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Friday, January 25, 2013

Bloggie's New Poll

Please vote in the new poll on the sidebar.  You may also add comments below. Bloggie wants to know what you think and also why you think it.  Thank you!  

Bloggie may do some more extensive polling later.  Maybe even a confidence/no confidence poll.    


RESULTS


F

(The Big F)

60 comments:

Anonymous said...

How could anyone paying close attention give Jacobs Inc. a "C" for fair? Absolutely no "value-added" toward advancing the academic mission of the main campus during the past seven years. Zero. Zip.

Instead we have dropped in academic reputation and all our momentum by every measure can be graphed as a downward spiral. A "C"? Get real!

Anonymous said...

http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2013/01/26/Economic-development-point-man-s-1-200-a-day-salary-questioned-as-cuts-loom-at-University-of-Toledo.html

Just what I have been saying for years. The board, administration, and outside businesses and contractors have together been milking UT dry. They are all together playing a huge game of "hide the sausage" and it is mostly ending up in their pockets.

Anonymous said...

OK, I see how this works now. BOT hires Jacobs and cronies and gives them huge salaries. BOT leaves BOT and Jacobs gives them huge piles of money to start companies where they give themselves huge salaries.

UT loses big piles of money.
Companies formed with UT money lose big piles of money.

UT administrators rake in huge piles of money.

Former BOT members running companies funded by UT rake in huge piles of money.


I think I figured out what the problem is.....do I get anything?

Anonymous said...

$1,200 a day a pittance?

State employees working for private businesses run by former board members?

Created 35 jobs with ten million dollars?

Will be profitable....in a few years?

This has got to be criminal!

Anonymous said...

He has broken the cardinal rule of carpetbagging administrators: "Never stay around too long." Too addicted to the BOTeat he has failed to notice all the chickens coming home to roost. After the feathers fly and the dust settles he'll be lucky to get a golden parachute.

Anonymous said...

An A grade!!!
So we know now that Jacobs reads this forum too.

Arts and Sciences class of 01 said...

“We have a few people who long for the Middle Ages, during which time universities didn’t do this kind of thing, and that is good, they have a right to their feelings. … But longing for the Middle Ages is probably not what we need to be doing in the 21st century,” Dr. Jacobs said.

// Everything I want to say about this quote would not make it past the moderator. I'll just type some punctuation instead, Q-bert style. !$#@$%~!!!

Anonymous said...

After reading the Toledo Blade article I now why the prices in the fending machines on campus went up.

Anonymous said...

If I understand the Blade article, Stansley isn't even working for UT full time. He has other businesses and he collects his $1,200 a day salary by being inspirational or some such.

UTIE has no employee's itself and instead has UT employees working there on some kind of loan arrangement. I wonder what the UT employees' job descriptions are - no doubt this is where the staff A&S/LLSS lost went! Foreign Languages - check and see if your administrative assistant isn't now working over at UTIE!

Anonymous said...

We know the BOT won't do any thing about this criminal cronyism. They are eagerly awaiting their turn at the teat.

Anonymous said...

So now you smell blood and descend from your ivory towers to feast? Animals. You are mobbing. Piling on. Harassing the weakling. Shame on you all! Ok. I confess to have awarded the "A" in your survey. Why? Because I cannot abide bullying. Even of a tyranny slipping from its throne. Where are the gentle and passive scholars and intellects of yore? Who at UT will be left for our students to admire?

Anonymous said...

To 10:42

Do you live under a bridge?

Anonymous said...

Always so many construction and contracting executives on the BOT. I don't suppose they are dumb enough to award themselves all those construction contracts the university has been splurging on, but I wouldn't be surprised if they took turns rewarding each other....but they themselves are never going to seriously investigate this money circle of love. It would require and outside investigation.

Anonymous said...

Wow, somebody feels sorry for Jake, after all the people he has thrown under the bus, all the workers he fired, all the blood money and free work he squeezed out of the ones who remained just to fatten his own bank role and those of his cronies. All the bullying he and his lieutenants have done. As far as I am concerned, all his/their wounds are self-inflicted. Could the poster be weeping because he days on the teat are numbered?

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed that anonymous came out and admitted it was he/she that awarded the A grade. Of course coming out anonymously is not really coming out.

