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DON'T BE A SHEEP
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Hard Eight: Auto-Ethnographic Essays on Academic Culture Featuring the End of the Arts & Sciences College, University of Toledo, 2010
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Do you agree or disagree that University of Toledo suffers from administrative bloat?
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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
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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
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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.
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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." |
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20 comments:
Posted in the latest UTAAUP Newsletter (#74).
Investing in UT Faculty
By Lloyd A. Jacobs, M.D.
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 9:35 AM
To: McMillen, William; Gold, Jeffrey
Subject: Investing in UT Faculty
From: Jacobs, Lloyd
Provost McMillen and Chancellor Gold:
In our continuing quest for higher quality at lower cost, we must scrutinize new hires more carefully in every part of the organization. I wish to address certain aspects of the decision to hire faculty to the Tenure/Tenure Track (3T) ranks. These requirements apply to every 3T hire, every college.
The history of the position is unimportant. It makes no difference if a vacancy was created by retirement, early retirement, resignation, or death. It makes no difference if the vacant position is of long standing or if a new position is proposed. Every hire to the 3T must be justified as follows.
A detailed analysis of teaching workload will be required. Workloads for a predecessor should be evaluated by analysis of ARPA's and other data. The credit hours produced by the entire department, division, or unit must be presented. Externally funded research dollars must be tallied and presented. Fundamentally, hiring must be justified by workload. Workload statistics must be verified by our internal auditor.
It will be necessary to justify why the work cannot be performed by a lecturer or an adjunct faculty member. The most common justification, I expect, will relate to a research component to the job description. In that regard, new faculty bringing pre-existing external funding will be advantaged.
In general, a research justification for hiring will require that the research proposed relates to one of our approved Centers of Excellence, or one of our approved interdisciplinary schools. Practically, no hiring will be approved without at least 50% of a faculty members' time being spent in an interdisciplinary school.
One of our fundamental institutional values is "diversity." Every effort will be made to hire underrepresented minority faculty.
Every proposal to hire will require a written Mini Business Plan (MBP). What will the faculty member do, what will be the cost, what will be the revenue generated? How will contributions to the mission be measured? Every MBP will require my signature. Every letter of offer must be patterned upon the elements of this MBP.
Faculty are our most important investment vehicle. We don't primarily invest in stocks, derivatives, or real estate; we invest in faculty. We must continue that investment. Faculty hiring is not "frozen." However, in these lean times we must invest carefully, consciously, and with adequate due diligence. That is the purpose of my asking for this approach. Keep recruiting. Continuing seeking out great investments. Find and encourage and hire innovators. Do not allow paralysis to set in!
lj
Did you see the e-mail that Jacobs sent to his minions about "Investing in UT Faculty"? Priceless!
If we could use the same criteria for "investing in administrators" we could cut most of those positions.
When I read yesterday's letter from ole' Lloyd, I thought, "I wish the profs I had in UT's honors program could have reached Lloyd before his writing got so bad." The passive voice is rarely your friend.
"Investment" is a nice word. Sounds positive doesn't it? However, when you read about this "investment strategy" you realize it is "exploitation" that he is talking about. Squeezing "productivity" and "dollars" out of these "workers" is not an investment strategy.
Investing in faculty would have required the use of the word "student" and maybe more than one reference to "teaching"(although he thinks of teaching as a "workload" not as a profession).
signed,
a teacher
And specificlly, "lj" is saying he has to sign off on every 3t hire in every college: "Every MBP will require my signature. Every letter of offer must be patterned upon the elements of this MBP"
Hot off the presses: lj has mandated that UT be the first (or amongst the first) to offer 3 year degrees and the dean of LLSS has volunteered to have LLSS as the first UT college to offer 3 year degrees.
And by way of opinion: it would seem to be that an open university like UT is the LEAST likely university to succeed with 3 year degrees. Only a university with many full time, VERY highly motivated students could make this work.
That letter from 'lj' confirms that the University of Toledo has become an abject disaster. If that's the administration's attitude, no accomplished young scholar is going to join UT's faculty with any purpose in mind other than lengthening a CV for future employment at a *legitimate* university.
