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Monday, August 17, 2009
That Morning Bloated Feeling
A News & Observer analysis of University of North Carolina data reveals that, system-wide (which includes Appalachian State University), the ranks of administrators have grown by 28 percent. "That's faster than the growth of faculty and other teaching positions -- 24 percent -- and faster than student enrollment at 14 percent," writes the N&O.
Those new administrators -- Vice Chancellors in Charge of Sitting By the Door? -- earn inflated salaries at a time when the system is supposed to cut $73 million in line with the new budget passed by the General Assembly. The upper ranks would appear to offer many targets of opportunity: "The number of people with provost or chancellor in their titles alone has increased by 34 percent the past five years, from 312 in 2004 to 418 last year. The cost was $61.1 million, up $25 million from five years before."
We noticed the corporate management model taking hold at good ole ASU years ago and never much liked the trend. Perhaps Erskine Bowles' mandate to the institutions in the UNC system, to cut "senior and middle management positions" first, will do some good.
Or not.
Those new administrators -- Vice Chancellors in Charge of Sitting By the Door? -- earn inflated salaries at a time when the system is supposed to cut $73 million in line with the new budget passed by the General Assembly. The upper ranks would appear to offer many targets of opportunity: "The number of people with provost or chancellor in their titles alone has increased by 34 percent the past five years, from 312 in 2004 to 418 last year. The cost was $61.1 million, up $25 million from five years before."
We noticed the corporate management model taking hold at good ole ASU years ago and never much liked the trend. Perhaps Erskine Bowles' mandate to the institutions in the UNC system, to cut "senior and middle management positions" first, will do some good.
Or not.
Labels: Appalachian State University, Erskine Bowles
Friday, May 15, 2009
Erskine Bowles Bares His Teeth
And well he should. He's asking for the resignation of McQueen Campbell, chair of the N.C. State Univ. board of trustees, who's implicated in the hiring of Mike Easley's wife Mary at a very high salary in some of the mutual-back-scratching that the Raleigh N&O has been delving into.
THAT WAS QUICK
As soon as we posted the above, at 2:38 p.m. to be exact, the Charlotte Observer had posted news that McQueen Campbell has resigned as the NCSU board chair. But he's hanging tough. In a letter addressed to Gov. Beverly Perdue, Campbell said: "I am not resigning because I have acted inappropriately. Both the chancellor and the provost have communicated publicly and independently that the hiring process of Mary Easley was free from any improper influence."
So why are you resigning?
DOMINOES, ANYONE?
At 2:34 p.m., the N&O posted news that the State Board of Elections has opened a criminal probe of former Gov. Easley's campaign reporting.
And the F.B.I. is also probing ... Easley's glomming onto all that free private air travel, which involves none other than ... McQueen Campbell, jet owner and pilot.
THAT WAS QUICK
As soon as we posted the above, at 2:38 p.m. to be exact, the Charlotte Observer had posted news that McQueen Campbell has resigned as the NCSU board chair. But he's hanging tough. In a letter addressed to Gov. Beverly Perdue, Campbell said: "I am not resigning because I have acted inappropriately. Both the chancellor and the provost have communicated publicly and independently that the hiring process of Mary Easley was free from any improper influence."
So why are you resigning?
DOMINOES, ANYONE?
At 2:34 p.m., the N&O posted news that the State Board of Elections has opened a criminal probe of former Gov. Easley's campaign reporting.
And the F.B.I. is also probing ... Easley's glomming onto all that free private air travel, which involves none other than ... McQueen Campbell, jet owner and pilot.
Labels: Erskine Bowles, Mary Easley, McQueen Campbell, Mike Easley
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Grade Inflation: UNC's Embarrassing Little Secret
Does this sound right to you: 82 percent of all undergraduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill are either "excellent" or "above average," judging from the grades they were given during the fall semester of 2007. Some 82 percent of the grades given to all undergraduates that semester were As or Bs. According to the study of grading done by a UNC economics professor, more A grades were given than any other mark.Erskine Bowles says he's going to look into it.
Good luck with that! Grade inflation is NOT a UNC-Chapel Hill problem. It's a universal problem in all of American education, and it's not new. I knew professors 40 years ago who couldn't bear to make distinctions between levels of achievement in learning, so everyone got an A. Inability to discern outstanding achievement from mere coasting might, in the best of all possible worlds, disqualify a person from being a teacher.
A little more research might reveal that grade inflation really got its oomph when student evaluations of teachers became popular, and public, and hence a way for students to take their revenge on "hard graders." Popularity among the teaching ranks is like popularity anywhere else: it drives the marketplace.
Or we could just blame it all on the 1960s.
Labels: Erskine Bowles, University of North Carolina
Friday, January 30, 2009
Furloughs Coming to ASU?
UNC President Erskine Bowles says he's going to ask for authority to furlough university employees in response to cuts in state appropriations. The Chancellor of NC State jumped in and said that "faculty leaders" at his institution are willing to volunteer for unpaid furloughs in order to save support staff jobs. Mighty nice of 'em.
Hard times comin' for the North Carolina higher education workforce ... as for everyone else.
Meanwhile, Virginia Foxx and the Mummy Party say (a) the American economy can still basically take care of itself and (b) it's all the Democrats' fault.
Hard times comin' for the North Carolina higher education workforce ... as for everyone else.
Meanwhile, Virginia Foxx and the Mummy Party say (a) the American economy can still basically take care of itself and (b) it's all the Democrats' fault.
Labels: Appalachian State University, Bush economy, Erskine Bowles, Virginia Foxx
