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fiona
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« on: August 07, 2011, 10:22:59 PM » |
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I think this "I shall not be moved" move on the part of a university president is very interesting. http://chronicle.com/article/Battle-Shapes-Up-as-Dickinson/128551/Usually they resign semi-quietly, in order to "pursue other interests" or "spend more time with my family." I encourage us all to speculate about the back story here (about which I know nothing). Discuss. The Fiona |
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,285
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2011, 11:04:08 PM » |
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I used to work for this guy! McCallum was my academic veep before he moved on to Dickinson. He was only at my school for a couple of years. He was an odd duck, he always seemed confused and spoke in whatever educational buzzwords he picked up at his last conference. My college president was such a micro-manager and dictator that the academic veep did not really have any function except as glorified secretary so we were spared much damage from McCallum. We were all shocked when he landed a presidential gig.
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mad_doctor
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« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2011, 11:58:48 PM » |
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HAhaha... He's probably speechless because his knee-jerk reaction ordinarily would have been to blame the faculty. Sadly, this president is very representative of the population of university presidents... Makes a lot of money for doing nothing, spreads his toxic waste around wherever he goes, and believes himself to be 100% above being held accountable, because in his own realm he is a ruler with absolute power and godlike authority.
We had a veep like this a few years back, and like larryc, we were absolutely shocked that anyone would make him a president. He really was the least competent of all the senior administrative team, and some poor bastards thought it was a great idea to make him their president. How many times does that have to happen before it becomes the rule rather than the exception?
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msparticularity
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« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2011, 12:10:53 AM » |
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I particularly love the part about how he's not responding to the Chancellor's efforts to contact him: "La-la-la-la, I can't hear you!" (with fingers in ears, of course).
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"Once admit that the sole verifiable or fruitful object of knowledge is the particular set of changes that generate the object of study...and no intelligible question can be asked about what, by assumption, lies outside." John Dewey
"Be particular." Jill Conner Browne
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hulkhogan
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« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2011, 03:50:13 PM » |
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marigolds
looks far too young to be a
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,355
i had fun once and it was awful
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« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2011, 05:28:29 PM » |
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I particularly love the part about how he's not responding to the Chancellor's efforts to contact him: "La-la-la-la, I can't hear you!" (with fingers in ears, of course).
I think he got that from Seinfeld. Didn't a girlfriend on there just refuse to be broken up with? |
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"You and your mom are hillbillies. This is a house of learned doctors."
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fiona
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« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2011, 01:07:30 AM » |
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Well, he got fired and had to surrender his keys. http://chronicle.com/article/Dickinson-State-U-President/128557/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=enAs to why he was hired? Well, it's hard to get people to go to North Dakota. It's also hard to get people to take administration slots. Canny adjuncts or semi-unemployed academics could use this as a lesson in how to get a job. Get enough credentials (which can be non-academic) to be an administrator, and be willing to move to out-of-the-way places. The pool of applicants for top administrative positions tends to be very small. The Fiona |
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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mad_doctor
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« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2011, 02:20:37 AM » |
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Canny adjuncts or semi-unemployed academics could use this as a lesson in how to get a job. Get enough credentials (which can be non-academic) to be an administrator, and be willing to move to out-of-the-way places.
The pool of applicants for top administrative positions tends to be very small.
The Fiona
Hmmm... perhaps. As many incompetent deans and VPs as there are, though, one might think the pool would be much larger... |
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neutralname
A person without qualities, except for being a
Member-Moderator
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 5,598
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« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2011, 03:38:42 AM » |
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Can one send in the CV of one's own dean in the hope that they will be offered the job?
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"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music." Vladimir Nabokov
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unusedusername
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« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2011, 11:23:03 AM » |
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I guess he was Too Legit to Quit.
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fiona
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« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2011, 02:26:07 PM » |
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Can one send in the CV of one's own dean in the hope that they will be offered the job?
Sure. When there's a national search, the job ads usually request "applications or nominations." That's when you nominate your dean. S/h/it may be flattered. That's a time-honored way to get rid of people: shift them to someone else. The Fiona |
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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mountainguy
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« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2011, 05:10:42 PM » |
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My understanding is that this guy is not going to leave quietly. I also love that there was no immediate financial benefit to manipulating the enrollment numbers. What an idiot!!
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fiona
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« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2011, 06:05:20 PM » |
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My understanding is that this guy is not going to leave quietly. I also love that there was no immediate financial benefit to manipulating the enrollment numbers. What an idiot!!
It's therefore an inspiring story, because it's genuinely new. A philanthropist with nothing to philander with! This man seems to have invented a new form of martyrdom. The Fiona |
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The Fiona or perhaps La Fiona
Professor of Thread Killing, Fiork University
The Right Reverend Fiona, PhD, Bishop of the Fora
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wareagle
Wicked Witch of the West and
Senior member
Posts: 482
I'll get you, my pretty! And your little dog, too!
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« Reply #13 on: August 10, 2011, 04:57:17 PM » |
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It gets better: http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/50293/I hope I copied and pasted that correctly. I don't do hyperlinks well. |
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Where's the Field of Poppies when you need it!??
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polly_mer
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« Reply #14 on: August 10, 2011, 05:19:49 PM » |
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I get a link to something reasonable, but I don't see the point of that story other than that tomorrow a story will appear having something to do with the athletic department.
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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