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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
North Dakota Board's Vote Puts 'Fighting Sioux' Mascot on Thinner Ice | 57
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November 20, 2008
At Education Department, as at Other Agencies, It's Time for Some to 'Burrow In'
Washington — It’s an election-year tradition: Government officials who were brought in by one administration as political appointees, and who don’t want to leave, get reclassified as career officials so that they can keep their jobs in the new administration.
News reports in recent days have described such “burrowing” as happening at the Pentagon and at the Departments of Labor, the Interior, and Housing and Urban Development. Altogether the Bush administration this year has allowed at least 20 political appointees to become career civil servants, The Washington Post reported this week.
The Education Department is no exception. The department, in response to a request from The Chronicle, listed four officials who began work as Bush-administration political appointees and have been reclassified as career-staff members since April 2006. They work in divisions that include student financial aid, vocational and adult education, and the Institute of Education Sciences.
Such reclassifications can limit the flexibility of a newly elected administration. But even Bush-administration critics acknowledge that such actions are aimed primarily at rewarding loyal workers on a personal level, rather than thwarting the new administration.
Diane Auer Jones, who quit earlier this year as assistant secretary for postsecondary education, said department officials aligned with both parties had switched from political to career during the previous two administrations and generally had done so “out of dedication to public service.”
“In my experience,” said Ms. Jones, “the people who ‘careered in’ under the Clinton administration were as much a part of the team as everybody else and were not there to undermine anything this administration was trying to do.”
And it’s not only people who switch classifications. One senior department official, Vickie L. Schray, has been a key player for the Bush administration in handling the politics of some critical regulatory decisions, even though she’s a career officer. After the departure of Ms. Jones, Ms. Schray was named deputy assistant secretary for higher-education programs and, to help her out, the job itself was converted from a political position to a career posting. —Paul Basken
Posted on Thursday November 20, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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The appointed OPM hack maintains that conversions are not taking place, and made poor Dana Perino repeat the fib. More at http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/the-wrecking-crew-digs-in/
— Mike Licht Nov 24, 02:57 AM #