SFT in the SH - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jan 12, 2006

SFT in the SH

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Relaxer wrote:

Can somebody post a link to Shelby's letter to the SH editor from this week? I have heard that he was begging for students to come back, but I haven't read it.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/editorial/letters/13593438.htm

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Relaxer wrote:

Can somebody post a link to Shelby's letter to the SH editor from this week? I have heard that he was begging for students to come back, but I haven't read it.

I'm not a SFT fan, but I don't see that as begging. It may be a PR piece for SFT, a marketing piece for USM, or a sincere letter encouraging the victims of Katrina to not lose hope. Katrina is a natural disaster that is unprecedented. It will present citizens of the Gulf Coast with challenges they never dreamed of facing. Whether the letter was self-serving or not, it was appropriate and even a little uncharacteristic of SFT from what I have seen.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

I just want to add a "What he said" in reference to StillAnEagle's post. Its a decent letter.

My view is that SFT missed yet another opportunity to salvage his presidency by not taking a public role after Katrina. USM was (and still is) in a prime position to take a leadership role in reconstruction. Certainly faculty have shown initiative--faculty in poli sci have formed a Katrina Research initiative--but leadership has been non-existent.

This guy knows one tune, and one tune only.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

qwerty wrote:

This guy knows one tune, and one tune only.

"

Whistling in the Dark

"???

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Shelby says: "We’ve seen our faculty and staff devote long hours, days and months to help Southern Miss recover from the storm and to serve the students, despite suffering terrible hardships themselves. We want to recognize them during this difficult time."

So, fellow faculty and staff members, how have you been "recognized" (rewarded?) for your extra work this past semester?

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Angeline wrote:

So, fellow faculty and staff members, how have you been "recognized" (rewarded?) for your extra work this past semester?

Well......We now have the satsifaction of knowing that our higher administration is well heeled with those giant raises.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Angeline wrote:

Shelby says: "We’ve seen our faculty and staff devote long hours, days and months to help Southern Miss recover from the storm and to serve the students, despite suffering terrible hardships themselves. We want to recognize them during this difficult time."
So, fellow faculty and staff members, how have you been "recognized" (rewarded?) for your extra work this past semester?

What reward have I received?

I have the knowledge that I worked hard to help USM help people. I have the knowledge that my actions may have helped some students get through a hard semester. I had the comraderie of my colleagues in that most difficult semester.

Why does every reward have to be monetary? Are such whores that money is all we love?

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

What reward have I received? I have the knowledge that I worked hard to help USM help people. I have the knowledge that my actions may have helped some students get through a hard semester. I had the comraderie of my colleagues in that most difficult semester.

Why does every reward have to be monetary? Are such whores that money is all we love?

I thought you must be a compassionate Republican until I read your last two sentences

Date: Jan 13, 2006

I consider myself a compassionate conservative, but I consider myself foremost a reasonable person.

Where would money for "Katrina Compassion Raises" come from, anyway? To some people, the answer is always more money. We may not be overpaid, but Angeline's statement shines light on what is wrong with our profession.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

I consider myself a compassionate conservative, but I consider myself foremost a reasonable person. Where would money for "Katrina Compassion Raises" come from, anyway? To some people, the answer is always more money. We may not be overpaid, but Angeline's statement shines light on what is wrong with our profession.

You are so full of BS it makes you look like an a--. Who mentioned money other than you? How about all of these rewards that the USM Administration has yet to dole out to anyone other than other administrators: a pat on the back, a letter of thanks, a verbal to-the-face "Thank you"? The point is that the faculty and staff of USM have received NOTHING for saving this university from total ruin. Money - sheesh, everyone knows that the Republicans are never going to allow more money to edumucate the people.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Angeline wrote:

You are so full of BS it makes you look like an a--. Who mentioned money other than you? How about all of these rewards that the USM Administration has yet to dole out to anyone other than other administrators: a pat on the back, a letter of thanks, a verbal to-the-face "Thank you"? The point is that the faculty and staff of USM have received NOTHING for saving this university from total ruin. Money - sheesh, everyone knows that the Republicans are never going to allow more money to edumucate the people.

