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Monday, May 23, 2011

$o what?




17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you find the University of Toledo in these rankings?
http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank/

Anonymous said...

UT is number 1,393 out of 2,000 - down from 1,313 in 2009.

BGSU is 661 down from 538 in 2009.

OSU 203 down from 144 in 2009.

Miami 160 down from 145.

U of M is 42.

Frank and Fanny Farkel said...

You can find the University of Toledo ranked among Ohio institutions here:

http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank_by_state/score_rank/OH.html

(Trying hard not be be snarky, but c'mon, BOT. You see this as progress?)

Anonymous said...

Better yet...check the OH rankings:

http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank_by_state/score_rank/OH.html

Anonymous said...

No. I couldn't find our great school on this list. Perhaps it is the wrong list. Anyone have access to the list of the mostly richly compensated University Presidents? I suspect we rank much higher on that list.

Anonymous said...

Wow - UT is 48th out of the top 50 Ohio institutions of higher learning -- and that's including art schools and nursing schools and religious colleges (and I don't believe there are a whole lot more than 50 total worth mentioning in the entire state).

That's pretty freakin' bad.

Then again - we locals not wearing rose colored glasses have been calling UT "Bancroft High" for decades - and not without good reason.

Maybe this is why the Regents and BOT are finally allowing Jacobs & Co. to undertake drastic and often draconian measures.

Those who long benefited from the status quo were willing to go along for the ride as long as the pay and bennies were decent - but who can honestly remember a time EVER when ANYONE with a clue was truly happy with or at UT?

Like Horton or Moon or Kapoor or Goodrich or Stern or any of the other usual suspects (including quite a number of truly insidious, mediocre and egregiously incompetent and degenerate faculty) have been any better.

Many disagree with the methods and direction of Jacobs and there's no guarantee we are necessarily on the right track now.

But seriously, folks. How much worse could things possibly be than they have already been since anyone can remember?

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous 9:04. You write "but who can honestly remember a time EVER when ANYONE with a clue was truly happy with or at UT?"

This was a respected university throughout academia when I hired on as a professor over twenty years ago. Six years ago it began to become a laughing stock and its reputation in academia continues to sink like a stone. Why? Because of the very BOT and Jacobs crew you valorize.

The term "Bancroft High" was an endearment expressed by locals who were proud to have a university of their own. Now it is held hostage and beaten down daily by ignorant carpetbaggers and the BOT's outsider Wall Street ambition and ethos.

It's jerks like you that perpetuate this abomination of an administration. I think this university can still be saved from Jacobs Inc. and reclaim its dignity. I am totally dedicated to the rescue of this venerable state public university of higher education from the selfish spawn of almighty dollar that is now dragging it down -- and I am not alone in this noble cause.

Anonymous said...

Well, these rankings are pretty much a joke... I would rather look at student reviews (http://www.studentsreview.com/), where you can see what students think about faculty and administration, learning environment, etc. As you can see, in the case of UT students agree that administrators suck big time here. Some comments by students:
"My freshman and sophomore year were the best years until the university started making drastic changes. The president of the university is a joke and only cares about writing his own bonus checks and sits back in his chair doing nothing for the student body. The financial aid office is very rude and disrepectful, the college of business is not forthcoming what so ever. when you try to get help, they are not on your side most of the time. I have encountered racist situation with some of the students in my classes and when I talked to my professor about, he had a careless attitude. This is the worst university to attend and I don't recommend anyone to attend."

"The faculty are wonderful. The campus is beautiful. However, the entire administration needs to be replaced. There is no one to help the student when the administration makes a mistake. Most of the time, administrators here sit in their offices and talk about ball games and dances, etc. They do not like to work. This is unacceptable.

Rocket Solution Center is a joke. They make tons of mistakes and will not own up to them. Instead they lie and give you the runaround. Is this what we are teaching students at UT? Lying and blowing people off is acceptable?"

Anonymous said...

Other comments from students: "I have been here three years and my best piece of advice is not to come. The head of the University Lyod Jacobs has stated that this university is a business not a learning institution and the best thing for students to do is go to football games. I must dispute false charges every month and are constantly told that they still do not know how to work a system that they have had for three years.
I have walked into dinning halls with no food in them and told sorry we do not have anything today. Where am I supposed to eat I paid for a meal plan for a reason. The University finds more ways every year to make more profits off your tuition and usually it is by screwing you the student."

I think they pretty much understood Jacobs and his minions better than most of us...

Anonymous said...

Want to know what the Jacobs legacy is? Read these comments.

And on a slightly different note, Anon 9:40 asks:
But seriously, folks. How much worse could things possibly be than they have already been since anyone can remember?

Just wait. If Jacobs, the BOT, and this administration in general are not stopped soon, it can do nothing but get worse.

Anonymous said...

Other comments from students:
"This school will try to every red cent out of you. They want you to complete everything online but the information is not always provided online. When you call and want to talk to a person you will wait on the line for 45 to an hour. Then when you do get to talk to someone they never want to help, or they don't know how to help. They then go on to transfer you to only find out you needed to talk to the department you originally called. They are so understaffed and people are are rude not only as staff but students as well. I am a nice person but I HATE this school and would never recommend it to anyone."

"I've only been attending UT for a year and I completely regret coming to this college. It is not because of the teachers or the students. It is because of their "customer service" as I would call. They do everything online so you don't have a person to talk to about this massive bill you just received. Instead, you can either go to the Solution Center and wait for an hour to be helped by workers who are tired and annoyed and not very nice or you can call and get someone on the phone who doesn't really care if they help you or not.

