Most Definitely a Classic Case of a Trick Rather than a Treat
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A MUST READ FOR ALL ACADEMICS! Now on Amazon Kindle. Click on Professor Goat above to be directed to the book.
DON'T BE A SHEEP
UT's Officially Disapproved Information Source and HISTORICAL ARCHIVE. The only source of truth, where Paradox Manifests: Hundreds of thousands of visits. Yet No One Admits to Reading It. Welcome to the "Grey Area" where "Unethical Utterances," i.e., criticisms of administrators, are commonplace. Make U.U. here where genuine civility still reigns, a.k.a., freedom......................... UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO'S EQUIVALENT TO RADIO FREE EUROPE
Search This Blog
NEW!!! Hard Eight by Professor Extreme
HARD EIGHT
Hard Eight: Auto-Ethnographic Essays on Academic Culture Featuring the End of the Arts & Sciences College, University of Toledo, 2010
Daily Koan
Should the newly discovered black hole be named in honor of UT BOT?
Swamp Bubble
Do you agree or disagree that University of Toledo suffers from administrative bloat?
How do you feel about the proposed UT Degree Guarantee program? (Reposted to allow more people to vote.)
How do you feel about the proposed UT Guarantee program?
How would you grade the overall performance of the Jacobs' administration on running the University of Toledo?
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
Bloggie applauds this perspicacious observer:
"The administration is in a panic mode to implement controversial and irreversible structural and curricular changes campus-wide by early February fiscal plan deadlines with only the vaguest notions of their impacts. The plan is, according to an interview with a top administrator published in the most recent Independent Collegian, to cast out many seeds and "see what grows." This experimental garden, as most senators articulated in many different ways, seems a costly recipe for disaster. Utter madness. Stay tuned."
Print Version of Dictionary of Academia Available on Amazon.com
The profound ruminations of the goaty Sage are now available in this 119 page satirical masterpiece. See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1480292494/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B009RC0SJA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1JV8N5BYAYY9WC9SJWD2
"Dictionary of Academia" Read it While it's Hot
A MUST READ FOR ALL ACADEMICS! Now on Amazon Kindle. Click on Professor Goat above to be directed to the book.
Comment of the Week
"This is that old tension between the corporate way of doing things and the academic way of doing things. In the corporate world, you sweep everything under the rug to make your b.s. as shiny, pleasing to the nose, and profitable as possible. In the academic world, you operate with a higher moral standard. Veritas and all that."
Comment of the Week of August 13
Re UT academic posers and hypocrites:
Have their checks calculated in units of postmodern theoretical currency and issued in photocopied legal tender notes signed by Walter Benjamin with a photo of Karl Marx and a seal stamped “In Derrida We Trust”.
Comment of the Era
Wow! Ain't that something.
-Anonymous
Comment of the Week
Mention goes to the the anonymous commentator of Feb 7, who, regarding UT President Llloyd Jacob's "Investing in Faculty" letter, stated: "If we could use the same criteria for 'investing in administrators' we could cut most of those positions."
Comments to HLC
Make sure you address your comments to HLC to the email address listed below in the "Higher Learning Commission Wants to Know" post. This may be the only chance you have to be heard. Bloggie hears that UT administration has discussed giving faculty "training" so that faculty members know how to "properly" talk to the HLC folks. How's that for stacking the deck? Does everyone get a little script to read? Make sure you practice before a mirror at being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Comment of the Week!
Definitely, the Comment of the Week award goes to Anonymous 12:14 pm, Dec 3, under the "Higher Learning Commission Needs to Know" posting by Diogenes. Pithy and pointed!
--Love,
Bloggie
MESSAGE OF THE DAY:
DON'T BE A SHEEP
Independent Collegian Article on Dicey Administrative Spending
IC reporter Casey Cheap looks at bow ties, apartments and movie tickets purchased by UT administrators at university/public expense. See
TO CONTACT BLOGGIE . . .