Just like we fear the wrath of the real bully here, perhaps hiding in the shadows allows you to attack the real weaklings in this power struggle.

Anonymous said...

ask yourselves, who is making money on this? who are the chartered members of the Board of Directors of the company? Who of them are current UT employees (main campus or medical campus)? What are their quarterly payments? What is the former Dean of the Business college making if he is a member of the Board of the UT company? Just like what is the $100,000 being made by the VP of enrollment services from the combined UT Foundation?
Follow the money.........

Anonymous said...

The faculty senate minutes from the Dec 4, 2012 meeting have been sent out. You can read the senators questioning the 30+ million shortfall.

The union also sent out another newsletter, with the arbitrator's decision regarding the grievance on Jacobs restructuring A&S without consulting Senate first. The AAUP "won." I put won in quotes because the arbitrator concluded he couldn't order the university to return to A&S and so rules that Jacobs "shouldn't do it again!"

And of course Jacobs has already done it again.

There's also a newsletter out from the AAUP regarding the workload agreements and forthcoming meetings in which all faculty are invited.

Anonymous said...

It is so funny and ironic that Jacobs talks about people wanting to go back to the middle ages. He and his gang are the ones that want to reverse a century of development of higher education; they trash democracy and run the place like their feudalistic fiefdoms dispensing their treasure and pleasures to those who pay feudalistic allegiance. They ignore 20th century concepts of democracy, collegiality and coworking. Their thinking anti-dates the enlightenment, the age of reason, and even the Renaissance. It is their modus operandi that is really from the dark ages.

Anonymous said...

This IS a "no-confidence" vote.

Anonymous said...

This is NOT a no-confidence vote. It is a site for malcontents and juvenile pranksters to piss on the playground without retribution. A no-confidence vote must come from the Faculty Senate and/or local AAUP. Get serious folks.

Bloggie said...

Speaking for myself, Bloggie is extremely contented.

Anonymous said...

The poll that should be conducted is this one: Will you lower your standards if forced to teach the Jacob Workload?

I'll be the first: YES

Anonymous said...

"[L]ess-selective colleges might actually harm their enrollment by spending more on instruction."

http://chronicle.com/blogs/buildings/whats-the-payoff-for-the-country-club-college/32477

This explains a lot. Jacobs is a genius -- just not particularly transparent.

Anonymous said...

If you do a confidence / no-confidence poll, I vote NO NO NO!!!

Anonymous said...

Bloggie
Regarding you being "extremely contented", this explains why you are a contented, juvenile, idiot and why it has taken 7 years for people to wake up, if they are yet awake. You were too happy to grab pictures and cartoons and invite the one-liner jerks to respond while dissuading serious response. You live in defense of satire vs. social justice - but satire takes too long to save any living souls. Too bad that I agree with your revolution, just not your self-serving strategies. I dare you to "comment moderation" allow this comment.

Anonymous said...

"This is NOT a no-confidence vote. It is a site for malcontents and juvenile pranksters to piss on the playground without retribution."

This says a lot about how the administration and people supporting it think.

Faculty are juvenile, pranksters, like little kids on playground. So, this poster also agrees that those who express themselves would receive RETRIBUTION. Exactly! Their freudian slips are hard to ignore.

By the way if people who post here are "pissing on the playground" then it is Jake who is stinking it up by taking a big healthy dump on students, faculty, and staff just as often as he can!

Anonymous said...

Read the article about UT venture capital co.

Shows the paradox and schizophrenia of our beloved leaders.

They say government institutions should not be involved in private business....but UT should.

Government institutions should make a quantifiable profit, except for the ones we run. Then it is OK to lose lots of money.

They just can't seem to understand that there is such thing as public interest that should be invested in and it is OK, if we do not make a countable profit. Public investment has always been a good thing.

Third, I still say it is wrong that Jake and his lieutenants are hiring and steering money and salaries to the people who hired them and were once their bosses.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile Prez Jacobs continues to waste Ohio Taxpayers' money fighting court cases and arbitrations he has lost. The lawyer bills that he is causing to University must be staggering. Does anyone know the amount?

Anonymous said...

University lawyer fees are less than you might think. State law limits the amount of money a law firm may charge a public university.

