I have seen this game "buzzword bingo" although I have never played it due to now owning a ps2. I have an xbox and I am eagerly awaiting it to be released on this format.
Free-wheelin' Guy: After anyone has presented their scheduled, carefully thought-out proposal, Free-wheelin' Guy takes the floor for 20 minutes coming up with off-the-cuff suggestions for Someone to do. No-one ever does what he suggests (including him) but every meeting he still chances his arm.
Another useless buzzword--co-curricular, often used in the same sentence as extracurricular.
Ohmigosh - I forgot a classic one.
5) The student representative who never shows up for meetings.
Here's 4 more:
1) Similar to the last one - the guy who insists that everything has an ethical angle that is in conflict with how we should present ourselves to stakeholders.
2) Usually you see this one on campus-wide committees: the person who is secretary or otherwise in charge of documents who doesn't seem to be able to use Word, PDF or e-mail properly.
3) A corollary is the person who makes copies for the committee, but never makes enough - as if they had to type them all by hand.
4) The former administrator who views the committee as a forum to perpetuate the views and continue the actions that got his butt booted out of the previous position.
Don't forget the ever-exciting "Let me give a little institutional background" guy. He is worth 20 dead minutes in every gathering.
Some of the better terms floating around our version of purgatory include: cognate disciplines, course embedded assessment, and subvention.
Someone frets about how any disagreement will reflect badly upon the program / department / institution's 'mission'. Bonus points for being in a very secular setting or campus while muttering about the same.
The tired old hand who tells everyone that whatever's decided doesn't matter because nobody has any real power here, anyway.
Here are a few others you might consider:
Student learning outcomes
Program assessment matrix
Degree map
Strategic cooperation (which I think is the antonym of sincere cooperation)
5. When I was at [name of previous job university], we always....[what they did].
6. I hear that in [name of department], they just got [n new positions, a budget increase, new space]. Why don't you get that for US?
7. The "snatch defeat fromt the jaws of victory" guy. Committee chair reads proposal, clear that everyone agrees, if you voted now. But the Snatcher prepared a talk, and by golly he's going to give it. Starts by talking about how 25 years ago he proposed something like this (not MUCH like it, though), and was turned down. So, it's really time that anyone opposed then explains how they could have been so stupid. 7 or 8 people raise hands to respond. Vote is finally taken, an hour later, and it's 15-9. The 9 people, who were ready to support the proposal, end up sabotaging it because they are so angry at the Snatcher. After meeting, Snatcher congratulates self on "victory", since vote was positive.
8. The by-laws guy. Either we are doing something not in the by-laws, or the by-laws need to be revised to reflect what we are doing.
9. They guy who starts out with, "I'm going to support this, but..." and then runs down the proposal, or candidate, for ten minutes. Finishes with, "But I'm going to go along, and vote yes."
10. The Dean's mouthpiece. "I don't think the Dean is going to like that. We need to think strategically!" This same person is perhaps the least strategic, and most politically inept, person in department.
At our faculty meetings, there's always at least one blatant suckup. The dean will start the meeting off and the suckup will loudly thank the dean for all of his support (in something that made the suckup's job easier).
We also have a social issues person. We could be talking about something like upgrade cycles for our computers and she'll somehow try to weave in a socially responsible angle.
There are always a few faculty who, as soon as their hands go up, the rest of us groan. Of course, we have students like that!
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