Bloggie is always glad to consider submissions to this blog. If you have something that you wish posted please send it to:
ascbloggie@gmail.com
Letter and Petition from Foreign Languages Faculty Member
A couple weeks ago, at the beginning of summer break, we in the Department of Foreign Languages were informed that our secretary's position was being eliminated and that while she will not lose her job (she'll be transferred), that position is not to be filled. We apparently will be expected to do our own jobs plus what we can of the secretary's. That is clearly not acceptable, and so one of the steps we in FL are taking against it is an online petition now available for any who want to (including those who for whatever reason--not a registered Ohio voter, not a US citizen, etc.--cannot sign the petition against SB5), to read and sign.
I know not everyone on the blog will be interested in this; I'm not asking anyone who doesn't want to, to sign or even read the petition. I do think that there are many who would be interested and would want to sign it--if they knew about it.
It's scary to post this under my own name; I'm as afraid as anyone of repercussions. But this is simply too important to keep quiet on, and we have to do something! FL is not the first department that this has happened to, and it's almost certain not to be the last if we don't speak up in a way that the administration will hear us and in a way that makes clear that other people are seeing that it's going on.
Here's the link to the online petition:For those who can make it, there will also be an informational meeting--including lunch and petition-signing--next Friday, May 27 in FH 2420, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
I know not everyone on the blog will be interested in this; I'm not asking anyone who doesn't want to, to sign or even read the petition. I do think that there are many who would be interested and would want to sign it--if they knew about it.
It's scary to post this under my own name; I'm as afraid as anyone of repercussions. But this is simply too important to keep quiet on, and we have to do something! FL is not the first department that this has happened to, and it's almost certain not to be the last if we don't speak up in a way that the administration will hear us and in a way that makes clear that other people are seeing that it's going on.
Here's the link to the online petition:For those who can make it, there will also be an informational meeting--including lunch and petition-signing--next Friday, May 27 in FH 2420, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Katherine Best
Wave of the Future or Merely Sometime Later This Week?
The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a deeply fascinating article called, "When to Dissolve a Faculty Senate." Apparently this is any time that it becomes "adversarial" to administration.
The online comments to the article are priceless.
Nemeth on Mammon in IC
David Nemeth's most recent tour-de-force
Professor Nemeth has another fabulous and timely article in the new and increasingly wonderful Independent Collegian. See http://www.independentcollegian.com/forum/the-kraken-attacks-1.2340091
Nemeth Does it Again
See the forum article in The Independent Collegian at:
Nemeth's New Article in Collegian
The Independent Collegian has run another of Professor Nemeth's fine and provocative articles in its latest edition. This one discusses the double-talk by mouthpieces for the current UT administration concerning the effects of and reasons behind so-called strategic reorganization. Make sure you get the latest version of Newspeak 5.1 if you want to decode what UT administrators are really saying.
UT Ranks 13th Nationally on Administrative Bloat
See Appendix B of the Administrative Bloat report posted on 8/28 for evidence, but UT now has a higher proportion of administrators to students than all but 12 public universities in America. President Jacobs has finally put University of Toledo in the top tier. With Strategic Organization he may be aiming for number one.
This Blog is a free and independent information source. Contributions and comments are welcome. Contact: ASCBloggie@gmail.com WARNING AND DISCLAIMER !!!! This blog is entirely non-official!! People may express opinion here, exercising freedom of speech and association.
Recent Letters from The Blade
Jacobs' arrogance is astonishing
Recently, President Lloyd Jacobs of the University of Toledo stated that bonuses were justified because his administrators "took all the risks."
As a professor at UT, I am outraged that President Jacobs claims that administrators take all of the risks. What risks do they take that the other faculty and staffs on campus do not?
Administrators are protected by state and federal employment laws and by their contracts.
When ex-President Vik Kapoor was terminated, he remained a professor with a salary near what he was paid as president.
As president emeritus, Dan Johnson retained a salary greater than his pay as president.
In the recent layoffs, exceptionally few administrators were terminated. It seems to me that low-level personnel at UT have far more risks because the greater proportion of the layoffs have come from their ranks. And they did not have continuing salaries.
President Jacobs' answer to questions on two occasions regarding relinquishing part of his bonus was to the effect that he earned his bonuses and what he did with them was his business.
Administrators do not risk their personal money in their duties: they use taxpayer money and funds collected through donations and grants to the university.