The reference is to three arbitration cases which the AAUP has won, but which the university has taken to state court in attempts to try and have them overturned or revised.

One of the cases the AAUP won was on the 2010 A&S reorganization. Not sure what the other two were. Notice that the 2010 arbitration process lasted over two years!

While the public pays for Jacobs court costs, AAUP costs are paid for by faculty dues. Jacobs strategy seems to be trying to exhaust the union, both in terms of money and energy.

Anonymous said...

Over a million in tax liens? Leaving millions of dollars out of audits? This does not look good.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't look good, but who's going to stop it? Everyone above El Gordo in the state hierarchy shares his obsession with selling off public assets at any cost. And you can see in today's Blade report that the trustees have no sense of obligation to the taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

From today's Blade:

"Four UT trustees reached Wednesday — S. Amjad Hussain, Joseph H. Zerbey IV, Linda Mansour, and Sharon Speyer — cited a policy that only the chairman would speak to the media and refused to comment on UTIE investments, Executive Chairman Richard Stansley's $1,200-a-day compensation as a contract employee, or about the Ohio Department of Taxation’s liens filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court claiming Mr. Stansley owed $1.1 million in sales tax."

Shameless corporate stonewalling. These clowns must all go. Let's clean house. Somebody call the IRS.

Anonymous said...

There is a phrase that keeps rolling around in my head...."Administrators deserve big rewards because they take all the risks." Well it is clear they are risking University money and reaping the rewards. But Faculty, students and the value of a UT education are paying the price for these executive decisions.

In is unfathomable that we could have an investment program losing that kind of money and not have a public audit of that program. That in itself ought to be enough to get Jacobs fired! That is a risk he should pay for.

We need to take back our University.

Anonymous said...

The tax liens explain Stansley's salary. Uncle Jake had to help him out of a jam.

Anonymous said...

The revolving door at UT. One trustee becomes a dean, one trustee earns $1200 a day as a contract employee. What is next? What will Jake earn after he "retires"? What corporate golden parachute is he knitting for himself?

The lack of transparency is the only thing relevant about this university.

Anonymous said...

So do the board members take turns "sitting out" votes for giving funds to each others' companies and friends?

Anonymous said...

Per Anon 2:26:

You said the lawyer fees are not much but what were the numbers? This sounds like an administration response that what was given was well deserved but the actual facts differ. For example, Prez Jacobs claims that Stansley earns his $1200/day but what did he do? What was accomplished?

Anonymous said...

I didn't write that the legal fees the university pays to outside law firms are "not much." I wrote they are not as much as we might think. A few years ago I followed one of the arbitrations that lasted over two years. At the end I was curious about how much it cost the university and I asked one of the union officers who was involved in the arbitration. He informed me that Ohio law limits the amount of money a law firm can change UT. After more than two years of legal expenses, involving a court battle and arbitration, the university legal bill was "only" 45000. I thought it would be six figures. So at least I was surprised.

Of course the admins don't care about the money - it's monopoly money to them. But they do get annoyed when they have to actually attend the hearings. In the court hearing I witnessed the judge put it on record that he was very disappointed that UT administrators listed in the lawsuit failed to show - only their legal counsel attended the hearing.

It's very true - these people at UT are ARROGANT.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for responding regarding the lawyer fees. Based on what you said, one arbitration ~= the salary of one non-professional school professor. I assume that the appeal is approximately the same. Therefore, can I could conclude that Prez Jacobs would rather fight arbitrations where he is the loser than invest in the education capital of the university?

Anonymous said...

"It is so funny and ironic that Jacobs talks about people wanting to go back to the middle ages."

Dear Friend: Jacobs is already back in the middle ages with his neo-feudalistic maffia of 26-27 lordlings. Look at the relationship between the king and church and see that parallel between the BOT and him. Yes, we are heading back to the dark ages where the kind of knowledge that challenges the establishment has no place in society. If your intellect surpasses Jacobs's or Scarborough's you might as well find a job where you are respected. Scarborough's presentation is the new math, or as Al Gore would call it, "Fuzzy Math..."

I think I'd better get back to my research because I have just cost the university another $36M worth of unfunded blogging...

Anonymous said...

"We know the BOT won't do any thing about this criminal cronyism."

