Addressing the Record - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Mar 8, 2005

Addressing the Record

Date: Mar 8, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: W.J. Johnson
".. Brad Brian was right on the mark when he said that wonderful things are going on at Southern. The word isn't getting about like it should. This is clearly the result of the volume of the naysayers on campus... "

I'm so glad to hear you state this, W.J. We had others say similar things, but when we asked them to defend SFT with positive statements all we got was silence. Can you mention some of the positive things going on that are so substantive that they truly make the negative things trivial?

Date: Mar 8, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: LeavingASAP
" I'm so glad to hear you state this, W.J. We had others say similar things, but when we asked them to defend SFT with positive statements all we got was silence. Can you mention some of the positive things going on that are so substantive that they truly make the negative things trivial? "

Hiring W.J. Johnson, this guy is at least entertaining and willing to converse with faculty. Thanks for your fortrightness Johnson.

Date: Mar 8, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: W.J. Johnson
"I am also supportive of the right of local business people to help shape the future of the University. Like me, these people have balanced ledgers, made payrolls, and engaged in difficult capital budgeting decisions. They are clearly more qualified to handle the business of educating Mississippi's young citizens than are individuals trained in languages and music. "

Well, there you have it. The Coca Cola Cabal is "more qualified to handle the business of educating Mississippi's young citizens than are individual trained in languages and music." Then, let them by God do it. The language faculty, music faculty and CoB faculty should all walk out and let the experts do their thing. See how long SACS puts up with that sh!t.

Date: Mar 8, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: W.J. Johnson
"...and I believe in what Coach Eustachy is doing with the men's basketball program. I also believe the girl's team will rebound to former levels of success under Coach McNelis. "

"girl's team"!?!?!?! You may want to rephrase that because these are women.

Date: Mar 9, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: The Guantlet is Down
" Well, there you have it. The Coca Cola Cabal is "more qualified to handle the business of educating Mississippi's young citizens than are individual trained in languages and music." Then, let them by God do it. The language faculty, music faculty and CoB faculty should all walk out and let the experts do their thing. See how long SACS puts up with that sh!t."

Yep - ole Mr. Johnson is asking us to go out on strike - let's do it! I, like some other frustrated posters to this board, have had enough of the ineffective opposition going on now. I've asked it before and maybe folks are ready to respond now: can we say "sick out"? Can we throw our bodies into the teeth of the machinery and put a stop to the madness?

Date: Mar 9, 2005

from despair.com

Date: Mar 9, 2005

W.J. -- Please note that the ire expressed toward SFT has very little to do with 1) a "shift" toward research, 2) a desire for more funding, or 3) a shift in the direction of technology. Most faculty are very much in favor of those things (at least if a shift toward tech does not have a side effect of injuring good departments that we already have). The dislike of SFT is because he has been so BAD at doing other things. If the college board has chosen SFT to implement the above plan -- what a bad choice! In his efforts to head that direction he has been so ham-handed in his management that he has caused a near revolution. Thus it is (in the main) not the goals of SFT that cause problems, it is his utter inability to manage. From a poor restructuring of the colleges, to a botched firing, to losing most of his right hand people, to SACS, SFT has been a disaster as a manager. As a business person yourself you must admit this. He was presumably hired to do the above three things -- instead he has gotten bogged down in struggles over "side issues." He has not produced.

Instead of SFT the Board should choose someone who can achieve the goals they want -- without causing a furor! Seems simple. Indeed, the board should tell folks straight up if they want to turn us into a Tech (there are some very good techs out there) -- instead of just having SFT wander aimlessly through the China shop, leaving unproductive destruction in his wake. If the Board came clean and said, "here is the direction of USM" -- well, they are our ultimate bosses. We would have to take it or leave. We would also know the proposed future of our university, which is only fair to us.

So instead of lauding SFT for his moves -- think of how much "better" he could have made those moves by managing effectively. To me he is the worst of both worlds -- instituting only haphazard change, while being so bad at it that he undermines those changes by getting sidetracked into battle after battle over his ham-handed management style.