Administrators take home salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and then add bonuses for longevity and whatever else the president decides is fitting for their contracts.
However, the lower-level personnel have much lower salaries and no such bonuses. Where is the risk?
It seems to me that these bonuses are convoluted: The lower-level personnel are taking the greater risks with no bonuses while the administrators with very rewarding jobs with little risk receive large bonuses.
Am I missing something here?
WALTER W. OLSON,
Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing
Engineering,
University of Toledo
It's the same old, same old at UT
I could hardly believe the arrogance of Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of the University of Toledo, when a reporter asked if he would be willing to forgo his bonus in light of the layoffs, raise in tuition, etc.
His comment was that he worked for it. Is that to say that the ones being laid off did not work for their pay?
All I can say is, business as usual at UT. Some things never change.
SANDY FLICK
Rose Acres Drive
UT also has checks, balances
In response to letter titled "Professors must focus on teaching," I would like to point out that the University of Toledo operates on the basis of shared governance.
This means that faculty members participate in the administration of the university.
A focus on teaching requires faculty to address administrative issues such as policies, procedures, and yes, finances, because these all affect classroom outcomes. A university with solid and equitable finances benefits everyone, including and especially the students. Just as the U.S. government is constituted to have checks and balances, so is our university government.
The UT-AAUP is one of those checks against UT administrators who most recently have displayed more concern for their own profit rather than a concern for the common good.
LINDA M. ROUILLARD,
Associate Professor
of French,
University of Toledo
Quote of the Year (so far)
The following is excerpted from the recent UT AAUP newsletter concerning the official university response to news of the bonus scandal:
. . . . Either Jacobs is misleading the media or he has misled the Board of Trustees. President Jacobs objected to "the general tone" of the UT-AAUP Newsletter. Many persons on this campus object to the "general tone" of the Jacobs Administration. During his tenure as President, he has introduced an administrative culture of fear and intimidation. . . . A point of logic must be raised here, with all respect to UT AAUP, the conclusions that President Jacobs has (1) misled the media and (2) the Board of Trustees are not mutually exclusive. Both would seem likely given his considerable talent at spinning "visions." |
How to Contribute
The Blog is now under new management, a consortium of ASC faculty who pooled their longevity bonuses to purchase it from its original owners. Your comments are still welcome but look for some changes. Contact: ASCBloggie@gmail.com. Your contributions might include new posts, images, comments to existing articles/posts, concerns about process and substance at UT's College of Arts & Sciences. This blog is entirely non-official, for which you can be thankful, unless you enjoy reading self-serving bureaucratic propaganda, and is intended as a discussion and commentary forum for UT A&S faculty and community.
Another Claim and Disclaimer
A blog is a blog is a blog. Information, comments and opinions found here don't represent official views, instead they represent truthful and sincere ones. If you want the official line on things go elsewhere. This is a discussion and comment page. You may even read things here that you disagree with, and then, maybe not.
ASCBloggie
Google News for "University of Toledo"
Google News for "Higher Education Ohio"
Blog Archive
Links
7 comments:
Bloggie - you forgot to add the name tags :-)
Not to keep beating the same drum, but I think this is VERY important for the future of UT, Toledo and America:
If the U. S. would put together a free quality online education system like the one I outlined in my earlier post, we could reclaim an entire generation of lost education in 5 years, reboot our nation’s innovative competitive edge, create a super-abundance of flexible, user-friendly, family friendly, online 21st century jobs for teachers, professors and lot's of other people as well - and propel our nation's economy forward at warp speed.
THIS would provide a HUGE AND SUSTAINABLE positive revenue stream that could make the finer things in life we all want more economically feasible and affordable for everyone - like the freedom to design our own work schedule and live and travel wherever we want while still retaining a satisfying and well-paying online job, affordable healthcare, home ownership, arts and leisure, etc.
See my earlier post for the details: DISTANCE LEARNING WILL SOON RULE THE WORLD NO MATTER WHAT ACADEMICS OR ANYONE ELSE MAY THINK, SAY, DO OR WANT
It's under the Lessons to be Learned thread.
