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Monday, June 30, 2014

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Also of possible interest:

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/new-ua-president-takes-helm-this-week-has-history-of-wasting-no-time-with-tough-decisions-1.500053

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

So who are the ten that would like to join him...any guesses here?

Anonymous said...

Easy! Those ten with the brownest noses.

Anonymous said...



'Even his detractors respect him,' Jacobs said."

[But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. ~ Galatians 6:4]

Anonymous said...

Can we nominate folks we'd like Scott to take with him?

Anonymous said...

Today's Blade has several letters to the editor that demonstrate the community's outrage at administrative greed and trustee incompetence. People are watching.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Letters-to-the-Editor/2014/07/03/Payout-to-UT-chief-is-too-much.html

Anonymous said...

I'd like to hear some people's thoughts on Dean Naganathan as interim president and him possibly applying for the job, and his appointment of John Barrett as interim provost.

Anonymous said...

The record reveals that neither of these interim administrators raised any objection in the past when Jacobs demolished Arts and Sciences College for childish, vindictive reasons. For example, neither supported censoring the Jacobs Administration through a no-confidence vote when the opportunity arose multiple times in Faculty Senate.

On the other hand, John Barrett's official photograph on the UT Provost website indicates his conscious choice to present himself to the world sans necktie (and more significantly, sans bowtie!). It appears he is his own man, and owns his own -- perhaps maverick -- brand. Already John has reached out to some of Jacobs' harshest tenured faculty critics by announcing his intention to continue the Provost Book Club, and so seems eager to engage an informed faculty on state public higher education issues as these will play out in the future, and particularly on the University of Toledo Main Campus.

Dean Naganathan seems sincere about his eagerness to rapidly improve tenured faculty morale on the Main Campus as a préalable nécessaire for improving the academic reputation of the University of Toledo regionally, statewide and nationally. Let's judge better by his actions during the next several months.

Anonymous said...

I'll weigh in here. A number of postings have referred to the petty dismantling of A&S and I think there is strong evidence to support that. Basically, when A&S was split up so too was the budget spit up, right down the middle as I recall, despite the fact that the new LLSS college had far more staff, faculty, and students. Now that seems to me as either grossly incompetent (something thrown together with very little thought) or as vindictiveness (as punishment), and LLSS has been struggling ever since as a consequence. And so for me, if the interim pres or new pres want to get off on the right foot, they can immediately rectify what to everyone, including students, was a harmful reorganization (and I don't mean recreating A&S I mean taking a long hard look at the LLSS budget).

Anonymous said...

My question is this: what exactly do interim anythings do? and why do we need one or two of them? or, bluntly, given what has to be their interim boost in salary, what exactly are they being paid to do that justifies their bump in salary? And if indeed their interim status is indeed interim, and they return to whence they came, will they find their salaries returning to the previous amount or is this just another one of those administrative 'it goes without saying' perks?

Anonymous said...

Well there does have to be someone "in charge" to make decisions. Ultimately one person has to be responsible and without that person it is not good either. I do not want to start trashing him before he even gets going or the detractors will be blamed for future failure. Now is time to be supportive, optimistic and to join in and take responsibility and initiative.

Anonymous said...

I think it's a fair concern, in these difficult economic times (at least for some; just read the sale of Rolls Royce's, which cost 6 figures, is at an all time high). You would imagine at a public university paid for with taxpayer dollars this contract would be available someone, in fact available somewhere before it is signed.

What is the boost in salary for the new interim Pres and new interm Provost and what deal did they negotiate for when/if they return to their former positions?

My memory is that Kapoor returned to the Engineering college with his salary intact, Johnson left his position as Pres as part of the merger but did not take a reduction in salary and then returned from afar to a lucrative position (right in the middle of the budge crisis as I recall).

For anyone keeping tabs on Kapoor, he seems to be currently at UCF in Florida. The Emeritus Citation from UT is worth reading: http://www.nanovk.com

Anonymous said...

Ah, this reminds me of the hilariously titled talk that Xunming Deng gave to the Department of Physics and Astronomy in January: "How to Set Up a University Technology Commercialization Company?"
I had assumed the final question mark was a mistake, but maybe it was part of the joke.

Anonymous said...

With all due credit to the late Tom Loomis, sports writer and columnist extraordinaire for The Blade, here’s some tasty Friday fricassee that the UT community can savor.

First, after reading Thursday’s Blade story about Xunlight, Inc., here’s hoping that the Board of Trustees and interim president Naganathan will extinguish once and for all the $10 million dumpster fire that is Innovation Enterprises, Inc.

