Friday, May 30, 2014
Lots of problems ahead?
What's going on with the parking lots here at UT? Specifically: What's up with Lot 13? Lot 13 can't hold all the people who need it. It looks like 13N, which is sorely needed, is gone. And that extra lot we had Fall 2013--which was a lifesaver for a lot of us--is long gone. Do we really need another building? (If that's what's happening on the space.) What'll we do when Fall 2014 rolls around and we can't get in to teach because we can't find a parking place?
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13 comments:
Looks like that lot will be closed while they build the new dormitory. If UT's enrollment continues to decline there should be plenty of spaces.
We've got bigger challenges than parking, folks.
To many students and their parents the quality and amenities of their dorm are just as important in their selection process of a school as academics. Dowd, White, and Nash were Turkish prisons by today’s standards. No amount of remodeling or renovations could bring that complex up to today’s standards. Ultimately the new housing complex will help enrollment. Now the real issue here is why the project was privatized. Why a for-profit corporation is building and will operate the facility?
I wish more people were aware and concerned about the number of UT functions that have been privatized resulting in UT employees losing their jobs and OPERS being weaken. The Print Shop being outsourced might be the best example to date.
I think this sad state of affairs will continue as long the BOT is dominated by GOP appointees.
What a meaningful, relevant topic to discuss!
It recalls two famous quotes attributed to giants in higher education.
The first is from Dr. Clark Kerr, the iconic leader who headed the California system of higher education as chancellor in the turbulent 1960s. When asked the primary functions of the chancellor, he responded that his role was “to find football tickets for alumni, parking places for faculty, and sex for the students.”
The second comes from Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami in Florida, who once noted that the reason why the politics in higher education are so fierce is because ”the stakes are so low.”
Well done.
That's Professor Sayre (often misattributed to Kissinger), but not original Shalala.
something is in the wind as rumors circulate around the heath campus that Jacobs is doomed
I really don not expect positive change at UT. The best we can hope for is benign neglect. The republicans in the state are way ahead in fundraising because their anti union and anti worker policies continue to succeed in impoverishing the democratic base while enriching the republican. Also, as usual, they continually to successfully convince people whose interest it is in to be voting democrat, that it is their interest to vote republican. Also, Kasich continues to portray himself as a proworker, prounion supporter with a sincere and straight face and the beguiled believe him while I cannot help many republicans who know better smirk at the cynicism of his commercials. Last week someone came by my house stumping for republicans. I told him I could not believe Kasich's commercial where he pretends to be a democrat. The man responded with a pained expression in his eyes and said...."Me neither...."
something is in the wind as rumors circulate around the heath campus that Jacobs is doomed
Well, I hope it's not the same rumor that said the BOT was going to boot Jacobs last Tuesday and replace him with Dan Johnson.
BTW, has there been a quality president at UT since William Carlson?
change is coming folks, whether in the long it makes much a different, but the recent rumors of change are correct, it is coming
TU/UT prospered under Bill Carlson (1958-1972) and Glen Driscoll (1972-1985),in retrospect the "good old days" for our institution. The administrations of Jim McComas (1985-1988) and Frank Horton (1989-1998) look much better after the disasters beginning with the BOT appointment of Vik Kapoor in 1999 over the objections of most faculty and staff. (Most of them preferred the other finalist at that time, Jim Muyskens, a University of Michigan philosophy PhD who has just retired as head of Queens College of CCNY.) That example of how the BOT ignored the views of faculty and staff, as was done in the subsequent presidential appointments, does not bode well for the future. Unless the BOT is willing to admit their mistakes in appointing presidents such as Vik Kapoor and Lloyd Jacobs, the decline of UT will likely continue. How sad!
Nothing prevents our Main Campus concerned faculty (students, staff and alumni) from establishing our own ad hoc presidential selection advisory group at this time. We could devote a thread on this blog for that special purpose. The official search team vows to be transparent, but just in case it fails to achieve that goal we can operate a daily updated open forum here during the selection process based on available facts and/or informed rumors (if need be). Let's begin this open discussion immediately.
As I recall, Kapoor created 3 or 4 new administrative, super-dean positions and filled them with faculty. And so if Kapoor's tenure is regarded as failed, at least some of the responsibility should be directed at faculty.
The UT-BOT should be ashamed of themselves: they are ultimately accountable and responsible for the shambles they have made of this university. The state of the finances of UT, as well as their lack of oversight of Jacobs et al., should indicate to their off-campus colleagues/clients/bosses how incompetent they are. Their track record of hiring and their personnel action approvals (Kapoor, Jacobs, Scarborough, Gold, Cruickshank, etc.) suggest that they cannot attract nor vet candidates. I have little confidence in their ability to run a presidential search, let alone evaluate candidate credentials.
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