Dr. Joseph Harchanko, a recently hired assistant professor of Music at Western Oregon University, is a horrible professor. He is brand new to teaching introductory classes (judging by his CV) and completely unable to manage a large class of college students. His lectures are incredibly dry and boring, even when they focus on material that most students would find interesting (such as current popular music or the birth of "rock & roll"). I would strongly urge students to avoid his classes. I would even more strongly urge WOU to not renew his contract and to seek out a replacement professor who is more experienced and capable.

I had the misfortune of signing up for Music 208: Popular Music in America for the Fall 2005 term at Western Oregon University. The instructor for this course was a one Dr. Joseph Harchanko. I'm writing this here in hopes others won't suffer as I did.

Harchanko chased me down twice (once all the way to the parking lot where I had parked my car), declared I was a trouble maker, demanded my name, demanded I sit in the front of the classroom, and never seemed to question his actions. Those of you who know me realize I'm not one to stir up trouble, especially in academic situations. I don't go looking for trouble and trouble rarely finds me. I'm a good student, and generally a "nice guy." Allow me to explain the circumstances...

I am a recent transfer student to Western. I'm a Junior. I've been in school for a while and I know how the system works. The class was a large one with roughly 185 students in a medium sized auditorium. The first day of class there were warning signs this class might not be like the other ones. The introductory lecture was about as boring an introduction as I have ever seen. But, I needed the class to graduate, so buckled down for a long term.

The second class was more interesting. Near the end of class a student in the back of the room and next to an isle got up to leave early. This is college, these things happen. The student did so quietly and without disrupting those about him. Harchanko proceeded to stop class, stop the student leaving, and demand that student explain why he was leaving early and disrupting his class. At this point, Harchanko lost all control of the class. People were laughing, people were giggling, and few were still paying attention to the lecture material. I think we were all a little bit in shock at a professor stopping class for a student leaving early. Harchanko proceeded to explain if anybody was to leave class early, they needed to clear it with him beforehand unless it were an emergency.

Class didn't go uphill from there. When it was clear to experienced college students the lecture was essentially over and any pertinent information had been given out, many began to pack up their bags. It was the typical "class is almost over" shuffle we hear in college classes. Harchanko didn't like this disruption either, and exclamed to the class, "This will stop now." He explained he would release class when it was time for us to pack up and leave, not a minute earlier, and class disruption would only delay this.

Class continued throughout the term similarly. Every now and then somebody would attempt to leave early, only to have Harchanko stop them, demanding to know the emergency. Surely there had to be an emergency if they were disrupting his class so. In reality, his tirades were causing more disruption than anything else. As time went on, he decided it was the "trouble makers" in the back of the room that were causing these "disruptions" and the shuffling at the end of class. Every time he stopped a student from silently leaving early, he lost control of the room and had to speak above whispering from that point forward. He never seemed to notice the difference, however.

So now we come to me being a trouble maker...

One day, about three quarters of the way through the term, Harchanko's lecture was going a bit long. It was 1:52 (two minutes after class was scheduled to end) and he was just starting on another song. Hoping he might finish quickly, I stuck around. Until about 1:54. He didn't seem to be close to finishing, so I silently packed my belongings and prepared to escape. I sat in the back of the room righ next to the door, so could do so without disrupting anybody. The person in front of me got up and left. I followed him. "Is there some kind of an emergency?" I kept going. The other individual responded saying something to the effect of the emergency being class was over five minutes ago.

I was about a hundred yards from the building when Harchanko ran up and stopped us. He began lecturing us on how disruptive we just were, and demanded our names. I refuse to give my name to somebody who asks so threateningly. The other individual left. I stayed for the full lecture and was told to visit him during his office hours.

I proceeded to go to my next class and contacted the chair of the Music Department after class. His office is next to Harchanko's office. He saw me sitting in his shared lobby and smirked, as though I really had something coming. Much to his surprise, I wasn't there five minutes later when he was ready for me. I was visiting with the Music Department Chair. I explained the situation and what Harchanko had done. I explained how poorly he handled the classroom and how he often ran over his allotted time. The Chair agreed with me that Harchanko was out of line and had a talk with him about it the next day. Class didn't run late very often after that.

On my way out of the Chair's office, Harchanko began following and talking at me. He followed me all the way to the lot where my car was parked. He explained I was a disruptive trouble maker and he wanted me to sit in the front of the room. I explained I was not a disruptive trouble maker and I would not sit in the front of the room. Five minutes later, we parted ways with my understanding being the accepted one, I believe. I never did give him my name.

Class continued on. At one point, a member of the class was rudly ignored when the class was asked a question nobody could answer. He rudly interrupted the class at a quiet moment and blurted out his answer. Harchanko stopped class at that point, pulling the "disruptive" student from the room to lecture him - 15 minutes before class was over, midway through a slide.

Apparently Harchanko gleaned my name from a midterm or quiz I turned in. As I left class the final day after turning in my final, he smirked and said, "have a nice break, George." I laughed. I don't go by George.

This is the story of my experiences with Dr. Joseph Harchanko. My hope is word will get around and this horrible professor will not teach further introductory classes. He made it clear he doesn't love teaching. He loves music. He knows music. Teaching just pays the bills so he can focus the rest of his life on creating his amateur music in hopes of being discovered, I suppose. He is exactly the type of professor who should not be teaching in our universities today.

Some links:

• His Homepage (Warning: This website is ugly and uses embedded MP3s)
• His CV
• Western Oregon University's Website
• WOU's Department of Music
• Harchanko on RateMyProfessors.com
• Harchanko's MySpace Ratings (requires a MySpace Account to view)