give me the deets on the univeristy au 👀
IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED. full disclosure im running the gauntlet of higher ed rn but while working full-time so my knowledge of the actual gritty details of higher ed faculty positions is hazy as best; dear readers plz handwave all ensuing inaccuracies as deliberate parts of the worldbuilding rather than things i didnt think about very longben sisko: previously dean of history, newly appointed president of [starfleet]*or whatever name university, DOES NOT WANT THE JOB. but he’s a single dad, the local high school is good, and before long he realizes that the deans/professors/students actually deserve an advocate, and if *he* doesn’t do it, well...the deans are: professor winn, dean of bajoran religious and literature studies. absolutely no one likes her. the dean of the medical school is dr. mccoy. no one knows how old he is. how has he not retired oh my god. how is he still alive. engineering: we’ll get to that. chemistry: well, that happens to be jadzia dax--dr. dax is...something else. no one knows how she knows ben, but she’s probably the only reason he’s stuck around; she’s smart without being condescending, sensible without being a killjoy, and adventurous without being irresponsible. it’s...kind of infuriating, if you can’t surrender to her charm. there’s something going on there underneath the intimidating veneer, though; maybe it’s only ben who knows what.lit and religious studies: associate prof. kira nerys is unamused by pres. sisko swooping in, promising to shake things up so that the various academic departments finally get enough funding -- she’ll believe it when she sees it, thank you very much. but she does absolutely hate winn more than sisko. the minute sisko fights with her publicly she’s at least willing to give him a chancein the med school: dr. crusher, of course, is the most well-regarded and popular professor. her brand new, recently transferred righthand man/former advisee/tenure-track associate professor colleague is none other than the slightly twitchy, eerily ebullient, actual prodigy dr. julian bashir, who has this strange habit of sitting in on random public lectures held by the other colleges, especially literature lectures, who knows why that could be... he seems to be a close associate of the youngest-ever dean of chemistry, dr. jadzia dax--there’s an edge of competition there, though, and one that doesn’t seem entirely, well, bloodless.garak: how is he always at every skeezy off-campus coffee shop and pub? was he really dismissed from a tenured position at [cardassia or whatever name] university? NO ONE KNOWS and no one trusts him including that naive dr. bashir but that doesn’t stop both of them from attending various public lectures alongside eachother and immediately afterwards descending into vicious public arguments that make everyone else uncomfortable...what is his deal. literally no one knows not even sisko though he does have some theories, not that he’d share them. definitely has published like six well-renowned if not particularly well-selling academic texts contrasting the various epochs of cardassian literature. likes the worst poetry. absolutely does not suggest he and julian’s joint public lecture outings, just...insinuates that he knows that they’re happening...to julian...theyre the worst.miles is the most popular engineering prof. for years and is temporarily acting dean in name only. three distinct university presidents have tried to make him dean permanently and it will never happen. julian has been in the front row for 66.6% of the public lectures he’s been even vaguely associated with and quite frankly he’s beginning to be a bit flattered which he doesn’t want the man is annoying -- right??? miles is annoyed??? not starting to befriend the damned man??? oh no, thinks miles. oh no. he’s going to end up friends with the damned beanpole
odo is the head of campus security and the biggest killjoy imaginable but still goodhearted. he has busted jake and nog trying to buy beer like 800 times and somehow ben has never caught wind of it. bless u odo. truly an inspiration.
quark runs the SKEEZIEST imaginable off-campus bar, somehow never closed down for license violations despite the fact odo is CONSTANTLY spooking off underaged undergrads from trying to “””sneak in””” past the bouncer who is absolutely not checking ids as strictly as he, legally speaking, ought to? [odo knows that the other freshman bars are -- somehow -- worse. quark’s is sleezy, but the last thing quark wants is to let anything bad happen to a potential customer -- not because he CARES mind you -- nevertheless... the bartender there is named leeta. do not fuck with her. do not fuck with anybody while she’s watching. you’ll regret it. she and odo have an Understanding.]
