Rockford University: Paranoid on the Periphery

A young library supervisor of student workers at Rockford University insisted that Christmas is only a private holiday because it is exclusively religious after I had said that I wanted to finish the book by Christmas. When I pointed out that in this country (the USA) Christmas is recognized as a national holiday, the library employee said that it is only a holiday for the federal government (not the rest of us) and demanded that I define "country." Then, presumably out of ideological spite, while I was taking an hour walk break outside, he intentionally took the book from its proper place on a bookshelf and demanded that each time I want to use the book, I had to ask him for it. It was neither a reference nor a rare book. Surely he had not spied on every patron, or taken books from the shelves so any patron wanting to use a book again would have to ask him at the front desk; and yet, his boss, the provost of the small college whose office was off to the side of the library's entry hallway, rebutted my complaint about his subordinate and instead angrily threatened me that I had to respect library policies, or of course I could go to another library. No wonder that college was in financial trouble and could not keep its CEO. 

The case of the missing book. 

A psychological thriller surpassing those of the Hardy 
Boys and Nancy Drew!

Imagine my surprise, upon returning from an hour break after having put the book I had been using in it's proper place in the shelving area, for I could not check out the book and use it at home: I saw that the book was missing! The library employee seems to have had me under surveillance and so had known when to go to the shelving area to remove the book so I would have to ask him for it, even after just taking a break. This could not possibly be done in the case of everyone who reads a book in that library. I returned to the provost, who angrily said, "You need to respect the library." I pointed out that the employee had disrespected me. Did I need to point out that a library employee was being disrespectful to a senior scholar? "There are other libraries," the provost retorted. There would be no collegial courtesy from that "colleague." I then went to the college president's office. The new interim president would not even pick up the phone to call the provost or the library employee so I could return to my research without having to bow before the rude employee. Adding insult to injury, the interim president, who had come from a largely online university, said, with a grin, "Have a nice holiday." I had told her what the library employee had said about Christmas, though her little stab was as primitive as it was petty.

On the next day, I returned to the library to verify my gut feeling that the library employee had not returned the book to its rightful place in the shelving area. I was betting that there would be no accountability. Sure enough, the place on the shelf where the book should have been was empty. The employee's ideological vindictiveness and stubbornness evinced his stupidity, for what if someone else had come to use the book? Who would come to study at a college of such idiocy? 

Before leaving the campus, I stopped by the Institutional Advancement office in another building. While I was suggesting that treating a scholar visiting his hometown so badly would not do the advancement of the institution any good, a security guard bounded in and interrupted me, demanding, "Is there something I can help you with?" I said no. The Advancement person was as surprised as me, so the security guard said, "I got a call." I have no doubt it was either someone in the provost's office or the library employee. Really I think the latter was being vindictive as I had claimed that Christmas is a national holiday and had complained about him.

The "shoot from the hip" security guard thought nothing of interrupting me as an administrator and I were talking. "Can I help you with something!?!" he rudely demanded in a hostile tone. His question was of course a lie. Nietzsche would rightly point to the "helpful question" actually being an attempt by a weak person (who is not strong enough to master his instinctual urges) to feel the pleasure of power. Such a new bird of prey can only be cruel or morally beguiling, according to Nietzsche. So the answer to the guard's question is obviously, "No, of course not. How could you possibly think you are relevant and thus even potentially of help?" 

Nine or so years earlier, I had used the library while visiting. Ironically, I was writing about ethics (conflicts of interest). In spite of the fact that I had academic journals on a table and was working from them, a security guard felt the need to push open the stall door in the bathroom while I was using the toilette. The employee at the front desk said that he probably thought I was using drugs. I asked where the guard was. "He just now ran out the front door there," a student employee said. "He lives in a (fleabag) motel just off campus." The sheer creepiness of such a weirdo having a look at me on a toilette sunk in. I since spoke to relatives of two former instructors. "The administrators and security are paranoid there," one relative said. I should say so, and they are also intolerant and vindictive. That is definitely the organizational culture at that college. No wonder they are in financial trouble. Interestingly, they rely to some extent on the tuition money of the Saudi government. This is why they changed in name only from being a college to being a university. What if the man sitting on the toilette had been a Saudi with connections to the Saudi royal family? Surely such a man would not be treated like a scholar. A friend suggested that someone actually doing academic research in that library may have been so unusual that to a small mind the activity would be suspicious.