University degrees to be signed by a bureaucrat?

Link: http://UBdumb.com

Caution: The following commentary is designed to stimulate emotion which often generates action as opposed to titillating the intellect which usually stimulates pondering. Enjoy the read or don’t, it doesn’t really matter much to me; simply putting the words to pen (make that keyboard) achieved the cathartic goal of the commentary. It's all poetry in prose to me, like singing in the shower may be to you. The real Samuel Clemens should be proud, although the surreal Clemens Hall may be less enthralled.

Background: University at Buffalo President John B. Simpson has surprisingly resigned (AKA "retired") mid academic year. He has recommended one of his executive officers (Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer) as his replacement to serve as interim president. The candidate has an impressive background as a business consultant but lacks the academic experience (e.g., a doctorate degree) normally associated with a university president. Needless-to-say, this has stirred some controversy amongst the University faculty who weren't consulted on this appointment recommendation and the person who was likely to serve as our interim president for an indefinite period of time.

This month's winner of the UBdumb Award already looks like it may be the grand champion for the year, and the academic year has just started. It's hard to imagine any imbecilic act the UB administration could do to exceed their latest shenanigans -- appointing someone who hasn't even attended graduate school as acting president.

Finally, Greiner's (our 13th president) plan of operating UB along a business model comes to full fruition with a businessman appointed as UB's acting president. Students at UB should be proud to discover this spring during convocation that their prized undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees are signed by a professional bureaucrat not by a "professor." Or does he automatically receive "professor" title and appointment with the job? What the hell, how about awarding him an honorary Ph.D. as well and then that base would be covered too? With a few quick signatures there might be little room left for complaints about Simpson's parting shot at the place HE called "home." (BTW: Simpson is packing-up and departing for the West Coast as soon as his resignation takes effect, perhaps sooner.)

The university is NOT a business. The university is an academic institution filled with scholars and those who come to learn. Assuming that someone with no academic credentials (e.g., classroom teaching experience, scientific research or creative artistic work) can effectively lead it is offensive to everyone who has earned their tenure at the academy, except perhaps to the bureaucrat-appointed bureaucrats themselves who would model the institution after a hot dog stand.

The argument has been made that precedence has already been set at Wayne State University when they appointed a person without a Ph.D. as their president. Hum, a ex-Ford executive as president of a Detroit university? I don't really see the relevance to our predicament. Furthermore, UB needs to assume a leadership role in such issues if it wishes to live up to its hype as a "major research university," not follow the examples of other institutions. At times when the administration has become dysfunctional it's the obligation of the faculty to rise up and assume a collective leadership role.

Or consider this nice, succinct approach: explain to your students that a janitor is going to sign their degrees this spring. That should break our undergraduates out of their usual apathetic trance. In all fairness, the appointee is not a janitor (that was just an attention getting ploy and not intended as a cheap shot at the person) and he manages much more than just the physical plant. He's a professional manager or bureaucrat if you prefer. He's never completed a graduate program (Did he attend graduate school at all?) and has never held a grant. He never conducted scientific research or produced a creative work worthy of peer recognition. He's a bureaucrat. (Did I say that already? This has me so excited I seem to be stuttering.)

The "candidate" for interim president is a chief architect of UB's failed 2020 plan -- some credentials to bring to his new job. Many of us were rather hoping that such myopic thinking was returning to the West Coast where it originated following Simpson's departure, not lingering on here in Buffalo to further bankrupt the university. (I wonder if our ex-president will take his share of the debt with him as well, e.g., the financial and academic burden of splitting our limited resources into three campuses? )

If UB weren't such an autocracy, this might not matter so much while the search is underway for our permanent (well, maybe not so "permanent" given the recent track record) president. The president or acting president (or whatever title you would like to bestow upon this position) is not only in a leadership role, he dictates policies and builds and destroys programs at the university. And given the current economic and political problems at the University, the search for a suitable president is likely to be a multi-year endeavor leaving the interim president presiding over major academic programs for an indefinite period of time.

Somebody implied that it is elitist to suggest that a person lacking a doctorate could not adequately fill the role of university president. Perhaps it is; perhaps it's similarly elitist for me to state explicitly that I would rather have someone with an M.D. perform my next surgery than an automobile mechanic. (BTW: I don't have an M.D., but I would certainly prefer an M.D. over a Ph.D. for this role.) Or perhaps assuming that an earned doctorate is the minimum requisite for a good university president is simply a succinct way of denoting certain background, training, and experiences that are considered essential to being the leader amongst academicians. Or would you prefer that Mr. Goodwrench perform YOUR emergency appendectomy?

Of course I'm also curious about how this affects his retirement package. Already earning $300,000 a year for a part-time (or at least a "I only live here during the week") job, what kind of benefits will he leave with after being interim president for a while? (More New York State taxpayer money eventually leaving for the West Coast. Couldn't we pass a law requiring these high-paid civil servants to at least reside in the state while collecting these generous compensation packages?) I further wonder if his living in California while working during the weekdays in Buffalo has anything to do with the University's official policy of promoting life-work balance. It kind of reads like they had him in mind to justify his absence during the weekends and indeed declaring California his real home. Meanwhile, I'm starting my fourth year of bicycling to work in an effort to make a small contribution to saving-the-planet from our own destructive carbon emissions, while he commutes back and fourth to his California home by jet airplane every weekend. Indeed a great role model for our 28,000+ students.

