If academia has a shadow,

a place where the lights dim and the air thickens,

it is inside departments —

the smallest unit with the largest power.

A department can feel like a home.

Or it can feel like a trap.

Because here, in these narrow corridors and staff rooms,

politics is not an occasional disturbance.

It is the climate.

Promotions get blocked.

Ideas get strangled.

Favourites get protected.

Rising stars get punished.

Seniority becomes law.

Ability becomes optional.

This is not incompetence.

This is the underbelly.

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Scene 1: The Promotion That Didn’t Happen

A bright young lecturer completes her PhD,

publishes brilliant papers,

wins student awards,

and gets shortlisted for promotion.

The committee meets.

The decision is “deferred”.

Everyone knows the truth:

she grew too fast

for the comfort of those who grew too slow.

This is how talent is punished —

not openly,

just quietly.

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Scene 2: The Good Idea That Died Prematurely

A faculty member proposes a new industry-linked course.

Students want it.

Employers want it.

The world needs it.

The department head says:

“Too much change.”

A senior professor adds:

“No precedent.”

Another mumbles:

“This will make old courses look outdated.”

The idea dies.

The politics survives.

Innovation rarely loses to incompetence.

It loses to insecurity.

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Scene 3: The Protectors of Favouritism

A mediocre faculty member gets all the good timetables.

Light workload.

Comfortable classes.

Prime slots.

His colleague asks,

“How does he get everything?”

Someone whispers,

“He’s on the right side of the right person.”

And that’s the tragedy:

In academia, merit opens doors.

But proximity keeps them open.

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Scene 4: The Rising Star Who Became a Threat

A charismatic young professor attracts students,

introduces fresh ideas,

publishes new research,

speaks with confidence.

The seniors become uneasy.

Not because he is wrong.

But because he is good.

Soon, he stops getting responsibilities.

Stops getting exposure.

Stops getting opportunities.

He was not pushed out.

He was starved out.

And this is why many young academics quit —

not because they lack the passion,

but because their departments lack the space.

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Why Is Departmental Politics So Toxic?

1. Departments Are Hierarchies, Not Teams

Seniority is treated as experience.

Experience is treated as authority.

Authority becomes ownership.

A department is not a community.

It is a kingdom.

2. Insecurity Is More Powerful Than Innovation

Brilliant young faculty expose the stagnation of seniors.

And stagnation rarely forgives exposure.

3. Favouritism Feels Like Stability

Some heads want peace,

not performance.

And peace is easier when you reward those who never challenge you.

4. Politics Fills the Void Created by Lack of Accountability

When nobody measures outcomes,

people start measuring relationships.

5. Departments Protect Status, Not Students

The saddest truth:

departmental politics often has nothing to do with education

and everything to do with ego.

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Scene 5: The Global Parallel — Oxford Faculty Club

A professor from Oxford tells his colleague from Singapore:

“Young academics here don’t burn out from teaching.

They burn out from colleagues.”

The Singapore professor nods,

“Same here.

Brilliance threatens the wrong people.”

Even the world's greatest institutions

cannot escape departmental politics.

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Scene 6: The Staff Room Metaphor

A staff room is not a place.

It is a battlefield disguised as a lounge.

One side wants change.

One side wants control.

One side wants harmony.

One side wants hierarchy.

And everyone pretends

that everything is fine.

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The Emotional Underbelly

The real damage of departmental politics is not structural.

It is emotional.

It kills enthusiasm.

It kills collaboration.

It kills generosity.

It kills mentorship.

It kills ambition.

It kills idealism.

It kills the spark that brought young teachers into the profession.

The system does not lose people.

It loses potential.

The department does not lose a colleague.

Students lose a future mentor.

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Underbelly Essence

Toxic departmental politics is the silent killer of academia.

It blocks the good.

Protects the weak.

Rewards obedience.

Punishes independence.

It pretends to preserve stability

but destroys excellence.

And this — more than salary, workload, or students —

is why many young academics walk away.

Not because they gave up on teaching,

but because teaching gave up on them.