Buzz. Buzz.
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
15 comments:
Two askew.
If Jacobs has his way, this university will shut its doors on the day he retires in 2016.But what if he were made to retire before then...? What if the BOT suddenly woke up and realized the destruction they allowed on their watch? What if they said "Enough!" and fired him for his incompetence?What if the faculty woke up and voted no-confidence in the president and the BOT?
Official workplace evaluation of UT President Lloyd Jacobs:
Hard to resist. And timely!
Due Friday, March 29th:
http://intranet.utoledo.edu/adminreview/
Hold your horses with that evaluation!
The UTAAUP evaluation call went out to subscriber emails this weekend. I could not escape the possibility that the evaluations can be traced to the individual faculty through their UTAD ID. This not confidential enough since IT (and its overpaid CIO) works for (and loyal to) the president, and will turn over such data in a heartbeat to UT administration.
1. You log in with your UTAD ID
2. Get a code associated with your UTAD ID
3. that code goes on the evaluation.
A database query can match each response with a name...a simple chore for IT. Before you know, the UT administration will hunt the most vulnerable victims (non-tenured, tenured-track) down.
Can this be set up on a UT-neutral site like survey monkey? UT-AAUP to supply its members with a code (so it is not public, but cannot be linked by IT to names via UTAD).
And what's up with this tight deadline?
On behalf of the concerned, suspicious, and the so-not-fooled UT faculty.
To Anonymous 2:20
Nice try but we are on to you. The survey will proceed. Jacobs will be deservedly skewered, roasted and devoured by his own misbegotten ambitions.
"Nice try but we are on to you. The survey will proceed. Jacobs will be deservedly skewered, roasted and devoured by his own misbegotten ambitions"
To Anon. of 6:17 AM:
Sorry, I do not know what you are thinking, but this is not UT Administration trying to divide with paranoia and scare tactics. I issues a sober warning. If you do not understand how databases work, just listen. There is NO anonymity in these surveys because your identity can be established through the code.
Surely, Jacobs and the GoonSquad must be taken down as you say, but do not give them ammunition to target individuals. The UTAD account is their tool, hence the warning at last the UT-AAUP meeting NOT to use UT computers for certain purposes at work. Were you there???
Surely, the UT-AAUP could have come up with a different instrument (same questions, that's fine) on a UT-neutral domain, issue the codes to members who want to fill out and really speak up. The UTAD system is the Big Brother, and IT will(!) identify survey participants just to keep their jobs (and the bonus, in case of the CIO). If you thought the HLC evaluation was bogus, there is no reason to trust this survey.
Let's set it up on an external server with UT-AAUP/CWA/etc. managing it with an external mediator who can ask the UT unions to verify the results per input, and then turn it over without filtering (which the UTAD system can do if they manipulate the data). The data should be published on Google Docs so that the interpretations are based on true raw data.
Surely, we all want Jacobs "skewered, roasted and devoured by his own misbegotten ambitions" no doubt, but let's give everyone a fair opportunity to do that without fear of reprisal. Those with positive opinion of Jacobs will still have the same opportunity to do that on a neutral survey, and their voice will be heard and their votes counted.
Fill out that survey if you feel you are not vulnerable, but some will be targets of witch hunt by UT administration.
UT-AAUP should advise!
The environment in which the UT Admins, BOT, and faculty exist is toxic and has been so for some years. Former A&S Dean Li, for example. It was revealed thru emails that VKII wanted to fire Li well before faculty in A&S started publicly 'no confidence voting' him. Once faculty got publicly involved, VKII closed ranks and it became an us v them issue. The same thing will happen here with the Senate evaluation and/or a faculty no confidence vote. VKII will use either or both as proof to the BOT of the difficulties he's facing effecting their agenda and argue he needs an even bigger free hand to get the job done. VKII is not operating in a vacuum - the changes he is pushing come from a higher source. In most ways he is a puppet to a trend in academics that started some years ago once powers that be realized they could use the 'economic downturn' to reshape universities. Their mantra has become 'taxpayer, taxpayer' every time someone questions their funding reductions or the eliminations of programs. (If you watched a recent VKII video of a roundtable with the LLSS dean and a faculty member you heard him recite this mantra: do taxpayers want to support... is his rebuttal to every dissenting argument.
I hope we all value TRUTH enough to say what we think on the evaluations of Jacobs, even if they could possibly be used against us. We have the moral high ground here.
Say what you will about Jacobs & Co. - it's not all simply a one-sided conspiracy.
There are many very real, valid, important and in many respects inescapable reasons - academic, economic and political - for the dramatic changes taking place at UT and in academia in general.
Here's a brief clip discussing some of the political reasons and illustrating how university faculty (primarily in the liberal arts) have in many respects brought this cataclysmic paradigm shift upon themselves through their own arrogance, complacency, excess and absurdity over a long period of time - despite continued internal and external criticism and warning:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2253299425001/political-corruption-on-college-campuses/?playlist_id=1621774019001
"I hope we all value TRUTH enough to say what we think on the evaluations of Jacobs, even if they could possibly be used against us. We have the moral high ground here."
Yes, we do have TRUTH on our side and continue to hold the high moral ground, except that the statements will not have a chance of seeing the daylight because they will be buried in the UTAD system. Do you think, Jacobs and his CIO sidekick will think for a second and reconcile with the kind of TRUTH that might send them packing for a new job? Don't be naive, friend!
The same energy should be concentrated on providing a UT-neutral venue for the evaluation.
Again, UT-AAUP and the other UT unions need to look for another evaluation instrument: one that will allow faculty to view the results. We cannot shield Jacobs, Gold, Scarborough, etc. from the harsh criticism that they've got coming to them. The process needs to be transparent.
That video is a load of horseshit. And the piling on starts at the beginning: The University of California DID NOT donate any money to Obama. What they did was compile a list of donors who work at the university, graduated from the university, are in an extended family with a family member affiliated with the university. The same is true for all the other "statistics" that video throws up to support the conclusion campuses are brainwashing students. Complete and utter nonsense. Here's the video's conclusion: young people voted overwhelmingly for Obama- why you ask? because they have been brainwashed by their universities. If it was shown on the comedy network I would have been laughing out loud. As it was it was on a "news" network (you can guess which one). Pathetic. And you know why I looked past the dumb ass statistics the video led with? Because I was trained at a university to check facts figures and arguments people feed me as gospel.
The Administrative review surveys are not conducted by UT AUUP but by UT Faculty Senate and they have explained how the process does not link the utad id to the code to access the survey. If you have questions or concerns regarding the surveys contact the leadership of the Faculty Senate not UT AAUP or expect those answers here.
for god's sake, develop some balls and speak the truth. no-one invented the freedom of speech principle too cover personal reports of idiots. If you cannot report one (or more idiots) in your life, then you do not deseve respect for that life. R/J.
Dear Faculty when the postmortem of this administration comes, please remember that you failed in your support of human dignity at the expense of your own security. JP
Someone gets it!
http://www.independentcollegian.com/letter-to-the-editor-don-t-let-corporate-masters-destroy-ut-1.2819557
Post a Comment