I'll prudently avoid comment until I've watched it (and maybe even longer). But may I, of all people, say thank God that we are also about to announce the hiring of a new basketball coach, the better to distract attention from all of this?
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
14 comments:
I will review and post comments as quickly as I can. Comments that are substantive and not vicious will be posted promptly, including critical ones. "Substantive" here means that your comment needs to be more than a simple expression of approval or disapproval. "Vicious" refers to personal attacks, vile rhetoric, and anything else I end up deeming too nasty to post.
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This post at Capitalfax is relevant:
ReplyDeletehttp://capitolfax.com/2012/03/28/quinn-and-poshard-in-high-stakes-battle/
Seems Quinn's aides _did_ call BOT members. . .
The only thing Quinn has over other disastrous governors is that he isn't in jail (yet). Oy vey.
Methinks, the plagiarist doth protest too much!
DeleteI'm a poor lost sheep who has lost my way.
Whine ! Whine! Whine!
Ano 2:55. You comments make you looked like a very uneducated person. Your hateful attitude will eventually send you to hospital for hart problem. Don't believe it. Time will show.
Delete"Hart problem"? Is it deer season already??? Well, somebody sure has a target on his hide...
DeleteOh, how swift the karma of the "you look uneducated" comment...
This video is remarkable.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are right you don't take nearly an hour to protest your innocence. The evidence may be sound, but the optics on this are horrible. From a public communication perspective, this press briefing would have been much better as a brief statement. Provide digital copies of the evidence if you must, but don't give your opposition so much material to paint you as unhinged and defensive. And please, remember that a president of a university should be, well, "presidential."
ReplyDeleteI thought we had communication consultants to help craft this sort of public statement. Pity no one thought to consult with the local expertise. Pity our administration doesn't think there is any local expertise.
We better hire an amazing new coach or throw free tuition waivers off of Morris Library -- something, anything to distract from this train wreck.
This is an embarassing performance typical of a professional politician rather than someone who should represent the dignity expected from a University President. Once he leaves, a clause should be inserted into SIUC's hiring policies banning any current or former politician applying for the post. We need conscientious and experienced leadership and the image on this video does not reveal it.
ReplyDeleteTell me he didn't just refer to Southern at 150, which he was against when he was Chair. Tell me he didn't just read from the self-study report. Tell me he didn't have the gall to imply that he was an expert in higher education. Tell me he didn't say the accreditation report said that new leadership was needed. I'm not sure he has enough feet left to shoot.
ReplyDeleteQuick analysis of Poshard’s record and his Legacy for SIUC:
ReplyDelete1. Brought awareness of Plagiarism – We didn’t know what is “inadvertent plagiarism”
2. First ever strike in the history of SIUC
3. Declining enrollment year after year
4. Declining budget year after year
5. Faculty and staff morale at the lowest level
6. Athletics up, Academics down (although attendance at the games is down)
7. Unprecedented increase in tuition and fees for students
8. Hired coaches with 5-7 contracts but academic deans with one year contract
9. Unprecedented change in administrators (4 chancellors, four Provosts) - fired two chancellors
10. Hired the most unqualified person as SIUC’s chancellor who then hired one of the most unqualified provost in the history of SIUC
I am sure I have missed several other achievements worth noting. Feel free to add.
Oh, I think you hit the top ten, all right.
DeleteQuick analysis of FA’s record and its Legacy for SIUC:
Delete1. Brought awareness of FSN
2. Pushed the first strike in the history of SIUC
3. Declining enrollment year after year
4. act like a boy who cried wolf
5. Faculty and staff morale at the lowest level
6. Attack Athletics Program
7. Force the Admin to increase in tuition and fees for students
8. Ask for more pay and demand less work
9. Push fair share
10. elected the most unqualified person as the FA president who then become a leader of mafia.
Citation from Ano 9:42.
In an attempt to avoid spending more hours on this (I wrote a lengthy post about ramifications about the strike last night), let me make a couple of general points down here.
ReplyDelete1. In tone, I thought Poshard's performance was less unhinged than the media accounts had led me to believe. He was angry, but pretty much in control of himself, and if he accurately described Herrin's and the governor's interference, he had reason to be angry. That is of course a large "if": I don't know how to tell who is right and who wrong about most of this.
2. To substance. Poshard's charges against Herrin and the governor struck me as substantial--which, once again, isn't to say I'm convinced they are true, only that, if true, they go beyond the sort of peevishness others have attributed to Poshard. But there were some important problems with what Poshard said.
a. Poshard's defense of his leadership failed to include the word "enrollment". This is a rather striking omission, to say the least.
b. Poshard's lengthy attack on Lowery's comment about Edwardsville domination of the board misrepresented what Lowery said. Lowery said it was too bad that all three leadership positions (chair, vice chair, secretary) were from Edwardsville. Poshard claimed that Lowery believed that Edwardsville shouldn't have the BOT chair--a clearly untenable position. I don't happen to find Lowery's concern that substantive, given Poshard's own Carbondale roots, but Poshard should have stated Lowery's position accurately rather than attacking a straw man.
c. Poshard's claim that Herrin was unqualified to serve as board chair is a bit strained given that John Simmons also has absolutely no experience in academia, save for his service on the board (which has gone on for a number of years now, however). Members of the BOT are not chosen, for better or for worse, for their higher ed experience and expertise.
d. Poshard's decision to hold a press conference at all still strikes me as suspect. Clearly it doesn't do SIUC any good at all. If you hold a press conference to attack your rival on the board for failing to promote institutional unity, you're raising questions about your own consistency. The press conference may help him in his battle with the governor's office, and if, if, the governor and his man Herrin are acting as unreasonably as Poshard claims, taht is a battle worth winning. But, having won this round in that battle (by getting Herrin voted out), I think his decision to go public with all of this, inflicting massive collateral damage on SIU, is questionable.
Dave, I agree with your assessment that Poshard did not seem unhinged, except for the last 10 minutes or so. Perhaps he was becoming fatigued, but I was concerned that he was unhinged toward the end, drawing into question the logic and strategy of his actions.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing didn't strike me as careful and calculated, which is out of character. This worries me. Maybe he is a better actor than I give credit.
He sure does look unhinged to me, throughout.
ReplyDelete