Re: WJUL "Lowell SunRise"

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 02:01 PM 10/3/2003, Mission Control wrote:
>But this whole situation is less about the actual progam itself (how can 
>one argue against a program that will reflect possitively on the 
>University while attending to the needs of the community), but more about 
>the process whereby this came to pass (Almost no student or actual 
>University involvement, no outside sources or bidding, put together by an 
>unknown committee headed by the ALTHLETIC Director, signed in the middle 
>of summer - no classes, no students - by a Chancellor that has not talked 
>to the students, nor acknowledged one letter to him about the matter. It 
>was a breach of trust - an actionable offense, btw - between an 
>organization created by a student and then operated and financially 
>maintained directly by students for over 50 years, and the University 
>obligated to educate the students).
>
>Whew. Sorry 'bout that! Yah, I guess I'm a little passionate about it... 
>heheh.
>
>Mike

No problemo - passion is good.  :-)

To play devil's advocate, was it truly an actionable offense?  Universities 
make major decisions that affect all or many students all the time....and 
most of the time they make them with little or no student input, regardless 
of who founded it or runs it.   Again, I think this particular process was 
too closed myself, but I can't exactly fault it; it was practically SOP.

By the way, having had many friends who work in the Mass state college 
system - the fact that Dana Skinner (the Athletic Director) headed the 
committee to explore this is not unusual at all.  Policy usually dictates 
that only one, if that, person on these search committees (for hiring new 
positions) be directly connected to the department the position is 
in.  It's a fail-safe for preventing bias in the hiring....the first search 
committee has to judge solely on the criteria they've been told to judge 
on, not on any personal knowledge of what skills/experience a candidate 
might have that makes them better.

It's somewhat bizarre at times, and it can mean good candidates aren't 
considered.   But it's also effective at reducing a pool of applicants that 
can number in the 100's down to a manageable 3 or 4.

I don't know why the job was supposed to report to the athletic director at 
first, and then was changed (to student activities and/or public 
relations?).   I suspect it's because this job...even this 
contract....doesn't fit the standard mold of positions within UML so it was 
sort of a toss-up.   I imagine, but have no direct knowledge one way or the 
other, that Skinner thought this entire project was a good idea and was 
sort of a champion for it, even though he's not what you'd think of the 
"normal" person to run this.  So while it was all still fluid and nothing 
was set in stone, it was sort of floating under Skinner just because he was 
the one doing the work.   After things were more firm, positions and 
responsibilities shifted to more appropriate departments.   That may or may 
not be the case here, but other new initiatives at other colleges 
frequently follow this pattern.


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Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA