Monday, April 16, 2007

Going to HE (double hockey stick) in a Garrison-shaped basket

I was supremely irritated to read the DA (university newspaper) this morning due to the outcome of an election. You see, WVU has recently seen the retirement of President Hardesty (who served for 12 years). So, the search has been on in the last few months to find his replacement. Several extremely qualified candidates were given a crack at the interviewing process. However, strange things began to happen and people began to murmur their discontent, and continue to do so--some are doing more than murmuring. The fact of the matter is this: the BOG (Board of Governors) on campus, which functions much like the U.S. Electoral College, decided that Mr. Garrison was to be the next president by a vote of 16-1 over Mr. Nellis (who is a former Dean of the WVU College of Arts&Sciences). I'm sorry, I just gotta call a big 'ole BULL SHIT on the BOG for this one. Come on! You people couldn't have made this whole charade more obvious if you tried. The fact that Garrison has NO experience in university administration AND the fact that he used to be the HEAD of the BOG AND the fact that he's in bed with practically every major political player in the state (not to mention being Hardesty's pet project) is clearly representative of outrageous personal preference. There were actually candidates who dropped out in mid-process because even THEY could feel that this was a fixed job. Dr. Nellis has done so much for WVU in the past, not to mention the fact that he has a great reputation with students, faculty and administration alike, and he's so incredibly qualified for the job (ex- Dean, ex-University Proctor, etc.) that only an idiot would opt for someone else. Wait, let me correct myself---only a BOARD of idiots would chose another person. It's just so totally asinine I'm overwhelmed. They even went so far as to call an "emergency" faculty senate to have professors vote and give feedback on who would be the best candidate (after some publicly complained). WHERE ARE THOSE RESULTS??? Because you can bet that the faculty didn't vote overwhelmingly for Garrison; clearly, this "emergency" meeting was just a nice, politically-correct way to make everyone feel as though their opinion had been heard when, in reality, it didn't mean anything at all. Screw you, BOG; stop pretending you give a shit what anyone else thinks. Stop wasting our time and energy trying to make you listen to what we really WANT and NEED here at WVU. Obviously, nothing can or will get in the way of your agenda so, good job, you got what you set out to get from the very beginning. Congrats to you, Garrison; you're set for life while everyone who works their ass off at WVU can suffer from your incompetence, continual rises in tuition (5.5% already scheduled for this fall), and stagnate employee salaries. You can piss around and call yourself "president" while always knowing that you BOUGHT yourself the most important position on campus. Let's give them all a round of applause for their magnificent satire...(curtain falls and lights fade out).

3 comments:

Unknown said...

"Outrageous personal preference" - oh my gosh I couldn't agree more. Oh I'm steamed. I hate cronyism and boys clubbishness, and this couldn't be more obvious. It's embarassing.

DH said...

Embarrassing WV politics at their finest. Faculty results were public: by 47-5 the Fac. Senate called Nellis the only qualified candidate remaining (belaboring the obvious, maybe).

The 5.5% was set long before Garrison came on the scene and will continue, though.

I hope for the U's sake that he turns out to be wise beyond his experience, but I wish they'd hired him as the lobbyist he says he wants to be instead of embarrassing everyone to give him a political stepping-stone.

Niki said...

Thanks for the info. Daniel....you should just be glad you aren't here to see this bologna taking place...soooo irritating...