But of course not: they are part of the crime ring! Boycott their businesses and the businesses that tolerate this madness.

Anonymous said...

January 31, 2013 at 4:42 AM: Shameless corporate stonewalling. These clowns must all go. Let's clean house. Somebody call the IRS.

Somebody said IRS? I think there are enough people in Lloydie & Scary Crime Bros and the BOT to start with. Imagine the amount in restitution...! The IRS will make the paparazzi around celebrities look small in comparison. Nobody likes tax audits, but don't be surprised if that may be the only way to change UT's name from University of Thugs to the University of Toledo.

Anonymous said...

Is it true that Jacob's son is living in a university house, he has multiple relatives working for the university and that the same law firm associated with the BOT member gets all the UT business? Just wondering....

Anonymous said...

I meant, is his son living in the UT owned house?

Anonymous said...

Just opened my W2. I wish I worked for the sort of institution that could be counted on to get these right. Who knows what mistakes lie within this year's, and how much personal time I'll have to waste recovering from their mistakes.

Anonymous said...

It's worth mentioning in this forum that the Jacobs strategy regarding the union & contract is to fight the union and undermine the contract at every turn. When the union wins in arbitration, the university files an appeal in court. When the court rules in the union's favor, the university contests it in the appeals court. And presumably, when the appeals court rules against UT, Jacobs will take it to the state supreme court. All of this takes years and costs the union a lot of money. Jacobs is using tax payer dollars and the courts to punish the union and delay decisions that will halt or limit his contract violations.

Anonymous said...

Latest AAUP newsletter reprints a pep talk sent by the Provost to the Deans. Here's an excerpt:

"As we have also predicted, however, there are some mischaracterizations we must endure. For example, some say we don't care about research-that we plan to become a teaching university. As I have said repeatedly, that is not true. Others say we will lose great research faculty if we ask them to teach more than one class a semester, and that might be true. But we can only afford to support a limited number of unfunded research faculty who do not teach a reasonable number of classes and students. And as I learned in healthcare, when presented with an either/or option, there are always people in the world who can and want to do both-both quality care and patient satisfaction-both quality research and teaching productivity. It might be time for some new faces on our campus who can and want to do both. They are out there, and we can get them."

Anonymous said...

From yesterday; the Provost's intimidating letter to the deans:

"It might be time for some new faces on our campus who can and want to do both. They are out there, and we can get them."

Translation: You principled deans are all expendable. Goons are everywhere in academia who will take money for doing bad things to fellow faculty, students, and staff where. Texas is full of them.

Bottem line: The kid gloves are now off. Be square if you dare.

Anonymous said...

"Nothing grows on scorched earth" ~ U.R. Moma

Anonymous said...

follow the money....

Anonymous said...

Much of SS's letter could have been written by AAUP or members of the Faculty Senate as a letter to the Deans.

We "want to begin by thanking you for your leadership. Leaders don't do what is easy; they do what isright-at the right time, and in the right way. Leaders don't seek to be popular; they seek to berespected, and to achieve outcomes that contribute to the greater good, not to narrow self-interests. Your leadership has been instrumental this past few weeks, and It will be essential over the next few weeks."

This could have been a salute to the Deans for standing up to SS and supporting quality teaching, for standing up to SS and supporting the academic needs of our students, for standing up to SS and supporting academic programs. All in the face of incredible pressure brought to bear by the SS (sorry- by SS) to destroy our overall mission in the face of an economic strategy that forgets students and our mission.

So I was surprised when it it was a letter from Scott to the Deans urging them to stand strong against the pressure of students, faculty, alumni and those who love the University to support the mission of an absentee Board and an overreaching President.

This is the least Student Centric plan that I can imagine

Anonymous said...

Please post the entire letter. (Skeptical)

Anonymous said...

Anon (9:53 am)
do not be surprised if your foe chooses to use you very own language to disrupt your colleagues. the bottom line is to be found in publishing, by name, who your enemies are. Follow the money....

Anonymous said...

That was exactly the same reading experience I had! During my reading of the first paragraph, I was reading it as though it was from the AAUP and was announcing something good - that with the help of the Deans one of the Provost's nutty plans had been thwarted.