You've got a problem, and it's one that arguing with you won't fix. I said nothing about school funding. I said that too many people around here want and need a reward for doing their jobs. If you attended the post-Katrina convocation, you saw true appreciation for staff who worked to get the campus back in order. If you read the Sun Herald, you saw the letter publicly recognizing faculty and staff for their efforts. Given that we've already gotten a public "atta boy," the only conclusion I can draw is that you want more.

YOU mention administrators' raises, so money must be on your mind. My conclusions are (1) you want more reward and (2) you are concerned with money.

Thanks for reinforcing my idea that you are a money grubber.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

Angeline wrote: You are so full of BS it makes you look like an a--. Who mentioned money other than you?

Standard Bearer wrote: YOU mention administrators' raises, so money must be on your mind. My conclusions are (1) you want more reward and (2) you are concerned with money. Thanks for reinforcing my idea that you are a money grubber.

Standard Bearer - I, not Angeline, is the one who mentioned those outrageous administrator's raises (or it is those outrageous raises of administrators.) Please give credit where credit is due.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

If you attended the post-Katrina convocation, you saw true appreciation for staff who worked to get the campus back in order.

You mean the one that happened before classes restarted while my family and I were evacuated to another state because our house was uninhabitable? The one where Shelby said something about turning lemons into lemonade?

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

the only conclusion I can draw is that you want more. YOU mention administrators' raises, so money must be on your mind. My conclusions are (1) you want more reward and (2) you are concerned with money. Thanks for reinforcing my idea that you are a money grubber.

Standard Bearer, how in the name of the Jolly Green Giant could a person who comes to USM as a rank-and-file faculty member be concerned about $$$$$. You must not be aware of the raise picture here during the past three years. You must not be aware of the non- competitive starting salaries here. You must not be aware of USM's salary standing in relation to Ole Miss and State. You must not be aware of USM's salary standing in relation to other comprehensive public universities in any part of the country. You must not be aware that your head is up your **tt.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Angeline wrote:

If you attended the post-Katrina convocation, you saw true appreciation for staff who worked to get the campus back in order.
You mean the one that happened before classes restarted while my family and I were evacuated to another state because our house was uninhabitable? The one where Shelby said something about turning lemons into lemonade?

Also the one where Shelby recognized the USMPD, the USM Physical Plant, etc., etc., for their hard work in getting the campus back open.

Looks like you're the kind of person who turns lemonade into lemons. No wonder we're in the shape we're in---with people like you working against every opportunity for positive change because you think "USM sucks," we don't need external opposition...we've got all the naysayers we can handle right here at home.

You're unhappy. I guess you want all of us to be unhappy, too.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Also, what do you have to say about the letter in the Sun Herald? Was its timing too late? Did Shelby use the wrong diction? Or should we believe that USM should have shut down for a year to let everybody get their lives back together before we started the inconsequential business of education? All you have to do is look at Tulane to see what shutting down can do to a relatively strong institution...what would a long hiatus have done to a weakened institution like USM?

Again, you have personal biases that render you incapable of reasonable discourse. You must hate your position in life and want everyone else to hate their positions in life as well. Keep on sucking on those lemons.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

All you have to do is look at Tulane to see what shutting down can do to a relatively strong institution....

You say Tulane was relatively strong? Wake us, man. Look at any national rating.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Relative strength has nothing to do with USNews rankings or any other ranking. Tulane had a very stable enrollment stream from a wide geographic base. The PERCEPTION of Tulane was that it was a stable university.

Can you say the same about USM?

Hence, Tulane was a relatively strong university in comparison to universities like USM.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Tulane, as compared to USM, shut programs down when resources faded. Much to its credit it also shut its basketball program down a few years ago when certain inappropriate things reared their ugly heads. Tulane's basketball program resufaced stronger than ever. It's academic programs will resurface also. And stronger than ever.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

the post-Katrina convocation . . . the one where Shelby recognized . . . the USM Physical Plant, etc., etc., for their hard work in getting the campus back open.

Thanks a heap for reminding us of that, SB. As I recall, those Physical Plant workers were thanked at the convencation and later it was announced that their jobs were to be outsourced.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Phil wrote:

Standard Bearer, how in the name of the Jolly Green Giant could a person who comes to USM as a rank-and-file faculty member be concerned about $$$$$. You must not be aware of the raise picture here during the past three years. You must not be aware of the non- competitive starting salaries here. You must not be aware of USM's salary standing in relation to Ole Miss and State. You must not be aware of USM's salary standing in relation to other comprehensive public universities in any part of the country. You must not be aware that your head is up your **tt.

