Nice analysis and even so logical!!! I do agree with your viewpoint and I do hope you are right. If we are lucky enough, we might see the fall of the paintmaker and his evil empire, soon. I can certainly be more patient. If nothing happens again, I will be out of here without any second thought.

Not-a-psychologist, do you think I can be clever if I stay at Holodai Inn Express?

I certainly feel that the faculty and staff need to let their respective representative groups respond to this IHL business.

However - I have no confidence at all that SFT will ever gracefully do anything.  He isn't moving anywhere, because it is not in his personality to do so.  You can believe that an "arrangement" is in place for his exit, but I do not.  If, in fact, the board is moving past accreditation issues, he now has carte blanche to do anything that he chooses to this University.

He IS having fun, because he believes he is undestructible.  He knows better than everyone, he understands USM's challenges better than everyone, etc.

Counting the days - till I'm out of here

quote:

---

Originally posted by: Amy Young
" What kind of psychopath is Shelby Thames? Interesting question! While I hope you are correct in your "psycho"-analysis, I think we should all sit tight for a few days and then think about what we can do next. We still have options, including various faculty votes, and a trip to Jackson for the next board meeting. I am still pursuing the AAUP strategy, though I must admit that if SACS doesn't scare the IHL board, AAUP certainly won't! I have received over 200 sound governance surveys. If there are still a few out there, get them in. I intend to deliver them late next week. Amy Young"

---

Everyone follow Amy's lead -- keep working on every front.  if you've ever chopped a big tree then you know that the tree iusually stays pretty vertical up until that last second when the last bit of support finally cracks and the tree goes down. 

This administration has had a very big chunk axed out of it -- it may take a couple of more swings or it may collapse of its own weight.

The motivations of the Board . . . . could be anything. I'm certainly willing to buy that there are strong elements on the Board that want to reshape USM to something less competetive with UM and MSU. But they are less and less able to protect this administration from the sheer volume of mistakes.

We are stronger than we have ever been because the administration is weaker than it has ever been. It has resorted to behind the scene tactics because it no longer has the power to confront the faculty directly. The numerous times the faculty has called the administration has inevitably wound up with the administration quickly backing down. They simply cannot withstand a full out confrontation -- and at some point the number of times these feeble attempts to subvert faculty governance will reach a critical weight of embarrasssment.

I'm tending to cautiously side with "not a psychologist." This administration is quickly becoming too much of a public liability. The major paper in the state has now run two very forceful editorials calling for change . . . Stringfellow's today called for immediate change. It also challenged Thames sense of "honor." A real shift in tactic to put the weight on the President to act in the best interest of the university. And the American, the University's hometown newpaper, has now come down firmly for change. This represents a sea change -- I can't see the Board being able to ignore this kind of pressure for very long without completely shattering what very little credibility it has left. Some of the Board members might be stubborn enough to simply let the Board self-destruct -- but I doubt whether the majority of the Board will be willing to do so.

The logic here is too convincing: after 2 1/2 years -- nothing is going to change. JB's letter laid it out very well -- the University is in crisis and the crisis was one not just exacerbated by this administration, but created by this administration. If the issue were solely the poor economics of the state, why are none of the other seven unisities experiencing this kind of turmoil and loss?  

quote:

---

Originally posted by: Maria Gambrelli
"Tell me, why do so many men smoke afterwards? No wonder tobacco companies get rich."

---