school would enable me to do would be to teach at a community or four year college setting. I really do not wish to do this anyways given my experiences in higher education. I feel it has often been more difficult for students to mobilize when they ultimately see themselves as a commodity and their degree as new “packaging” for the job market. Those who do are threatened or faced with negative consequences (e.g. difficulty finding mentors, poor performance reviews, trouble forming committees, etc.).

So I decided that working at a nonprofit organization, a context that at least is explicit for support in helping others, would be a more worthwhile endeavor than spending another year or three “playing the game” of academia (faculty actually call it that). Through AmeriCorps (like the PeaceCorp except limited to the States), I have been accepted for a position at the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), helping them with their programs and events that educate nonprofits on various technology related issues. I know many organizations struggle with technology; since I have a lot of experience and knowledge in that area, I figured I could help immensely. This position also sounds interesting in that I will be working with many nonprofits around the U.S. I should get a decent overview of what is currently going on and what can be improved.

What I find so ironic is that numerous people discouraged me from becoming politically active for various causes (especially the hyper-professionalized faculty in the sociology department), saying that it would hurt my “career options.” However, the folks at NTEN said my mixture of organizing and IT experience was actually what they were looking for.

The only downside as far as I can tell is that the position requires me to move to Portland, OR. I do want to get out of Florida, having lived here my whole life, but I will be leaving my family, many close friends, and local organizations I am heavily involved with. I have only heard good things about Portland though and it seems the area has many groups there active on a number of fronts. I am hoping that it will be more conducive to activism than Gainesville has been with its mostly privileged, transitory, and career-driven student population.