There sure is a lot of censorship in this thread.

Glad to see Alvin Williams at the helm of the COB. He is going to run into the same group who saw their apple cart upset by Doty. They only have a little time left to try to get Shelby to help them again, as they have repeatedly done. This same group has tried to block accreditation and made life very uncomfortable to anybody who disagrees with their parochial agenda. They want to return to a good ole boy network in the school, and we know all what that entails (attempt at self-monitoring here). They make it especially uncomfortable for those that dont fit the good ole boy description. Not surprising that at on all the websites they do not use their real names, it would make clear who they are and what their real agenda is.

Just curious--no horse in this race.   Is Gunther still around?

There is much to do in COB due to the upcoming accreditation visit after COB was put on probation. As most faculty are aware, it requires a great deal of team work to put together the material and man the committees. Good committee work is best done when faculty provide discretionary effort rather than doing the minimum. This does not occur when you have an envirnoment where unproductive faculty are rewarded while productive faculty are abused. This was what has been occurring in COB for some time. Hopefully, Dr. Williams will be up to the large task he has been handed. He is one of the few in COB who can do it. His style is not confrontational, he attempts to appeal to the good side of faculty to get them to do what they are expected to do as faculty. Also, Dr. Williams has published consistently while handling his administrative chores and also edited a journal. Thus, it is reasonable for him to ask others to contribute by doing their job.

I was very disappointed to note a post denigrating the College of Business faculty by calling them ****** . Just to set the record straight, almost all COBers voted no confidence when the Glamser Stringer issue occurred. I did not hear anyone talk about those crazy Liberal Arts faculty. In addition some of us provide monetarty support to help them in defending themselves.

-- Edited by Web Master at 11:08, 2007-04-11

Do we need a re-run of "FireShelby's House" about the nature of a private board?  Some of us are forgetting that we are guests on this board, not co-owners.  It's grossly unfair to put board administrators, whose only desire is to give you guys a safe place to talk to each other, at personal risk because people can't govern their speech themselves.

Of course, it's also grossly unfair to threaten or even "lean on" a moderator instead of defending oneself.  I have had some pretty bad things said about me and the thought of suing anyone has never entered my mind.

Folks, keep it up and we won't have a board at all any more.

Patti wrote:

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LVN wrote: Do we need a re-run of "FireShelby's House" about the nature of a private board?  Some of us are forgetting that we are guests on this board, not co-owners.  It's grossly unfair to put board administrators, whose only desire is to give you guys a safe place to talk to each other, at personal risk because people can't govern their speech themselves.Of course, it's also grossly unfair to threaten or even "lean on" a moderator instead of defending oneself.  I have had some pretty bad things said about me and the thought of suing anyone has never entered my mind.Folks, keep it up and we won't have a board at all any more.Bold is my touch.  LVN, we will still have a board, it will just go back to registration only.

We are all adults, and professionals to boot; there is no need for name calling or slanderous comments.  Lets keep this professional please and thank you.

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Based on the available data, I respectfully disagree.

Flash Gordon wrote:

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If things go badly in the COB over the next few months, it won't be hard to tell who dropped their end of the log. The administration will be new, while the faculty will be the same. Those who claim the problems originated with the college administration will now have the opportunity to display their virtue or their malevolence for all to see.

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Not so fast there, Flash.  If you read the AACSB report, you'll see that the visit team identified lack of faculty participation as a problem in the CoB.  Rank and file CoB faculty were not asked for input.  Input was solicited from a small portion of the faculty.  This lack of input was a major problem.  You cannot expect the faculty as a whole to correct a problem created by a small administrative team and a few hangers on.

If you read the documents from the AACSB, you'll see that there aren't just small issues, there are small and large issues.  The issue of faculty research is one that cannot be fixed in only one year.  Getting an appropriate percentage of faculty academically qualified will probably take 2 full years at the least.  The real problem is that several of those who are not academically qualified have been rewarded under Doty, a fact that can be confirmed through public records such as the USM budget book.

Some of the issues can and will be fixed soon.  I expect that Dr. Williams will be much more inclusive in his attempts to correct the problems that have cropped up.  If Dr. Williams involves the entire faculty, then the outcome will be cathartic and productive. 

