Comments About Ower Article - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jul 9, 2004

Comments About Ower Article

Date: Jul 9, 2004

Well, sad, you and SingleDigit seem to talk the same way.

Robert Campbell

Date: Jul 9, 2004

Sad,

I think the Ower article, and other similarly negative national publicity, will eventually HELP USM and its students in the long run. The only way to end the problems with MS higher education is for people in the state (especially influential politicians and their supporters) to realize that the present system -- especially the tendency to place political hacks like Roy Klumb on the IHL -- isn't working. I am not exaggerating when I say that SFT has done more damage to the national reputation of MS in national academic circles than any other recent person I can think of. To pretend that this is not true would simply be dishonest. Instead, Ower is helping to ensure a long-term solution by helping to ensure that people like SFT are exposed and neutralized.

By the way, I suspect that Ower feels a moral obligation to warn young academics outside the state who may not realize how bad things are there. EVERYONE applying for an academic position in MS should be told up front that one of Roy Klumb's explicit goals, as head of the IHL, is to abolish tenure. Doing so would, of course, make MS's system of higher education even more of a joke than people like SFT have already made it. I say this, by the way, not because I take any pleasure in the present status of higher education in your state -- far from it. Instead, I see developments in your state as an ominous sign of what may be down the road for many more states.

Date: Jul 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Sad:(
"On that Ower article, basically it said “if we can’t win, I won’t let anybody win.” How did the students figure into his article? He actually signed his name to a statement that said nobody should come to teach in Mississippi. I guess, because he is retired from another college and doesn’t contribute to USM, he can forget all about the students who will be lost in the process of scaring off the good faculty. This a great new plan. It is sure to be as successful as the last one that resulted in the head of the IHL going on TV to tell everybody that Thames is here to stay."

Sad is reading into the letter things that are not there. Nowhere did it imply “if we can’t win, I won’t let anybody win.” All Dr. Ower did was give his PROFESSIONAL OPINION of the situation in MS in a PROFESSIONAL publication for higher education.

Since he isn't a professor at USM and thus doesn't have "a dog in the fight" your phase "if we can't win" doesn't make sense to me.

If you were a physician and knew a medical doctor was performing unethically or unprofessionally, would you just keep quiet because you use another doctor? That is what you imply above. You want Dr. Ower to be quiet about the situation in MS because other faculty may not come if the truth was public.

Date: Jul 9, 2004

I've said before on an earlier thread, and I feel I must add my 2c again:

The situation at USM is unique to USM.

I would not recommend USM to any colleague of mine.

I have to hesitation recommending MSU or Ole Miss.

Ower's letter over generalizes. The situation at USM is intolerable; the other two major schools do not face the same problems.

Date: Jul 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: palindrome
"I have to hesitation recommending MSU or Ole Miss."

Oops... Should be NO hesitation.

Date: Jul 9, 2004

I agree Palindrome. But I believe Dr. Ower considers the IHL Board a major problem that will impact all of higher education in this state. Some believe USM is only a trial run for the board to get the kinks out before attacking tenure state wide. Of course time will tell.

Date: Jul 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Otherside
"I agree Palindrome. But I believe Dr. Ower considers the IHL Board a major problem that will impact all of higher education in this state. Some believe USM is only a trial run for the board to get the kinks out before attacking tenure state wide. Of course time will tell. "

Amen! No one is safe.

Date: Jul 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: palindrome
"I would not recommend USM to any colleague of mine. ... The situation at USM is intolerable..."

Sad to say, I would have to agree. As I've written before, I hope someday to be able to recommend USM, but that day won't come until the State of Mississippi cleans up its act big time. And this will never happen -- evil will continue to triumph in Mississippi, and at USM in particular -- as long as good people remain silent and do nothing.

I joined the USM faculty and moved to Mississippi knowing full well that the state ranked dead last in a lot of areas ONLY because I saw good people teaching there and promising possibilities on the horizon.

The consequences of SFT's reign have made USM a world-class disaster.

I suppose a big reason I decided to leave USM -- apart from an instinct for sheer self-preservation -- was that student recruitment was an important part of my work and I no longer felt, in good conscience, that I could ask students to consider attending USM.

Promising possibilities for USM are still on the horizon, even though SFT and those who stand with him push that horizon further and further from reach.

Maybe I took the easy way out by giving up my tenured position at USM, but in having done so, even faced with concomitant uncertainties about my future, I see my own horizon of possibilities much closer now.

Keep up the good fight.

NO QUARTER!

Date: Jul 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Left (formerly Leaving Soon)
"
even faced with concomitant uncertainties about my future, I see my own horizon of possibilities much closer now."

Left, best of luck to you in your new endeavors.

Date: Jul 10, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
" Left, best of luck to you in your new endeavors. "

Thanks, foot soldier. Best wishes to you as well, wherever you may be, for wherever that may be, you will be valued. No doubt many faculty would be happy to write you a strongly positive letter of recommendation.

Date: Jul 10, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Left
" ...No doubt many faculty would be happy to write you a strongly positive letter of recommendation. "

Hmmm, having written this in an e-mail, I wonder whether I may have established an "inappropriate relationship" between myself and foot soldier. Help me, SFT. What have I done?

Date: Jul 10, 2004

The poster Sad apparently does not understand the faculty recruiting process at a major university, or is recommending that faculty lie to candidates they are recruiting. It is not possible to shield prospective candidates from the publicity and they will, at the minimum, have a very cautious view of USM. When they visit, they will pick up the signals that things are not going well here and only candidates who are desperate for a job will entertain coming here. You can rest assured that the desperate candidates will not be "World Class", more likely they will be a body to fill a slot and teach courses. The impact will be both short term and long term. Many of the marginal faculty hired in the future will never leave because they are not sufficiently talented (or lazy) to be attractive to other schools.