Governance Gaffes

test

Popular posts from this blog

Cecil Staton (and ECU) discover Governance Chaos Theory

Image
LINKS AND FURTHER EDITING FORTHCOMING. This is a first cut on this one. Inside Higher Ed (and Rick Seltzer in particular) caught up with the Executive leadership mess now unfolding in Greenville . Cecil Staton has had one foot out the door for at least 9 months. (It was very interesting watching the Board of Governors, and Staton, struggle to respond when some of the BoG radicals tried to savage Staton and ECU several months ago). Now Staton is going -- and (like Tom Ross, and probably Margaret Spellings) he has a 'non-disparagement' clause for his severance contract.  (Hell, if they had given me one of those payouts, I probably never would have considered writing these things. Then again, that would have meant nightly and nasty visits from Cato's Ghost, so I probably would have been shamed into backing out of any payout deal. Sometimes cowardice protects you from being stupid, too.) 
Read more

Protecting autocratic snowflakes from freedom of speech

Image
UPDATE, 2 November 17: There have been several changes to the Board of Governors (BoG) proposed policy (which has now been approved in committee and forward to the full Board for a vote tomorrow). These incorporate some of the concerns raised by the Association of Student Governments, the UNC Staff Assembly, and the UNC Faculty Assembly. The legal staff at General Administration is likely to be responsible for rolling back some of the really bad language and ideas. While some of those changes have mitigated problematic features of the legislation and the Board's interventions in the management of campus affairs, several very troubling issues were made manifest during the BoG Governance Committee meeting, viz: -- Steve Long, the Chair of the Committee, openly conceded that the policy did little more than recapitulate existing legislation protecting freedom of speech. As noted below, laws to enforce laws are almost always an indication that something pernicious is at stake. ...
Read more

HOW THE LEGISLATURE ANNEXED PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION TO PARTISAN POLITICS

Image
Contributor "Will Davie's Ghost" analyzes what is arguably the most significant instance of politicization of public higher education in the 45 year history of the UNC system. HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE JONES STREET DOMINION As the end of the recent legislative session fades into the past, North Carolinians should know that moment also marks the establishment of a new era for public higher education in this state: lawmakers finally swept aside or transgressed nearly all the checks and balances protecting our universities from partisan political interference. These new statutory provisions are so broad in reach, and ill-conceived in substance, that members of the University community are still struggling to make sense of the implications and intent of this historically unprecedented arrogation of power. The full force of these changes will not be felt for months, and in some cases for years, but when they are citizens will wonder how one of the best systems of ...
Read more