As an alumnus of UT and resident of Toledo, I am frustrated at my diploma's loss of value in the community compared to ten years ago.
When is the board of trustees going to stop playing games and bring in an actual leader? Five years is way too long for this hack and his goons.
The 3 year degree is being planned - with Fall, 2012, as the projected start for some degrees. The idea is to crunch the Gen Ed classes into one year and one summer semester. Students will still have 120 hours to complete and pay for. I'm sure Distance Learning figures heavily into the equation.
Here is a link to OSU's response to the 3 year degree mandate:
http://ugeducation.osu.edu/3-yr-degree.shtml
How interesting that Dr. Jacobs' letter proposes such stringent requirements for hiring faculty while making no mention of imposing more stringent requirements for hiring administrators or consultants.
I would like to suggest that we hire no more full-time administrators at bloated salaries when the work could be done by part-time administrators who would work for the same salary as an adjunct instructor with no benefits. Additionally, the viability of that potential administrative candidate should be evaluated on the basis of the previous employee's performance. Furthermore, that candidate's hire would be determined by the performance of the rest of the employees in that unit. No more administrators should be hired without a mini business plan demonstrating how much revenue this administrator would generate versus a complete financial projection of the candidate's cost.
Dr. Jacobs' letter is not about investing in faculty: it is about decimating the faculty.
There is no impediment to getting a degree in 3years as things currently stand, unless your required class is cancelled at the last minute or summer session classes under-enroll.
Dean Barlowe's plan calls for students in her three-year program to take 28 hours in the first semester and 26 in the second, followed by 6 in the summer.
As has been pointed out repeatedly, UT consistently comes up with meetings and committees, reorganizations, strategic plans, new schools, new administrative hires, admin promotions to reinvent the wheel. 3 year degrees? has been possible all along. What UT administrators are good at is the shell game and smoke and mirrors so as to justify their existences/salaries/bonuses/perks and pad their resumes. It's a game even faculty can play if they learn the requisite ppt skills.
Here is one question I have, relating to Anonymous 7:23 PM's post: if the 3 year program envisioned by Dean Barlowe is something students are recruited in to, then won't UT have an obligation to offer the classes necessary to complete it? In other words, won't UT have to offer the classes, even if they would otherwise be cancelled for low enrollment or another reason?
I reviewed the information at Ohio State for meeting the 3 year degree program. If a student comes from HS with enough college credits, they can graduate in 3 years. That puts the burden on the High Schools. The burden on Universities is to raise the standards of the students so that they come with enough AP or college credits to graduate early. Interesting, though, OSU recommends against graduating in 3 years since they will miss so much of the college experience and opportunities.
However, it is the newest thing that LJ can chase.
Here is comment slightly edited to remove some apparently heartfelt vulgarity. Bloggie apologizes to the commenter for editorial intrusion....
I think LG&S -- Lloydie, Goldie, and the Stooges (BOT, Provost, Mayor, Governor as underwriters) -- are thinking "investment" for real. We are talking ROI - return on investment -- the kind of investment UT is making in maintaining the LG&S Mob and its faculty/staff pawns, but not in faculty that demands intellectual honesty, academic freedom, and political autonomy. No, these ones have got to go -- they are a thorn in your side after all! In these "hard" times, they stop hiring faculty, lay off hundreds of good workers who keep the facilities running, chase away their political enemies and intellectual critics, so they can boost the bonus of these fat cats who may one day run for president on a GOP (grand obsolete party) or Tea Party (teabagger) ticket. Hard times, my foot! Lloydie, llyodie, hear our prayer since you act like some god, thou art so full of EDITED in UT heaven -- UT Hall third floor -- you must have had EDITED for dinner. Tell us something: where did you get your MD? Or is that your license to ruin academia so you can operate a for-profit diploma mill?
UT charges a student higher tuition for credit hours taken above 16 (used to be 18).
So while it is true that students could theoretically graduate in 3 years prior to the "new" 3 year proposal, UT in effect penalized any such attempt by charging considerably higher tuition.
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Interesting. "Lloyd Jacobs" ends the conversation by answering the one question no one really cares about.
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