"It's well known Ivan has a bad habit of not keeping his mouth shut. Not even to save his life. Nicer people than me call him a "drama queen", some even going as far as to wonder if he's queer - deep down. Oh, and about his wimpy followers... there is a grace period of about a month given before you are officially a wimpy follower.
Anywho, I, for one, am tired of his crap. Ivan has insulted me on numerous occasions - don't worry, I always insult back. I've been put down, walked on, and overworked by him. One minute he was my best friend and the next (he decides) we "weren't talking". Yeah, I hear the snickers in the background... those who know him know exactly what I'm talking about. Fine, whatever, I thought. After putting up with him for too long, I eleminated him from my life as much as possible.
Then yesterday (Tues, Oct2) came - COMMUNITY MEETING *dum, dum, duuuuum* One of Ivan's poor TA's from another country quit, and announced it at the meeting. A high school teacher from Yellow Springs came in support of him and her REPUTATION! Seems ol' Ivan insulted the wrong person. Her case was that she had been working in Yellow Spings and in the Antioch community for a long time and wanted to defend her reputation.
In front of a class of 27, Ivan simultaneously insulted the teacher, the TA, and all the students. He implied they (the students) hadn't learned anything, that the dedicated teacher hadn't been there for the class or taught the students anything, and (I'm going out a limb here)- surely insulted the TA with more nauseating pratter. Ivan responded by saying (and I quote) "First of all, I did not know she (the teacher) had been there all those days. Second, I never mean to insult anyone - it comes naturally." Cute. Haven't I heard this before? Anyone else? I will give Ivan credit for knowing his s**t. He worked hard to be where he is today. Fine. But it's utterly infantile, worthless, and counterproductive for a "full university professor" to behave the way he does! How long will he get away with this crap?
The TA is leaving this friday - THIS FRIDAY FOLKS, and will probably never come back. Isn't this kind of elitist crap exactly what Antioch is supposed to be fighting against? It's so obvious how he uses his position and "status". People are afraid of him. He is head of the entire language department. He has gotten 7 students fullbright scholarships in the last ten years or some crap like that. He is the only resource here at Antioch for a fullbright if you are planning on going to graduate school.
The only answers I can come up with are...
1) Ivan Dihoff will go on making life miserable for people
2) It is the fault of the Antioch Community that it goes on and
3) YOU CAN NOT EVER WIN WITH IVAN**********
LASTLY...
Words of Advice from Various "Pros" around campus that can't stand Ivan, but deal with him because they have to:
1) Don't ever try to be close "buddies" with Ivan. If you get too close, he WILL bite you.
2) Keep him in line. If he tries to pry information out of you and be "buddies" with you, keep it professional.
3) DON'T GIVE HIM PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF. He WILL use it against you later.
4) If he insults you, DO NOT let him know you are bothered by it. Either give him a silent "look", insult him back, or laugh at him (I think this works best from what I've seen and dealt with)
5) If you, for one second, don't think you can hadle Ivan, separate yourself from him. i.e.-don't FWSP for him, don't do any co-op jobs for him, don't hang around his office unneccisarily. (this is hard to do if you are a language major or just "have" to learn french)
6) IVAN IS INSANE. He is a crazy, sad old man. He is mean, ill tempered, and more than likely has a mental illness. He is open about letting people know that he has small seizures in his brain at times - they make him more mean and cranky. It is a fact that brain seizures often cause brain damage. He is a fool. He is missing out on life big-time for being the way he is, but he'll probably never change. REMEMBER THIS. It takes the sting out of some of his blows, and you can feel sorry for him - if you really think about it.
7) Insane and sad as he is, remember he is a "prominent" figure at antioch. BE AWARE THAT IF YOU PISS HIM OFF HE WILL REMEMBER IT FOR YEARS TO COME. You may need a class, reccomendation, want to be a Fullbright scholar, whatever.
**** DON'T LET HIM GET TO YOU KIDS ****
************************************************** ********************
but I leave you with this...
a student we brought from another country is leaving because of harsh treatment by one of our professors.
i know for a fact, but won't name names, that a number of students, i doubt the number is small, have been in tears over him.
we have created a monster, this is our fault, we let this go on. ......................"Oh, thats Ivan for you!"
