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Monday, August 2, 2010

Rumors, Tidings, Questions, Titles

1. What ever happened to the BOT's performance review of President Lloyd Jacobs? It seems to have been buried deep, deep, deep. Does it perhaps echo uncomfortably the Faculty Senate review?

2. Apparently the President's recent attempt to start a "conversation" with the faculty--note that this highly contrived after-the-fact explanation is the current party line concerning the reception of the disastrously stupid Strategic Organization Committee report--concerns only the things he wants to "converse" about with only the exact people with whom he wants to converse. A curious definition of "conversation" this seems to be.

3. Note also that the Independent Collegian has some excellent articles and commentary in the latest issue dealing with the faux-communication style of the current administration. The lovely and talented David Nemeth also has a thought-provoking column in the current IC issue. See http://www.independentcollegian.com/

At the request of a reader, here is the link to David Nemeth's column: http://www.independentcollegian.com/forum/professor-xtreme-1.2283362

4. Concerning titles of UT administrators, the recent visit by "His Excellency" and the promotion of Provost Gold to "Chancellor" Gold has brought up the question of improved titles for UT administrators, many of whom seem to be suffering from title-envy. The fear is that they might leave the university if they were offered a more impressive title by another institution. Titular dignity is something at which they may actually be able to excel.

Bloggie would like to hear your ideas for appropriate new titles for high level UT administrators. "His Excellency" is already taken. And Bloggie claims "Your Virtualness" as Bloggie's own.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good question. I claim that Gold should be Lord Chancellor or just "good lord!: Another title in search of an appropriate administrator is "Captain, my Captain"

Anonymous said...

I'm sure titular dignity is something they would really desire to have.

More seriously, this board and this administration togther is a farce. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. They can assume all the titles they want, such as Lord High Protector of Improving the Human Condition and His Excellency, Exalted Chancellor of Renewability and Sustainability, but nothing is going to dress up that animal.

Anonymous said...

Greetings Bloggie,

As Jake's hands are almost as cold as his love for the College Arts and Sciences, here's a title for you...

"Lukewarm Lloyd"

Yours Truely,

The Cows at Jacob's Farm

Anonymous said...

Bloggie - I followed your link to the IC website and found a couple of things related to Jacobs and the 7/16 ASC meeting but didn't find David Nemeth's column - maybe it's just me - but can you please post a direct link to David's IC column? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Here is the link:

http://www.independentcollegian.
com/forum/professor-xtreme-1.2283362#4

Anonymous said...

Hmm... here's an interesting item I noticed today.

http://utnews.utoledo.edu/index.php/08_04_2010/ut-partners-with-tigers-offers-millions-in-scholarship-dollars-to-michigan-students

While some institutions prefer to partner with places such as NASA, Dept. of Energy, fortune 500 companies, etc., UT seems content forging new partnerships with lackluster sports teams instead.

What a great way to climb for UT to climb out of its academic malise and into to a U.S. News and World 2nd tier school, you know? Larry Burns is simply brilliant!

Anonymous said...

Given the president's commitment to truth and shared governance, how about "The Lie-ahtollah?"

Anonymous said...

I heard that next year, the BOT has planned a promotion to be called Ozymandias, King of Kings.

Probably just a rumor.

Anonymous said...

The next logical step, of course, is to promote Jeff Gold to Jeff Platinum.

Anonymous said...

I have a question. Recently some of the UT BOT members were named (or named themselves) as members of the new board for the recent ProMedica/UT venture. Are they paying themselves to do this? And how much? If so, is this ethical or legal?

Anonymous said...

To Anon at 4:27:

In fairness I have to give Burns a pass on this one. Hey, even a stopped watch is right twice a day.

Partnering (I hate that term) with the Tigers/Red Wings is an effective way to put UT in front of a lot people who otherwise would never have even heard or thought of us.

Yes, partnerships with DOE, NASA, etc are vital, but there is a need for mass marketing too.

In this rare instance I can't fault them.

Please don't call me shill.

-F/K

Anonymous said...

Re -F/K - giving Burns a pass on Tigers partnering sounds fair enough - but what does -F/K mean?

Anonymous said...

I read professor Xtreme over and over. I almost cried for it. It's a true story about UT! It touched my heart. If he is next to me I will hug him tightly and say to him, lovely son, you show it vividly!

Someone mentioned the lovely and talented about him. I bet he or she impressed about that article just like me. We have nearly 1600 professors. Weekly basis! if IC editors can handle it, that's an excellent idea.

Professor Xtreme and IC editors, you both did a fantastic job! Everything is timing.