Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is having budget issues like virtually every other university in America. Cal Poly has responded to our economic situation by dramatically reducing faculty, class offerings and increasing class size thereby creating huge waiting lists. Many students wonder if they will get into the classes they need to graduate in a reasonable length of time. So when it gets rough, administrators hire a communications person… someone who if you read the description carefully — I believe — has the job of crushing internal dissension on campus. They don’t have enough money to give the English department a copier, but they have enough to spend $ 120,000 on a new administrator.
The new Cal Poly, as opposed to the one of legend in documentaries like “Indoctrinate U”, promises to be ‘transparent’ and accessible. We’ll see. Part of being ‘transparent’ is admitting when you have done wrong. I won’t hold my breath on this one. If you don’t know, Cal Poly has lost a lot in court and in the court of public opinion over the years, but don’t expect them to apologize. To this casual observer, I would say they need to first face up to their short comings before going any further.
So, although the new Cal Poly talks about ‘transparency’, it still has the same feel.
Roger Freberg
PS. “Indoctrinate U.” will appear on the Documentary Channel in March… again by popular demand!
Search on Twitter reveals lots of Bread Pudding Ideas!
Karen placed a link on my blog, actually all of our blogs, on a ‘twitter search engine’. This is very cool! First of all, it gives you the opportunity to see what everyone is talking about… and sometimes… they are actually talking about you!
So, I plugged in to see if anyone, and I mean ANYONE, was talking about ‘bread pudding’… and surprisingly, quite a few were talking about it…
Let me throw this question out for you. If you wanted to control the internet, what would be the easiest way? Well, I’d want to control the search engines. Because, if you can’t find differing points of view… then they don’t exist!
There is even a Wikipedia post on Google Censorship.However, it says nothing about how Google censors in America… which is disturbing.
In Google’s defense, they just say that they are complying with all laws. There is a lot of history that supports this approach. However, this ‘just following orders, Sir’ excuse has been the cause for much suffering in the world… ask Milgram.
I dare say you won’t find this post on the Google search engine… how is it they say? Oh yes, they won’t divulge how they search ( and censor) as that is part of the super secret business model.
Newspapers and colleges are suffering. Is there a connection?
Well, what we can say is both are losing ‘subscribers’ for — I suspect — some of the very same reasons. In my humble opinion, both have lost their way, forgotten who they serve and the lesson that people ‘expect a prize for playing this game.’ When what was once promised is not delivered, folks find an alternative.
You can write off or explain away the demise of newspapers by the growth of the internet or the high cost of a newspaper. Costs are relative, after all, cable is much more expensive and it has few issues… as it delivers what it promises. If newspapers were viewed as an important contributor to someone’s daily life, love would find a way. Colleges — sadly — have also been losing their luster…. much of it self-inflicted.
Btw, where have all the men gone? You won’t find them in school. In California, one California university sports 80 % female students and this isn’t a ‘historically female institution.” The trend is everywhere, universities have limited appeal to men and this is not good for society. In addition, institutions and individuals are shifting their focus away from colleges as the hope for a better life that universities represented has proven less valid. Recently the American Association of University Professors wrote:
“just over 10 percent of the colleges laid off employees ( Survey completed 1/09), and another 26 percent were considering layoffs. More than 40 percent said they had imposed partial freezes on faculty hiring, and nearly 60 percent had imposed freezes on their hiring. About 6 percent said they had reduced benefits, and 18 percent of the remainder considering doing so. Half of all respondents said they had postponed or canceled building projects or were planning to do so.
Public institutions reported being affected by cuts imposed by statewide mandates, while private colleges are suffering — and anticipating more suffering — as a result of more families being able to afford the full costs of college. nearly 60 percent of all colleges said they were already seeing a decline in donations.”
Rather than face the challenge honestly, many universities point to the high cost of education as the sole hindrance and barrier to entry and — secondarily –our troubling economy as the cause of their suffering. The sad truth is that folks won’t buy what you are selling if it doesn’t deliver. As Ba’al says,”no flash No photo.” ( I like the way he says it) It’s all about delivering measurable results ( like jobs) and many academicians don’t undestand that… yet.
Laura, Karen and I have had some great discussions on the value of the practical and the theoretical in academia. They have some great ideas and I hope that others are thinking about how to reinvigorate, reenergize and reshape the university experience to contribute real value to our society and the world.
Roger Freberg
Look for this article on Yahoo and Twitter… You won’t on Google
Don’t you love technology? Especially my little rain gauge from high tech Vermont. It works and tells me we’re getting a whole lot more rain that we should. So much for global warming.
Anyway, our new apple tree loves the on again, off again rain and… so, should be a good year for our crops!