What you already described exists - the University of Phoenix - and the market (students and employers) have already decided that it is not credible (and it is largely free to most students as 95% of their revenue comes from student federal loans). Online education, including degrees have existed for over a decade. Yet they still can not replace the quality and type of teaching needed to entirely train and educate students in the majority of programs and degrees. The vast majority of students and employers want the skills and lessons only face to face learning can provide for most degrees. Online learning can simply not provide the skill sets required to educate and train most of the future professionals. Online has a place and role, but will not replace face to face education and learning in this country or world.
To: "Not to keep beating the same drum"
From: The tenant downstairs.
YaddaYaddaYaddaBlahBlahBlah.
Enuf Already.
The horse,
she's dead.
Ask any business if they would prefer to hire a graduate from an online university vs a non virtual university. I know I look at this to decide whether it is a real degree or not. Virtual degree holders virtually never get the job.
Aww, come on, don't be mean to pumpkins. They're cute.
Anon 8:28
The anti-online face-to-face teaching arguments are traditional brick and mortar and teacher’s union dogma.
Contact someone in the online ed loop and have them email you some links and references. Get up to speed and you’ll see where you’re wrong.
Virtually ALL universities including the Ivies and everyone else are on board with online ed because they know it’s at least as good or better than classroom ed in every meaningful way.
Britain’s online Open University has ranked right alongside Oxford and Cambridge in quality, satisfaction of students and faculty and academic outcomes.
The University of Phoenix only represents a template for certain aspects of what I’m talking about.
What UP does demonstrate is that it’s possible to deliver first-rate online education and not only be self-sustaining but actually make a profit.
I’m saying we can and should offer a free national online university that provides EVERYTHING EVERYBODY CLAIMS TO WANT - universal access to top quality education from K-PhD and unlimited individualized attention for students of all aptitudes (read WOMEN AND MINORITIES and other disadvantaged and “under-represented” groups) while being MUCH better, MUCH cheaper, MUCH more convenient and flexible and MUCH faster and more efficient -- HUGE economies of scale, no commuting – no campus infrastructure, no bullshit time-wasting classroom distractions, filler and fluff, no waiting days for the next class period, no redundancy, no mediocrity, no irrelevancy – etc. etc.
Current public, private or for-profit ed has little interest in providing all this for free to students because they can't see anything in it for them (i.e. teachers, professors, administrators, for profit stockholders etc.).
There actually can be something very good in the new paradigm for the folks who are actually providing the real nutritious meat and potatoes of education - the best and brightest teachers and scholars and researchers.
As for the cling-ons, deadbeats and bureaucrats... well, they need to be re-assigned to meaningful positions, but they will actually be much more satisfied doing something meaningful than just treading water in their current Kafkaesque cubicle hells.
We need some actual idealists with big bucks and big clout who are willing to act selflessly on behalf of the public good to bring this free national online university into existence.
People like Bill and Melinda Gates and Oprah and the folks at Amazon, Google, Facebook etc. etc. have the power and money and know-how – but they need some heavy hitters with vision and courage from the Washington, Wall Street, Hollywood, Media, Academia vortex to convince them it is a good thing.
Does anyone reading this blog qualify??
Anon 6:33
Tenant downstairs – keep singing your cute little song while that online education “dead horse” eats your lunch.
"What UP does demonstrate is that it’s possible to deliver first-rate online education and not only be self-sustaining but actually make a profit."
UP makes its profit off the back of federal student loans which represent the vast majority of their income. They only offer very selective degrees and programs that attract retraining opportunities in very limited fields and to the segment of society that relies on student loans. Does this remind you at all of the housing crisis?? They are not the solution you are suggesting, they are the problem you are concerned about
"I’m saying we can and should offer a free national online university that provides EVERYTHING EVERYBODY CLAIMS TO WANT"
No service is free, so who is going to pay for a national online university? Students? Federal and state student loans? The private sector and investors are not interested in providing something for free, but for profit. An no online university can provide the diverse and complex range of degrees, skills, education and training students require and employers are demanding. Online universities and courses can fill a selective niche market, but not all the degrees needed in our society.
Post a Comment