An independent audit needs to be conducted to determine how the $10 million was spent and that audit should be made public.

That’s the only way that confidence in the university is going to be restored in the minds of alumni and residents in the community.

With the clarity of hindsight, that money could have gone for things more central to UT’s academic mission — more student scholarships, additional classroom instructional technology, faculty and staff development programming, more undergraduate and graduate research opportunities, more effective internship programming for undergraduate students — or for even saving a few jobs of staff members who were thrown under the bus during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 layoffs.

The only thing that IE produced was a smelly, hold-your-nose scandal.

Second, when are members of the presidential search committee going to be named? The committee should be selected and named by at least the start of the school year, if not sooner. The Board of Trustees, which has been somewhat tight-lipped about its progress in naming a committee, needs to show a sense of urgency.

A lot of politicking, jockeying and backroom lobbying no doubt is currently under way by people who want to serve, but time is of the essence.

A new president is going to need time to get up to speed on the many thorny issues facing the university. The committee and the Board of Trustees are only to have one chance to get it right.

Anonymous said...

The Board desperately needs to get this right, or face a humiliating vote of no confidence that will make national news. I wonder how Huntington Bank, Signature Bank, Dana Corp., Medical Mutual of Ohio, HCR ManorCare,or the Blade would react if their employees on our Board got national attention for their lack of due diligence.

Anonymous said...

Both were faculty members so that experience and perspective can only help to improve relations between administration and faculty, Nagy was Dean under Jacobs so no surprise he was quiet during the reign that included splitting A&S, Barrett served as chair of Faculty Senate one year, but I am not aware of him speaking out publicly against Jacobs but given that the Law School is in many ways separate from the other main campus academic colleges that is not too surprising

Anonymous said...

The appointments of the interims will not become official until first the Board academic affairs committee approves the list of personal changes at their next meeting in August (their agenda and that list become public just prior to that meeting) and then approval of full Board in September. An if they only serve as interims they would return to previous position and pay level as that has been the normal practice with interim appointments. Such interim appointments are common at universities and in other private and public sector positions as authority and decision-making needs to continue until the point a permanent hire is made.

Anonymous said...

For those who would continue to lament about the lack of a vote of no confidence in Jacobs by UT faculty (and now the questioning of role, or lack of, by the two new interims in regards to such a vote), it is worth pointing out that the BOT was well aware of what appointing Jacobs as President would mean for relationships with the faculty - they supported such division. Such a vote would not only have been unsuccessful (as if the Board cared what the faculty felt about Jacobs) like the no confidence vote in a A&S Dean, pushed by many on this board, such action against Jacobs would have resulted in retribution back at the faculty as it did with the break up of A&S. As an April 23, 2013 article from IHE pointed out although such votes are becoming more common, they are also most often not successful in removing Presidents.

Anonymous said...

RE: Anonymous said...
For those who would continue to lament about the lack of a vote of no confidence in Jacobs by UT faculty......

oh lord. fear of retribution is used to justify inaction. it is surprising that any group of faculty are organized with post hoc advice such as that.

Anonymous said...

Especially fear of retribution for a vote of no-confidence that would have been meaningless as without broader public,local community, and political support, there simply was no way that a vote by the faculty alone was going to be enough to remove Jacobs. Anyone who believes otherwise has no idea as to the underlying reasons and support for the appointment of Jacobs to start with.

Anonymous said...

1. So, part of the contract that Jacobs and the BOT signed says they won't say anything bad about each other. Is this just another way for Jacobs to protect his "legacy", or are more things being hidden?

2. I hope there will be an organized faculty effort when the presidential candidates come on campus so that there is a clear understanding about people will be treated and shared governance. Is that too much to ask?

Anonymous said...

While rumors continue to circulate around UT that Jacobs has been charged or arrested, nothing in the media or other online sources to date.

Anonymous said...

cojmment

Anonymous said...

There appears to much confusion regarding sightings of Jacobs being escorted out of his office on the medical campus by police, he is not being arrested but due to recent threats has more security escorts (this from a UT Police source I talked to).

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is high time to play the victim card. Funny how tyranny and paranoia join at the hip. Seriously, I wouldn't want to be stalked by Mary Worth either.

Anonymous said...

Toledo Talk blog has a lengthy series of posts on Jacobs starting back in March, if you scroll down to the most recent posts from the last week plenty of more "rumors" regarding latest events, much smoke but no fire as of yet.