They charge you for every little thing they can charge you for. I've never even used the library but I still get charged 18.00 a year for Library Information Resource. The school is just running to get as much money out of you as possible. They confuse you with your bill so that they can grab a late fee out of you. I absolutely hate this college!!"

"I have been attending as a Mechanical engineering Major for two years. The only beneficial thing I can say about this university is that engineering is the only thing that I know of that is worthwhile. Unfortunately it is shadowed by the gloom of everyday life on campus. The people who run this school are cheap and constantly cut necessary things to save money while building stadiums for their losing sports teams. One way they save money is by cramming 3 people into a 10 by 14 foot dorm, meant for two people, while still charging the same rate. The school does not care about its students it only makes itself look nice when outsiders are scheduled to come in and visit. The university also gives away personal information like your e-mail address to advertisers that fill up your inbox. As time goes on I see my money being spent on people who don't deserve to be here instead of being spent on my education."

I would say: heckuva good job Jacobs and his minions...

Now that they closed down the printing shop on UH for "efficiencies". I do not know what they are going to cut...

Anonymous said...

Re Anon 10:33 et al. – Some Hard Truths about UT

1) There undoubtedly have been and still are some outstanding people at UT – but you would be hard pressed to provide any objective metrics to support the contention that “UT was a respected university throughout academia… over twenty years ago,” or that it is widely respected today.

You can cite all the anecdotal evidence or opinions of those with vested interests you want – but anybody can do that to support anything and such “reasoning” therefore does not constitute any sort of viable argument.

Unfortunately much contemporary so-called scholarship and research in academia and elsewhere is nothing more than precisely this sort of completely biased and politicized propaganda.

The liberal arts at UT specifically and in the “postmodern” academy in general have become nothing short of pathetic.

This is a travesty, but trying to cure the disease with more of the same old quackery is absurd.

It is highly doubtful anyone in any humanities or social science department or program of UT’s former A&S College would honestly try to claim they were or are “respected throughout academia.”

As far as math and science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy) – maybe. The various professional colleges – Engineering, Pharmacy and Business – maybe. Law? Not likely. Education? No way. The former MCO? I can’t say.

UT has been something of a laughingstock for various reasons for quite some time. This fact is widely known locally and regionally, if not nationally (though it is more often only whispered in the safe company of like-minded friends).

And nobody knows this better than those truly outstanding people who have occupied the UT campus over the years. How painful for those truly brilliant dedicated academics and students to look around and find themselves surrounded by riff-raff.

The main reason UT became a poster child laughingstock among academics in more recent years is that the UT BOT, in an attempt to improve UT, began trying to swim against the very powerful currents of some long-established dogmas and sacred cows in academia.

Lots of people talk the talk of education reform – but whenever anybody actually tries to walk the walk – watch out. The natives can get restless in a hurry.

2) Attempting to claim that any institution of higher learning could regard the moniker “Bancroft High” as term of endearment or esteem is a stretch to say the least.

Would you consider being referred to as a high school teacher – since you teach at an institution of high(er) learning – a compliment?

3) FYI - ad hominem name calling (“jerks like you”) is the classic indicator of someone who has already lost the argument and is lashing-out in desperation and frustration. Rigid, angry groupthink mentality and incivility – especially coming from “open-minded” professors – is never a good thing.

4) You said: “Now [UT] is held hostage and beaten down daily by ignorant carpetbaggers and the BOT's outsider Wall Street ambition and ethos.”

The old tried and true class warfare gambit? Really?

“Ignorant carpetbagger Wall Street and multi-millionaire/billionaire ambition and ethos” like… George Soros and Bernie Madoff and Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates and Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg and Al Franken and David Letterman and Cornell West and Noam Chomsky and Larry Summers and Nancy Pelosi and Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton and Obama and…

But wait! The Wall Street/Washington/Hollywood/Media/Academia millionaire/billionaire Power Elite Player’s Club is packed to the gills with liberal Democrats – and we all know they can do no wrong. Sorry. Guess that political class warfare argument doesn’t work either.

5) The semi-illiterate student comments submitted as evidence against the UT BOT and administration say it all…

I wish all of you and UT only the very best – even if I am just a jerk…

Anonymous said...

This is tangential but symptomatic: Why is it called the "UT Center for Excellence in Autism?" Isn't this like saying the Center for Excellence in Cancer? One would assume that the purpose of this place is excellence in the treatment of autism, rather than to produce excellent autism. Sheesh. BTW, lj, I'm available as a proofreader for the titles of new centers.

Anonymous said...

This administration is just tone deaf in everything.

Anonymous said...

5:00 PM Jerk

Some of us have worked our damned asses of for decades helping students and building this instittion we love. No, I haven't lost the arguement--but I am going to say this to you. Go to hell.

-K

Anonymous said...

Lately I've been seeing new little suits running around with clipboards examining things.

Is the administration getting ready to sell off the buildings to some of its buddies or something? Then they could lease them back at insanely high rates, use the money from the sale to pay themselves even more, and crow about their business model.

Business? Their only business is money business.

Anonymous said...

12:04 am K

You sound like one of my students. Not one of my better students either.

To fix things at UT, you have to want to fix things, and that starts with acknowledging painful parts of reality. Not just blowing off steam by juvenile cursing. You may feel superior, but it won't help the cause.