A & S Coun oops, sorry LLSS Council

There was an intriguing discussion at yesterday afternoon’s council meeting. It involved a resolution from an individual member of council about the leadership of a university committee. It essentially voiced a concern that the administrator in charge of this committee was a relative of the president’s and did not have the qualifications, in this case a college degree, to be in charge of a committee that will be slashing budgets for what is now being called the academic enterprise (which apparently excludes the hospital). Most of the council leapt to the defense of this administrator doing their best to act indignant, outraged, sad, and righteous pretty much all at the same time. For the record, I opposed the resolution in the executive committee meeting. Had it come to a vote yesterday I would have opposed it again. Having said this, there are several issues that still need to be addressed.

I am concerned that there is very little academic representation on the committee. As I understand the purpose of this committee the members are recommending major budget cuts. At the very least there should be some CPAs from the College of Business.
One of my outraged council colleagues said we should be discussing more important issues—I believe the makeup of major university committees to be important. However I do believe he is correct that there are other important issues facing us. (See next entry)


The Chair noted that the BOT voted pay increases (bonuses?) to 19 administrators at its December meeting. I assume that has happened because now these fine folks can take furloughs and not be out any real money. It is sort of a paid vacation in advance. The rest of us will be portrayed as ugly union members eating at the public trough during negotiations.

We teach and work at a public institution. Transparency should be in the mission statement. Alas it is not. The whole brouhaha yesterday could have been avoided with a simple response. The taxpayers of this state have a right to know our qualifications for doing what we do and whether the rumor of nepotism is true or not. An individual has been asked repeatedly whether he is related to the President and what are his academic qualifications. Again, for the record, let me state that I really do not care if he is related to the President. And, I only care about his academic qualifications because he is in charge of a committee that will be examining things that will have a direct impact on how I do my job. And, even then I would not care were there more academic representation on the committee. But this is a public university and we need to be forthcoming with information. This could have been solved with a single simple response.

Since I am asking folks about their relations let me state: I am not related to the Tuckers of Tucker Hall, the Tucker automobile, Tucker Carlson or even Forest Tucker. My Ph.D. is from BGSU, August, 1977. Now, wasn't that simple?