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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.
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
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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
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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.
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." |
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25 comments:
Any thoughts on the proposals sent by the COCA college? Maybe that vulture can feast on the carcasses of the people who are needed to carry the COCA sedan chairs around campus.
Where can we read about these COCA proposals?
Is this the emblem of UT administration? Picking off students one wallet at a time while stuffing their own pockets...
I don't get this unhealthy fixation with academic configuration. It's not really relevant to fixing the problems at UT, which are revenue-, not expense-centric.
The major problem that I see at UT is the failure to match expenses to revenues.
While I have now been retired for four years, it was true all of the ten years I served on the Fiscal Advisory Committee (and its variants in name.) It seems that the expenses are long term obligations while the revenues are highly variable and depend on a number of conditions including but not limited to the State of Ohio's economy. Added on to this are the people who want to spend money for pet projects they claim to benefit the university (and probably do in the short term) but become long term liabilities with no offsetting revenue enhancements.
Quite frankly, and I said this over ten years ago during the Johnson Administration, "The University of Toledo tries to do too much with the resources it has."
In my humble opinion, The University of Toledo still has to learn to limit its expenses to the income it can rely on.
Because some folks would rather play games and politics rather than face the real issues and challenges that UT faces. These same people are unproductive as faculty, contribute little to improving their departments and programs. They are more interested in debate and discussions, and posting here, rather then actually making a difference and working to address issues such as student recruitment, retention and graduation. For them the Dean and administration are the source of all evil (regardless of who they may be at any given time), ignoring the more important issues of funding, resources, and priorities that need to be addressed - none of which were better under the former A&S nor current or any form of revised college structure. Yet they are obsessed with A&S as some ideal world, forgetting how ineffective it was for most departments, faculty and students and going back, without significant changes and resources, means little for students and enrollment at UT. But they continue to fixate on infighting among faculty, departments from COCA and CLLSS in a silly stupid and ineffective debate all the time Rome burns under them.
To 11:18 AM.. Very imaginative. How can you possibly know all this? You have been looking at those dirty inkblots again, haven't you?
"The Rockets' offer was for more than $800,000 in total, a different source said, but ISU's offer "significantly" trumped Toledo's. -- "Source: Campbell agrees to become ISU head coach," The Blade, Nov. 29, 2015
What budget crisis?
Anon at 11:18. You are 100 percent correct. I would add that this blog is representative of probably less than 10% of the faculty.
I do think we are in a transition period. In the old world great teaching and great research made a great faculty member. Too many of our faculty are still operating on the model. In the new world a great faculty member must still be a great teacher and a great researcher, but she must also be active in community outreach, retention and recruiting, and development.
I suspect that the views on this blog (made by perhaps 10 or fewer people) actually represents way under 5% of total UT faculty. Many simply have better priorities and less interest in issues such as college structure or the Dean, but instead focused on their teaching and research. Over the years I have been to many college faculty meetings and Senate only to hear the same few voices (many still around today), often stating the same issues over and over again, year after year. One has to wonder as full time faculty (and some as Department chairs) how they find the time to spend on these debates and still maintain high productivity, is that time and effort at the expense of their work, students and department?? I always admired those faculty who would serve their terms on such bodies, give of their hard work and time, truly intended and achieved results, yet also knew enough to return back to their departments and work as faculty where their contributions were also needed and valued. Service to the institution is valued and needed from faculty, but some have made a career of it, often leaving the impression that they alone speak for all faculty (many of the same are front and center in the UT AAUP and at contract time).
I don't see much problem with retention, recruiting, and development. Community outreach is a bit more problematic given the penchant for gotcha politics by liberal and conservative activist groups (or worse yet...legislators). Beyond the gotcha politics, you have to endure a withering amount of social media abuse if you are "part of the conservation." Anything involving identity politics, state politics, prisons, inequality, economic policy, Israel, religion, drugs, and so forth is effectively dancing around in a minefield. I doubt many faculty, even tenured ones, are prepared to withstand a full out assault by those forces. And I seriously doubt that the administration would stand by a targeted faculty member either.
