H.A.--USM reallocates grad assistant funding - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Apr 24, 2006

RE: H.A.--USM reallocates grad assistant funding

Date: Apr 24, 2006

ok, you get the first part right. now, part two--why not similar consternation last year when the english department got its increase? i focus more on why the inconsistency of reaction from the various councils, not the inconsistency in policy decisions (which are bizarre in themselves).

Date: Apr 24, 2006

stinky cheese man wrote:

ok, you get the first part right. now, part two--why not similar consternation last year when the english department got its increase?

Because no program cuts were involved last year. Last year's reallocation was internal within one department. It was enhancement of one program. It was not a campus-wide issue. This year's reallocations, on the other hand, are across the entire university and will have a dramatic effect on numerous academic programs. Such decisions should involve faculty input. I think you may be the one who doesn't "get it."

Date: Apr 24, 2006

Yes indeed - dramatic effect. This is the "slow death" that programs suffer when resources are removed. And it was driven completely by who generates external funding. In two years, the MBA will be gone. In three-four years, Psych is done.

So, less GAs will result in limited graduate programs, which slowly fade away when it becomes economically unfeasible to support a graduate class with 3 students. Then, the administration can point and say, "See here! You are an ineffective leader! you let your program die! (Your fired, etc., etc.)".

I for one am pleased that Doty said what he said. He took the medicine, but he certainly protested about it.

Count on faculty who value and enjoy graduate programs in Psy and COB to hit the road. I, however, must continue to count the days.

Sincerely, the PERS slave known as

Count

Date: Apr 24, 2006

Because no program cuts were involved last year. Last year's reallocation was internal within one department. It was enhancement of one program. It was not a campus-wide issue. This year's reallocations, on the other hand, are across the entire university and will have a dramatic effect on numerous academic programs. Such decisions should involve faculty input. I think you may be the one who doesn't "get it."

so because a change doesn't represent a cut, it's okay. the councils can let it pass. it's only within a college. even within a college, a $180,000 change (which is about 75% of the present reallocation) is one deserving of some faculty input, even within a college. as i have noted, you can frame the issue as being merely one department, but how many departments within COAL could have benefitted from some share of the money? and how do you know last year's reallocation was internal to a department?

all i ask is for some consistency in the various council's principles that underlie their decision making process. i assume the english reallocation had the provost's approval. why not some intermediate scrutiny?

Date: Apr 24, 2006

a repost deleting the post i was responding to.

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so because a change doesn't represent a cut, it's okay. the councils can let it pass. it's only within a college. even within a college, a $180,000 change (which is about 75% of the present reallocation) is one deserving of some faculty input, even within a college. as i have noted, you can frame the issue as being merely one department, but how many departments within COAL could have benefitted from some share of the money? and how do you know last year's reallocation was internal to a department?

all i ask is for some consistency in the various council's principles that underlie their decision making process. i assume the english reallocation had the provost's approval. why not some intermediate scrutiny?

Date: Apr 25, 2006

Counting the days wrote:
So, less GAs will result in limited graduate programs, which slowly fade away when it becomes economically unfeasible to support a graduate class with 3 students. Then, the administration can point and say, "See here! You are an ineffective leader! you let your program die! (Your fired, etc., etc.)".

This is true in many of the CoAL areas. Just as an example, look at music. In a small rural state like Ms., they depend on scholarships and assistantships to keep a viable program.

Date: Apr 25, 2006

stinky cheese man wrote:

a repost deleting the post i was responding to. ------------ so because a change doesn't represent a cut, it's okay. the councils can let it pass. it's only within a college. even within a college, a $180,000 change (which is about 75% of the present reallocation) is one deserving of some faculty input, even within a college. as i have noted, you can frame the issue as being merely one department, but how many departments within COAL could have benefitted from some share of the money? and how do you know last year's reallocation was internal to a department? all i ask is for some consistency in the various council's principles that underlie their decision making process. i assume the english reallocation had the provost's approval. why not some intermediate scrutiny?

You can't ask for complete consistency -- available information chnages. Context changes. So does membership of grad council. You've been around the block -- and have been around long enough to know that.

Date: Apr 25, 2006

i'm not looking for complete consistency--maybe just some. maybe what i'm looking for is principled decision-making.

Date: Apr 25, 2006

stinky cheese man wrote:

i'm not looking for complete consistency--maybe just some. maybe what i'm looking for is principled decision-making.

Well -- that is fair. I just think that the definition of what folks consider principled (in an academic sense) is probably fluctuating because the university utself as an entity is fluctuating.

I don't know that you can ask the councils (elected bodies all) to be significantly better than the faculty they represent. I think they can occasionally rise to transcend the usual sea of ideologies, inertness, lack of focus or just plain distraction that is frequently the case on any committee or council . . . but they are not going to be significantly more principled than those they represent.

I actually tend to think that in many committee, it is the combination of growing familiarity with a few key issues or, sometimes, the generating of concentrated focus under the persuasion of dynamic personalities or persistently principled individuals that tends to, at times, influence small groups of people to act in concerted (and for a brief time) consistent ways.

I gotta go -- have not had lunch or dinner. As always SC -- you are a pleasant provocateur, reminding us to patch the holes in our own balloons . . . .