The Chronicle reports that because of a recent strike by graduate students at NYU, university administrators decided to add themselves as instructors on course management sites. The intent was to monitor whether or not grad students were continuing to teach during the strike. However, they also mistakenly added themselves to many faculty sites:
Although the administrators' names were quickly removed after they were discovered, the incident has exacerbated an already fractious environment at the university, where a strike by graduate students has divided professors and administrators. Many faculty members who support the graduate students have refused to cross picket lines and are holding classes off the campus. Some of them accuse administrators of infiltrating the course-management sites specifically to monitor strike-related discussions.
But Richard Foley, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Matthew S. Santirocco, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, explained to professors in a letter that administrators were added to management sites for courses in which graduate students were teaching to ensure "continuity of instruction" during the strike. The letter said that some departments had been consulted on the move, but acknowledged that "it would have been better if there had been complete consultation and advance notification."
Right. That's sort of like installing semi-hidden cameras and mics in a classroom and not telling anyone.