My apologies to our (unnamed out of courtesy) VP for the apparent ad hominid attacks, but absurdity begets absurdity -- quid pro quo or perhaps you better know it as "tit-for-tat" (oops, another cheap shot slipped out ). And waking the Buffalo Blog Frog prematurely from his peaceful hibernation does make him a little cranky.

Follow up:

And it gets even better. Apparently our Faculty Senate Discussion ListServer has a censor (AKA "moderator"). Surprise, surprise, no wonder the faculty here have become largely apathetic and feel disenfranchised. The comment I "posted" at 3:48 yesterday (08 September 2010) never did get through; perhaps it was a bit too inflammatory posing the question "Is Wayne State a 'peer institution?'" and commenting "I'm not surprised to see a former automobile industry executive as president of a Michigan university but does this really set precedence for SUNY?." My second comment did get through eventually after I expressed concern to a third-party about possible censorship. (Thanks to my anonymous benefactor who was unaware of the content but supportive of free and open discussion!)

For those who grew up in the post-Cold War era and haven't read Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, please understand that controlling communications is an essential step in controlling the masses. This idea obviously predates 1917 as evidenced by our Constitutional Right to a free press. Censorship reeks of totalitarianism and totalitarianism in all its forms sucks!

Call it a "moderator" or call it a "censor," censorship is censorship and I personally have a strong dislike for those who are supposed to be representing me but who are in actuality suppressing my freedom of speech (Hum, is there some sort of constitutional violation here? ).

FYI: What you're reading now is 'opt-in' and intentionally provocative to stir up engagement in this important issue. The phantom comment referred to in the above missing from yesterday's Faculty Senate Distribution ListServ was more conservatively worded, avoiding such inflammatory remarks as those the Buffalo Blog Frog is known to croak.

You can skip the following point-by-point analysis that we have a censor -- we did as should be painfully obvious by now: someone who passed or deleted our comments to the Faculty Senate Distribution List, someone who controlled the flow of information among tenured faculty members at the University at Buffalo. It appears that censorship (AKA "moderation") has been at least temporarily suspended while we're watching, but keep vigilant least 'it' returns unannounced. And how will you know until your own material is not posted?

Being housed in a Psychology Department the Buffalo Blog Frog may have indeed developed the propensity to over analyze many things, but it also provides some rather pithy quotes such as: "just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you." You decide which is applicable here.

Yes, I know, it's all a coincidence and my logic is unsound anyway . But you've earned a position in the queue, Faculty Senate , and the Buffalo Blog Frog has you in his sights (yum, yum). Relax, it's a long list and few ever reach enough prominence to merit a comment let alone a real rant.

To the UB administrators who are undoubted fuming over this commentary: I have kept my comments now, as in the past, largely internal to the University community. Yes, this blog is public but few would bother to read it with the thousands of exciting commentaries that exist on the Internet. And I even have several other review and discussion forums that merit more attention, one of which I do deem important (it addresses issues in drug addiction and drug abuse) and does have a large following. Issues of University governance and policy are usually best left internal to the University community, but when it appears that free communication among tenured faculty is stifled by a de facto censor acting on behalf of the administration, then the Faculty Senate censor (AKA "moderator") almost earned you a ticket to the "big show" (i.e., national media attention).

And what do I think of the Faculty Senate? Well, that's a separate commentary, but suffice it to say whoever allowed a "moderator" to act as censor for faculty discourse isn't getting my vote for re-election. Are they also counting those votes and the votes on important issues? What kind of censorship rules might be applied there? Oops, I forgot -- many of these positions aren't elected, they're 'filled' because not enough candidates will run for Faculty Senate. OK, that was a cheap shot, but you deserved it over the still unresolved censorship issue!

Update: Approximately five hours after public dissemination of this commentary (which itself was 'censored' for two hours by the Faculty Senate 'gate-keepers'), the nominee (Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer) has temporarily withdrawn from consideration for appointment as interim president.

"I have asked that my name not be put forward to the Board of Trustees at this time [emphasis added] in order to give our faculty, staff and students the opportunity to provide input into the priorities facing the university, and the qualities, characteristics, qualifications and experiences necessary to fill the post of interim president." (excerpt from e-mailed announcement 10 September 2010 14:52 EDT)

Of course this issue isn't settled and the debate continues, albeit at a somewhat lower tone. The role of the University's Faculty Senate in the selection process is being scrutinized and even some of the operations within the Faculty Senate are being questioned (e.g., censorship of communications exchanged among its members through its only information distribution network). The role of the UB Council in the selection process has faded back into the closed doors of its boardroom with nobody paying much attention to who and what THEY are and who appointed THEM to govern the University. (No academicians [i.e., "professors"] among the entire board members?!)

What may have come out of this ruckus (which the Buffalo Blog Frog is proud to have helped stir up!) is a renewed awakening in the role of the faculty in governing and directing the mission of a major research university -- UB takes one giant step forward into developing into the type of institution stylized in its promotional material and maturing into a 'real' university. Of course faculty apathy again sets in even before the smoke clears and any issues are actually resolved; perhaps the Buffalo Blog Frog will be called upon once again to resume its civic and moral duty trying to move things forward despite the pain of progress inherent in the process of leaping to higher ground.

In the words of the "Boss," "no retreat, no surrender," or if you prefer Julius Caesar, "alea iacta est."

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