The difference in salaries between USM, MSU, and UM mirrors the salary difference between the flagship institutions and the directional schools in other states like Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, California, Missouri, and Kentucky. In those states, the University of ____ and ____ State University (where appropriate) make more than the University of (North, South, East, West) _________. Ask somebody at UL-L if their salary is the same as a comparable person at LSU. I bet not.

Angeline made statements that can only lead one to suppose that he/she wants remuneration for pitching in after Katrina. Since we've already gotten public "thank yous", money is what is left.

Obviously you have a chip on your shoulder about money or your response wouldn't be what it was.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

Obviously you have a chip on your shoulder about money or your response wouldn't be what it was.

If you think I've got a "chip" on my shoulder about money, you must think the MIDAS administration has a .LARGE BOULDER on its shoulder.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

The difference in salaries between USM, MSU, and UM mirrors the salary difference between the flagship institutions and the directional schools in other states

So you do view USM as #3 in Mississippi. You wouldn't happen to represent the IHL, would you?

Date: Jan 13, 2006

If you were hired under the impression that USM has ever been anything other than #3 in the eyes of those who control purse strings, then you're as mislead as any individual I've ever heard of.

Even those who (rightfully so) think their department or college is #1 in MS don't usually expect #1-level pay. They may think they deserve it, but they don't expect it.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

If you were hired under the impression that USM has ever been anything other than #3 in the eyes of those who control purse strings, then you're as mislead as any individual I've ever heard of.

We're finally beginning to communicate, SB. Yes, I was mislead. To put it bluntly: I was lied to. How was I to know any better? But now I subscribe to the conspiracy theory so frequently mentioned on this board.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Jock wrote:

Tulane, as compared to USM, shut programs down when resources faded. Much to its credit it also shut its basketball program down a few years ago when certain inappropriate things reared their ugly heads. Tulane's basketball program resufaced stronger than ever. It's academic programs will resurface also. And stronger than ever.

Jock, I hope your prediction about Tulane comes true.

I, for one, am deeply worried about the institution. For all its tradition of academic excellence, Tulane has never been a particularly wealthy institution. The Chronicle ranks its endowment at 76th among universities, below much smaller insitutions such as Wake Forest and U. of Richmond. The school relies heavily upon tuition dollars to function and offers relatively little financial aid compared to its peer institutions. It draws its students from prosperous metropolitan school systems who can afford to pay full tuition. These students have many higher education options (Emory, Vandy, Miami, Rice, Case Western, for example). If New Orleans does not make a strong recovery, these students will go elsewhere and Tulane will be in very deep trouble.

Even more serious issue for the school's future is the status of the hospital. There's alot of truth to the old yarn that Tulane is a medical school with a college attached to it (it began as a med. school, after all). Tulane was a strong recipient of NIH funding, whose generous overhead payments enriched the entire institution. What the future of Tulane's hospital is anyone's guess now they are saying that Univeristy Hospital and Charity are both non-repairable. Tulane Hospital at Touro Infirmary isn't going to cut it.

Those programs that have been cut won't likely ever return. Losing your graduate programs in sociology, economics, etc... means that untenured assistants in those departments may not have jobs in the future. Lack of funds is a perfectly legitimate reason for denying someone tenure.

Tulane has good leadership in Scott Cowen. He knows that the university's future is tied to the city's and has taken a pro-active stance in rebuilding. Let's hope for the best.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Phil wrote:

Standard Bearer wrote:
If you were hired under the impression that USM has ever been anything other than #3 in the eyes of those who control purse strings, then you're as mislead as any individual I've ever heard of.
We're finally beginning to communicate, SB. Yes, I was mislead. To put it bluntly: I was lied to. How was I to know any better? But now I subscribe to the conspiracy theory so frequently mentioned on this board.

Then you did not do your homework. That type of information is usually available if you are willing to make phone calls.

Now that you're here, you can make the best of it, move on, or stay and complain. Looks like you've chosen #3.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

qwerty wrote:

Tulane has good leadership in Scott Cowen.

That's where Tulane has the edge over USM.

Date: Jan 13, 2006

Standard Bearer wrote:

Now that you're here, you can make the best of it

And it looks like your aspiration level is in deeper than your head.