Once it got going, I realized it was just another US v THEM diatribes. We need to band together and resist them, the medievalists. In fact, we should get rid of them, and replace them with like-minded, so we can all think alike at UT. Thinking alike, after all, is what a quality education is all about.

Anonymous said...

Good luck trying to build a real university with threats, intimidation, and bullying.

Anonymous said...

I thought this was worth reading: http://chronicle.com/article/The-End-Is-Not-Nigh-for/136957/

There's some material about the "Chicken Little" approach to higher education and self-fulfilling prophecies that is relevant to our situation.

Anonymous said...

In the for what it's worth department here's what I understand to be the administrations new normal logic for the new normal workload. All faculty start at 12/12, 70%, and then OWE the university the rest, the 30%. If you do more professionally and service than the 30% "owed," then you can argue for course reduction. Except, of course, that the Provost's office distinguishes between funded and unfunded professional activity. If your doing funded professional activity, then your in line for a reduction in teaching. Otherwise, not so much.

There seems to be, however, a sort of consensus going around that 3/3 loads will be approved in most instances and that 4/4's and even 3/4's aren't really happening much.

Anonymous said...

For the person who wants to read the entire letter, as shared by AAUP, here it is: Bulletin #121

"Dear Main Campus Deans,

I want to begin by thanking you for your leadership. Leaders don't do what is easy; they do what isright-at the right time, and in the right way. Leaders don't seek to be popular; they seek to berespected, and to achieve outcomes that contribute to the greater good, not to narrow self-interests. Your leadership has been instrumental this past few weeks, and It will be essential over the next few weeks.

We are at the moment in time we predicted-the moment in time when the toughest issues have to be addressed-the moment in time when we will either act responsibly and continue to redesign the models of higher education in ways that achieve both academic quality and economic sustainability-or we watch our beloved university die a slow death-all while enjoying our popularity. It is our choice.
As we discussed, teaching workload is the toughest issue we will face together. The decision to define reasonable parameters within which teaching workload is assigned will not be rescinded because it is the only way to effectively and responsibly redesign our university in a way that ensures both academic quality and economic sustainability. We will not accomplish this overnight, but we must start now. Time is of the essence. Over the next few weeks, we will complete the initial work that will begin to rebalance our economic model in a responsible way. No college will be excepted because every college is important to our mission.

As the new workload guidelines stated, there are transitional issues we must navigate and exceptions that need to be granted. In fact, exceptions have already been granted for writing composition and workplace credit, and more exceptions will be granted as we work through various workload issues over the next few weeks. In every case, we will do what is right for our students because they are our most important mission. On the other hand, we must challenge the status quo because it is not sustainable.

As we have also predicted, however, there are some mischaracterizations we must endure. For example, some say we don't care about research-that we plan to become a teaching university. As I have said repeatedly, that is not true. Others say we will lose great research faculty if we ask them to teach more than one class a semester, and that might be true. But we can only afford to support a limited number of unfunded research faculty who do not teach a reasonable number of classes and students. And as I learned in healthcare, when presented with an either/or option, there are always people in the world who can and want to do both-both quality care and patient satisfaction-both quality research and teaching productivity. It might be time for some new faces on our campus who can and want to do both. They are out there, and we can get them.

So I just wanted to write you this morning to say this-keep the faith and keep doing what is right for our students. They need higher education to be focused on them, not us. We have a very good strategic plan. We will implement that plan faithfully and skillfully, and will expect to see our teaching, research, and service missions improve and grow in the ways we have envisioned it. I remain very excited about our future and so do many others-the silent majority of people who simply go to work and do their jobs well. This is a time when leaders either emerge or shrink. Stand tall.

Sincerely yours,

Scott"

Anonymous said...

F F F F F!!!!!

Anonymous said...

President's roundtable with the Dean of LLSS and two faculty members from LLSS, discussing workload. The two admins do most of the talking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTtAgOJnPKY

They frame this discussion with 'tough economic times' and in doing so give up the objectivity of the discussion, in my opinion. They don't discuss the 37 million for the medical campus cancer center or 350k plus salary for the President or the 150k plus salaries for deans, the creation of new colleges and new deans, etc etc. The issue isn't 'how do we cut back given the economic issues' the issue is 'where do we spend our money during a time of economic instability.'