See how the fates their grants allot (Hilbert and Sullivan's Mikado)
Channel: Necarion
Date: 2016-08-24

From "An Evening of Hilbert and Sullivan", May 6, 2016

Quintet: Kat Feller (Soprano), Karen Kim (Soprano), Casey Glick, Robert Clarke (Tenor), Alexander Ewing (Bass)
Piano: Daniel Alley

A lament for the vicissitudes of fate in the world of academia and a reflection on (un)worth among receiving fate's blessings.

See how the Fates their Grants allot
-Words by Casey Glick, February 2014
-Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan: “See how the Fates their gifts allot” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s the Mikado (1885)

See how the Fates their Grants allot
For A has Tenure, B does not.
Yet B is worthy, I dare say
Of more seniority than A.

    Is B more worthy?

I should say: her works are cited more than A

    Yet A is funded, amply funded:
    College-funded, VC-funded, DARPA-funded plentif’ly
    Elevated sans delay:
    Tenured undeserving A…

If I were Chairman (which I’m not)
B should have earned A’s Tenure slot
And A should resign in ignomy
(That is assuming I am B)

    But should A vanish?

That should he (of course, assuming I am B)

    B should be funded, amply funded: 
    College-funded, VC-funded, DARPA-funded plentif’lly
    But remains a postdoc she,
    Lowly meritorious B…