This article takes up Tyler Clementi's suicide and the" It Gets Better" YouTube campaign in
response to it as occasions to complicate oppression in the context of academic workplaces.
The article distinguishes" vulgar" oppression as a mass disciplining/disciplinary mechanism
(like Clementi's death and the media coverage of it and the subsequent criminal trial) from"
everyday" oppression as tactics (like bullying and mobbing) workers use to leverage for
power and status. The author uses his own experience with everyday academic mobbing as …

The fall semester of 2010 started off usual enough for New York City. 1, 2 The sticky breezes
of summer afternoons slipped toward chilled mornings and dozy evenings. Nervous
excitement about new lives at college yielded to the grind of assignments, shuffling to
classes, and the hum of teaching, tenure reviews, and everyday drama. The writing centers
that I direct pulsed with new consultants shadowing veterans, class tours plodding through
our spaces, and faculty seeking advice. The world beyond the local seemed like both a …