You have a pretty narrow view of community outreach as there are a wide range of opportunities, including locally, regionally and nationally that many faculty could be engaged with that do not tread into politically sensitive areas. And UT has a number of outstanding faculty involved with community service (and UT gives out awards for this activity each year) and they deserve to be credited and acknowledged for their efforts. But I do not feel that community engagement should be expected or required as some faculty just do not have the right skill set and abilities for it. Some faculty are best left in the classroom, some are best focusing on their research. However every faculty member in an academic department with students and programs should be involved with student recruiting and retention (and not just their own graduate students)as they are in an academic unit and UT is first and foremost a public teaching institution and budget dependent on students.
Let’s add some facts, which often are nonexistent on this blog, to the discussion.
And also recognize an historic, longstanding, award-winning institutional commitment in our midst.
From the 2012 Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools report of comprehensive evaluation visit: “University of Toledo is deeply embedded in its community and has a breadth of community engagement that warrants recognition. The university should consider seeking the Community Engagement classification by the Carnegie Foundation. Application for this designation will facilitate moving toward greater coordination of outreach and engagement efforts and may aid in developing a portal for community engagement, as is suggested in the university’s self-study document.”
From the Jan.7, 2014 issue of UT News: One of the nation’s top educational foundations has recognized The University of Toledo for its focus on community engagement. UT is among 240 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2015 Community Engagement Classification.
Starting with Jesup Scott and continuing through Asa Knowles and Lloyd Jacobs, community engagement has been and today is woven deeply into the fabric of the institution. Local and regional engagement matters, and UT’s relationships and purposeful actions make positive change.
UT deserves much credit for recognizing civic engagement as a way to enhance the educational experience of students and benefit Toledo and northwest Ohio at the same time. It’s gratifying that others at the national level agree.
To 11:20am: How is it that you have the time to troll this blog? As for people "returning" to faculty after serving their term, perhaps some deans should consider doing that as well.
When I mentioned community outreach a few days ago in this blog I did not mean to imply that UT wasn't doing any public outreach. My point was that many faculty are not involved in it. If you look at our community outreach/involvement/engagment it is very uneven. I don't have hard data, but I would guess 10% of the faculty are doing 90% of the outreach.
We are a metropolitan university. We should all strive to become the think-tank of our region, a leader in health care, an educational powerhouse for the region, and a center for the arts, culture, and creative thought.
All of us should live UT's mission. In the new world there is more to a university than just teaching classes and doing research. If you can't embrace that than you're part of the problem. Sorry.
Not all disciplines or faculty fit well with community outreach as it depends on the types of work they are doing and frankly the skill set and abilities of the faculty member which may not be ideal for community outreach. There are plenty of opportunities (and little reward or incentive). Also with increased research or teaching responsibilities efforts and time off campus are not always easy to come by for faculty. I have no idea as to the % but in my department I would place the number at over 50%. I do not see lack of community engagement as an issue at the top of the list of challenges UT needs to address.
Two recent posts on this blog point to a huge problem for UT as it relates to community engagement.
The institution hasn’t got the slightest idea what percentage of faculty engage in community engagement activities, and no centralized mechanisms are in place to systematically collect, document, assess and make available to the university’s various publics the impact of how UT faculty and students are connected to and engaged with local/regional community partners via experiential courses and initiatives, research, and public service.
Community engagement is an important component of UT’s mission, and important outreach activities certainly occur as primary missions in all UT colleges. But everything is anecdotal, and information about community engagement is siloed in the colleges.
With no unifying framework or infrastructure that supports community engagement, initiatives in which faculty and staff share their leadership talent and expertise go unrecognized and experiences and effective practices are not shared across the institution.
