As some of you may know, the august institution that most of the Bloodless Krew work at has had some recent problems. The old President left (normally). The search process to replace him looked and smelled funny, and resulted in a crony of the Governor getting the job. This could have been good (we have more access to local government, and maybe more money), and could have been bad (he hadn't worked in higher ed before, and in the interview process showed that he really didn't know what the job was).
It didn't work. Within a few months, his administration had awarded an MBA to the governor's daughter (that she didn't earn). The President denied it, stonewalled, denied stonewalling, then finally had to resign in the spring, taking the Provost and several other high-ranking University officials with him.
So, we've had a new Provost and a new President since mid-summer. Not much has changed. I haven't seen any signs of new initiatives or action from on high. I guess that's normal (they both know they are caretakers), but some sort of forward progress would be good. But, nothing has changed.
Until this morning.
I walked into the student union to get breakfast before a morning class, and was greeted with a huge banner over the front stairs. It said (now: remember all the bad stuff that has happened):
oneWVU: We are all in this together.
Uh, "we are all in this together"? Should we all pull together and sacrifice to stave off the marauding hordes or something? This is a slogan better for national (or natural) disasters, not a (supposedly) prestigious university. This is the best a new provost and President can accomplish? Bad slogans? How hard did they work on this?
I laughed out loud when I saw it. Everyone in the (pretty empty) student union looked at me like I was crazy.
Posted by baltar at October 13, 2008 07:34 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Corporate Bullshit | General Stupidity | The Academy | West Virginia | You Can't Make This Stuff UpI really don't think it would be terribly appropriate for an interim president and provost to launch the school into long-term endeavors. They do seem to be putting the school on the right track though, and the new presidential search committee looks at least marginally better than the last one.
As to that banner though - um, yeah, that would make eyes roll.
Posted by: Armand at October 13, 2008 10:05 AM | PERMALINKAnd remember, it was probably produced by the same career hacks and alumni focus groups that produced "Where greatness is learned!"
Posted by: binky at October 13, 2008 09:06 PM | PERMALINK