Can anyone fill us in?

 

Alvin Williams has provided excellent leadership for his department. He is not vindictive to those who disagreed with him nor does he try to buy support by rewarding unproductive people. Another signal of his leadership is that secretaries who report to him have the utmost respect and admiration for him. Unfortunately, these stellar characteristics are not evident in the chair I report to nor, the chair that ******** reports to. ******* was given a zero in his research evaluation when he had one journal acceptance and one revise and resubmit. His publication record is better than any of his colleagues, yet he has received the lowest raises in his department for years. The department has never supplied him with a computer or other support. The irony of it is that his colleagues in the department who have received substantial raises have not produced the quantity or quality of research that he has.Their lack of research productivity is the major reason COB is on accreditation probation by AACSB.

In my department, the chair has picked out those who are not yes men (or women) and given them 5 days a week teaching schedules and additional course loads. Recently, a junior faculty member, who is a productive publisher, has won a teaching award, and picked up an extra service load because we were short two faculty, was given a terminal contract. The action was taken because he fought the chair and dean when they tried to kill the Real Estate program, a program that has a great deal of industry support.

I point this out because Dean Williams will have to fix these problems, and those faculty and chairs who are not productive, but have been receiving generous raises, will fight him and try to prevent Dr. Williams from restoring equity. The recently ousted dean and some of the current chairs were not, and are not, interested in what is important for students, the college, or USM. Dean Williams is not a combative person by nature. He seldom has to be combative because he is a decent person and others usually respond to his decency in a positive way. To put COB on the road to recovery, Dr. Williams will have to do what he does not like to do, he will have to confront and forcibly deal with people who do not have Dr. Williams temperament nor his kind and generous nature. If he does not confront this issue, things will deteriorate even more and our chances to get off of AACSB probation will be slim and none.

Being a successful administrator requires that an administrator treats those who report to him/her such that they will give discretionary effort to their employer. That is, the employee will make an extra effort because they feel the need (responsibility) to do so. Otherwise, they will give the minimum and the organization is worse off. Most of us hope that Dr. Williams can be successful in his stint as acting dean and correct most of the ills so that the new President and new Dean can work on the positive aspects of their jobs and make COB and USM better.

Edited with sincere apologies to Cossack.  A faculty member's attorney asked that we delete references to that member's name, whether the reference was good or bad.  You may care to discuss the matter with said individual.

-- Edited by Web Master at 22:21, 2007-04-12

So, Mod, we are not supposed to use the COB faculty member's name that rhymes with Snark DuePlea?  Just checking...

I want to point out a couple of things about those who are attacking the faculty member whose name must not be mentioned.

First, they are entirely without substantive reasoning.  No debate can occur with them, because they do not discuss issues.  There is name-calling, race-baiting, and general snideness, but nowhere is there an actual issue being discussed.  In short, there is general anger and resentment that an individual administrator is no longer an administrator.

Second, the faculty member who must not be named has his name all over his website, yet these (potentially) slandering guerrilas hide behind an anonymous message board, hurl their unfounded insults, and run for cover.

This is why the CoB is such a nasty place.  Those who benefit from the status quo -- poor scholarship, cronyism, and backroom dealing -- cannot and do not want to have an open discussion about issues, primarily because there is no reasoning to support their positions other than preservation of self-interest.  There is no reasoning along the lines of sound pedagogy, pure scholarship, or altruistic service that can support what the free-riding rent seekers want.

Now, do I have to go dig up all the old threads where the COB Faculty Member Who Must Not Be Named defamed, slandered, and threatened long-time board members here?  Give me a friggin' break...he's no victim (other than of his own overblown ego).

PS--Race-baiting?  Did he all of a sudden change races?  I missed that one...

For the love of God, man, PLEASE don't go digging up old threads.  Then I'll have to edit them.  Life is too short. 

The "race-baiting" comment was interesting.  Misused of course.

A Harry Potter discussion board sounds like a wonderful idea, especially as USM is home to a famous children's literature conference each year, as well as being home to the de Grummond collection.  It would be a refreshing change of pace.