Numerous initiatives could be launched to address this shortcoming. UT should develop a strategic plan for community engagement, develop guidelines for documenting scholarship of engagement, bring speakers to campus to discuss the theory and practice of community-engaged scholarship, hold faculty development seminars on the scholarship of community engagement and service learning, and annually collect data in order produce an annual report of its community outreach activities that provides a comprehensive record of partnerships, results, and products that advance UT institutional goals.
A prominent Web site that informs the public about the university's outreach initiatives and programs and allows the public to search for faculty expertise could be launched.
Simply put, UT has got to become a more data-driven organization. It needs to do much better job of gathering and analyzing information to support its decision-making and to describe its efforts and impact.
That needs to be an important priority for the new president and the new provost.
@6:02: What do you mean by community engagement? Whose community? Is it restricted to Toledo? What about Wood County? What about the State of Ohio? Monroe, Michigan? United States? France? China? Are there really multiple communities embedded in those geographic areas? White, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, gay, and so forth? Are some of those communities more worthy of community engagement than others? For instance, do we privilege relatively non controversial service to dominate communities of interest (e.g. the business sector) because they might bring good will to the university? Do we diminish engagement that runs the risk of making the university or particular faculty members political targets because they are deal with unpopular groups (e.g. felons, atheists, transgender people). Does the community of scholars in which one is embedded matter in terms of engagement? What about service to the university community? Should engagement be specifically tied to area of expertise or does service not related to your research or teaching matter? It would be helpful if you spell out what you mean.
So we have two proposals coming out of COCA and attempts underway in CLLSS to form a proposal from a selection of widely different options favored by faculty across CLLSS. Does anyone actually think this will end well and as intended - with a agreed upon single college structure proposal within the next several weeks presented to the President? My prediction is that it ends up in confusion conflict and abandoned all together by the President (perhaps that is the intent of many from COCA and CLLSS involved with these proposals) or she simply forces a combined college solution.
I'm curious about something. Why doesn't UT have a Master of Fine Arts program? I was actually surprised to learn that we don't. Given our partnerships/proximity to TMA I would think it would be a logical things to do.
I know that Health Science Campus is on standby alert, awaiting word of this all-important decision.
Two posts on this thread highlight a big problem that UT has when it comes to community engagement.
The university needs to put in place more effective systematic procedures for gathering, documenting, assessing and making available to the university’s various publics on an annual basis the impact of its community engagement and service efforts.
Basic data like the number of faculty members participating in community outreach and service activities, the number of university-community partnerships or the number of experiential learning courses are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. Much of the information is anecdotal and information is siloed in the colleges.
With no unifying framework or infrastructure in place, initiatives in which faculty and staff share their leadership talent and expertise with their communities go unrecognized. Experiences and effective practices are not shared across the institution. In addition, duplicate and complementary activities are not identified or addressed, and faculty and staff who might wish to contribute their expertise are unaware of opportunities to do so.
UT should develop a strategic plan for community outreach and engagement. As part of that effort, the Office of Institutional Research should annually administer a faculty/staff survey to obtain information about university community engagement and service initiatives.
If the university is ever going to demonstrate accountability and show its value to Toledo and the region, it needs to gather this data. Making a degree from UT more valuable today than it was yesterday is a hard journey, but one for which the university should strive.
Pretty easy already for Departments and Chairs to pull information on community service from individual faculty ARPAs, our department does so every year as part of an annual report to the Dean.
Anon 8:44, don't forget a lot of outreach is also done by PSA, post-docs, graduate students and undergraduates that might not get mentioned on ARPAs.
Rumor has it that big cuts coming in summer teaching in 2016, higher minimum enrollment caps, fewer courses permitted to be taught as too many courses have low number of students, total summer student enrollment down considerably from 2014 to 2015, salary costs up, net revenue way down after state share of instruction. Look for significant reductions in courses and number of faculty teaching in summer 2016 and pressure on department chairs to give summer courses to lowest paid faculty. For faculty including instructors who have been dependent and relying on summer teaching as means to supplement salary, watch out as a hit is coming if your courses have seen low enrollments in recent summers.
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