Why I Don’t Recommend an “Open-Door” Policy for Faculty

NATHAN A. FINN

I have spent my entire academic career working for schools that are first and foremost teaching institutions. While each of these schools value scholarship and service, teaching and closely related responsibilities (e.g. student advising) normally receive the greatest weight in a faculty member’s annual evaluations and periodic applications for tenure or promotion. I suspect the dynamic I’m describing is true of most of the higher education institutions that are affiliated with IACE. 

In a teaching institution, there is sometimes considerable pressure (often implicit, but maybe explicit) to adopt an open-door policy toward students. This is in part out of a desire for faculty to be as accessible to students as possible, even outside of whatever formal office hours might be included in the syllabus or posted on the door. Students or their parents are paying a lot of money for that degree, after all, and it ought not to be the case that faculty are only available behind a podium and for two hours on Thursday afternoons.  

In a Christian institution, there is also the recognition that a lot of academic discipleship happens outside the classroom. Students are formed in the professor’s office, around the table at the cafeteria, and in the campus coffee shop. Many faculty in IACE schools have a deep sense of calling to Christian higher education. In my experience, that calling is often rooted in a desire to impact the lives of students for the sake of the kingdom.  

I strongly believe faculty should spend time with students outside the classroom and remain accessible beyond their posted office hours. However, I don’t recommend an open-door policy. In fact, whenever a faculty member asks my opinion—often because of the pressure referenced above—I tell her she probably needs to shut her office door more frequently. 

I’m convinced that you can’t be a faithful faculty member if you never have extended blocks of time to think. This requires a certain degree of solitude. Ideas need to be reflected upon. Lectures need to be prepared and updated. Papers need to be graded. Books and articles need to be read. Recommendation letters need to be written. Done well, all these responsibilities require reflection.  

I’m also convinced that faculty should be doing much of their thinking during the work week. So many professors are tempted to steal time from their families in the evenings or sacrifice rest, leisure, and gathered worship on the weekends. Sometimes, this is unavoidable because being an educator requires more than forty hours a week, especially when there is grading to be done, a new course prep to complete, or a writing deadline looming. But it doesn’t have to be the norm. 

For faculty members to be able to accomplish the sort of intellectual deep work that is necessary to do their jobs well, and to do it on campus during the week instead of nights and weekends, it will be necessary to close the office door. And close Outlook. And silence text notifications on the cell phone. And let the call go to voicemail. Distraction is the enemy of thoughtfulness. Doors that are always open are invitations to endless distraction. 

Over time, this is the policy I began to share in my syllabus and commend to colleagues. I would post a certain number of official office hours, which is when my door was open. During that time, any student could drop in without an appointment. Students could also schedule an appointment at other times if they were unable to meet during my posted office hours. I would do my best to accommodate their availability.  

For most of the rest of the time I was in the office, however, my door remained closed. Students could always knock, and if it was an emergency, or if I wasn’t in the middle of deep work, I would meet with them. But I reserved the right to tell them I was unable to meet right then and that they needed to schedule another time. Because I made my policy clear on the front end, I only ever had a couple of students get huffy because I asked them to come back later. 

If you are a faculty member who feels pressured to leave your office door open all the time, I want to urge you to close it. Give yourself time to think. Recapture more of your nights and weekends. And when that student knocks and it’s not an urgent matter, encourage him to come back later that afternoon or to send you an email. As an added bonus, this advice also works for that faculty colleague who is never in his own office, but always at your door to talk about the big game, or politics, or stock prices, or seemingly anything and everything except teaching and learning.

Nathan A. Finn serves as Provost and Dean of the University Faculty at North Greenville University in South Carolina.