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.

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