Recall Simpson as UB's President

Link: http://UBdumb.com

Now it's time to swing the pendulum in the other direction: let's recall (or more correctly, "ask") President Simpson to remain our university president. Let's get on the bandwagon and support him, albeit with a little more influence from his underlings (i.e., the 'real' faculty and not just his faculty elite) and playing a slightly different tune (we're on a bandwagon, remember? ). Time to back-off the more radical position voiced earlier. He can even keep his sacred COW (Chief Operations Wrangler, sorry, I'll have to look-up the official title but I do rather like the acronym ) if he promises not to try to mold (another pun) this university in the image of a business corporation. Having a business adviser or two assisting in the daily operation of a university could be a big asset; just don't have them setting program directives or determining the future mission of our University -- without having been there themselves (i.e., working within the university ranks with NORMAL professorial duties), they don't really understand what it's all about! Or to put it more bluntly (which is what the Buffalo Blog Frog has been known to do on occasion), their perception of what WE do is little more sophisticated than any other undergraduate we teach; do you want the undergraduates running the University?

The Buffalo Blog Frog had been awakened from his slumber due to recent University events that demanded a forceful response. But in the ruckus that followed several important, positive-aspects of the University and its current administration have been neglected. First and foremost, let's recall John B. Simpson as our University President. He has accomplished a lot of positive things during his rather brief tenure, things that have been overshadowed by recent developments and his often too grandiose plans for the University. He may indeed be the right man for the job if he can discard the overpowering influence of his California consortium.

The Buffalo Blog Frog never asked for President Simpson's resignation or cheered his intended departure. We were critical of his UB2020 plan and we strongly feel his choice for an interim president was downright insulting. But we NEVER called for his resignation. So this isn't an about-face (although we've been known to do that too); this is simply a clarification of our position.

First, he needs to balance the influence of his California consortium and elite local businessman with regular UB faculty and perhaps a better cross section of Buffalo businessmen. He needs to come in contact with his real faculty and not just the "yes-man" he surrounds himself with that often make fun of his actions behind his back. Perhaps brief consultations with random tenured faculty would be a great start. He presents himself as a earthy, approachable guy but he's either always out of town or in conference with the 'higher-ups' of the University and thus out of touch with the real daily operations of this institution. Perhaps he should teach one, open enrollment undergraduate class himself to see what the real world is like for most of us. (Maybe he could then explain why the admission scores are reportedly increasing for our new student population, but the students we actually see in the classroom seem to be less capable every year of handling advanced undergraduate work such as term papers.) Perhaps at least some of his chief advisers should be down in the trenches on a daily basis. Whatever it takes, he needs to better understand the real world that UB "professors" are operating in and not just that of the elite crowd of "yes-men" that he, like other university presidents, surround themselves with in their 'cabinet.'

Second, he needs to realign the objectives of UB2020 with a plan that does not tear apart UB's academic core. The decision to expand downtown with a third major campus, one that would include undergraduate instruction that could only compete with other local institutions that already have a downtown presence (e.g, ECC) is a mistake. We should be taking students fed up through the local junior college network, not competing with them for students. (No offense intended to ECC, but are we really lowering ourselves to compete with them for the same potential students?) The only instructional programs that should convene on the new downtown campus (if there is to be one) are graduate programs related to the activity of faculty located in the medical corridor. Leave the general undergraduate instruction alone; leave most of the graduate programs where they reside now. And don't worry about community outreach-oriented undergraduate curriculum; that's what ECC and other smaller colleges are already doing with their presence in inner city Buffalo. We shouldn't put ourselves in a league competing with the small schools in the area.

Third, he needs to better understand what it takes to build a premier undergraduate institution and maybe they WILL come. Granted that is at-best a secondary aim of UB2020, but it is actually a key component if we are to attract an additional 10,000 tuition-paying students from outside the region. UB2020 fell flat on its face with planning this key component which seems to have taken a backwards supply-and-demand business approach rather than an academic approach to building its core undergraduate educational program -- we supply the academic program and the demand (the students) will magically show up at our doorstep overnight. Perhaps this would work if UB had the type of national prominence promoted by our public relations department. But atlas, UB is seen as a local, at best a regional, school by most undergraduates. We draw largely from Western New York and New York City. We don't even draw large numbers of students from areas with other SUNY campuses. We are mainly viewed as a regional school and not likely to draw students even from the mid-West let alone California. And China, well that's a commentary on its own.

The revised plan is a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) from the Buffalo Blog Frog, as simple as 1, 2, 3. (Hey, now the frog is KISSing the prince. ) Get more in touch with the University, its real faculty, its average students, and the surrounding community past the elite businessmen and the special interests of the California consortium. Realign UB2020 with a plan that will strengthen UB's academic core and with a realistic growth plan that doesn't bankrupt the University and spend its cash reserves. And remember the undergraduates upon whose back the growth of the University and its reputation ultimately rests; they are our bread-and-butter, hate them and love them as we do. And then perhaps "if you build it" (i.e., a strong academic core), "they WILL come."