Is this board dying? Have we lost out diligence and our desire to accomplish our real mission?
My guess (and that's all it is) is that folks "on the ground" in Hattiesburg are still in "recovery mode." Eventually things will return to some degree of normalcy, and there will be time to begin paying attention again to the Latest Stupid Things (for surely there will be more of these).
How ironic that Shelby owes the current period of relative calm to something even more obviously destructive than he is.
I for one am still on dial-up at somebody else's house. Building materials have appeared in the carport, but I'm still weeks away from my beloved cable modem. Severely limits my participation and no doubt others as well.
Is this board dying, or is the University of Southern Mississippi dying?
Personally, I attribute my own decreased level of pomposity, animosity & degenerosity to the increased suckiness of the Activeboard interface. Until I decided (quite on a whim) to install the "Adblock" extension to Firefox & clobber the Macromedia Flash ad banners, it was often impossible for me to enter a post or reply to one.
I think Symp is probably right, though. A lot of board regulars have bigger fish to fry right now in their lives than worrying about this board. I know several who don't have reliable Internet access & a lot of us have spent considerable time lately haggling with contractors.
It's also worth noting that the Thameshoids haven't achieved a Really Stupid Thing™ of note this semester, but I think that's only because everything has been overshadowed by disaster recovery. Once things begin to normalize, it's predictable that a RST™ will occur & the board will spring to life.
I figure we'll see some activity here around the first Tuesday in December...
We haven't given up. Let those of us who are not involved in hurricane recovery know what we can do. Do you want us to write our 53rd letter to the IHL board? Write the H-A? Just let us know. You can deal with tarps and construction, and we can continue the fight, as needed.
Those of us who are physically far away from the USM area are still in there as emotionally as ever. BTW, that campus isn't all that quiet. The Next Stupid Things are occuring as I write. Some of us are merely waiting for them to blow up - which they will. All in good time.
Not a part of this thread, but I thought Mitch's letter to the H.A. was fabulous.
Those of us who are physically far away from the USM area are still in there as emotionally as ever. BTW, that campus isn't all that quiet. The Next Stupid Things are occuring as I write. Some of us are merely waiting for them to blow up - which they will. All in good time. Not a part of this thread, but I thought Mitch's letter to the H.A. was fabulous.
Thanks Emma. I wish I could take sole credit for the letter, but it really was a carefully crafted letter by the entire executive committee. More important, it expresses, I believe, the sentiment of the majority of faculty and staff, and therefore needed to be said.
... The Next Stupid Things are occuring as I write. Some of us are merely waiting for them to blow up - which they will. ...
I thought the administrative raises was the "Next Stupid Thing". The faculty and public didn't get wind of it until after Katrina, but that didn't diminish it in my opinion. Thanks to Faculty Senate and the AAUP for informing everyone.
Mitch, did the AAUP send a copy of your letter to the IHL?
At places with which I am familiar a department chair wouldn't survive by giving large salary increases to him/herself and his/her appointees (e.g., program directors, assistant chairs), while at the same time giving tiny or no raises to the other departmental faculty. The faculty would undoubtedly storm up the chain of command with legitimate complaints/protests until the chair was required to gather up the paper clips from his/her desk and vacate the office. What the heck is wrong at Southern Miss?