[Vision2020] Statesman weighs in on ISU

[Sue Hovey]

Donovan, 
And, of course, this flip statement reflects your assumption that by nature government employees aren’t productive and should in every instance be able to do more.  I tell you, Donovan, the people who work with my disabled daughter are underpaid, overworked, and are being forced into situations for which they are unprepared.  And even so, in a few months almost 1/3rd or more may well be jobless.  It’s nice to have you back online again, but in this case you really do know better. You’ve  been there.   

Even in the private sector getting along to hold a job may well mean compromising ones ethics, harming other folks, not standing up in the face of grave error.  That’s what those ISU folks were trying to oppose. Even if you disagree with their intent your casting them as lazy and unproductive ignores the issue.

Sue H. 

From: Donovan Arnold 
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 4:2
To: Dan Carscallen ; Joe Campbell 
Cc: Moscow Vision 2020 
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Statesman weighs in on ISU

      The SBOE should just fire everyone if it wishes to start fresh. Kind of hard to do that if they keep the same President which is half the problem. Maybe if government employees knew, like the rest of us in the private sector, that if they cannot get along and be productive they will be out of a job, they would try harder to get things done.

      Donovan Arnold

      --- On Tue, 2/22/11, Joe Campbell <philosopher.joe at gmail.com> wrote:


        From: Joe Campbell <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>
        Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Statesman weighs in on ISU
        To: "Dan Carscallen" <areaman at moscow.com>
        Cc: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
        Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 9:59 PM


        Oops! I feel a bit like Roseanne Roseannadana. Nevermind!


        On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 6:24 PM, Dan Carscallen <areaman at moscow.com> wrote:

          Joe, 

          Did you read the editorial? From what I gather, they agree with you

          DC

          On Feb 22, 2011, at 17:58, Joe Campbell <philosopher.joe at gmail.com> wrote:


            Great advice! Maybe they should just shut up and stick to the news!


            On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Ron Force <rforce2003 at yahoo.com> wrote:

              February 22, 2011
              Our View: Memo to ISU faculty: Just shut up and teach
              - Idaho Statesman
              Seventy-six percent of Idaho State University’s faculty senators have a problem with Arthur Vailas. Earlier this month, they cast a no-confidence vote and urged their embattled president to step down. 
              And 100 percent of State Board of Education members have a problem with the ISU faculty Senate. On Thursday, the board voted unanimously to disband the Senate — at Vailas’ urging.
              Well, that’s one way to try to make a crisis disappear. Who needs allies on campus when you have a compliant State Board in your pocket?
              The message, for faculty and staff at ISU and other campuses, could hardly be more clear. If you have a complaint or a criticism, the State Board doesn’t want to hear from you or help solve problems.
              Of course, that’s not how the board spins it. “The impasse between the leadership of the senate group and the administration has reached a point where the prospect of any kind of progress was simply non-existent,” board President Richard Westerberg said. “It’s time to start over.”
              Starting over? Sure. But only after the board made sure to give Vailas all the leverage, and marginalize his faculty critics.
              Oh, there will still be a place for the faculty to have a say. Just on Vailas’ terms. The board ordered Vailas to set up an interim advisory structure and come back in April and propose what the board calls a “reconstituted faculty Senate and a new faculty governance model.”
              How’s that for even-handed?
              It’s remarkable that the State Board chose to choose sides, especially at this advanced stage of unrest. 
              Vailas has been on the job since 2006, providing ample time for tensions to degenerate into grudges. The problems aren’t likely to just go away. It’s naive for the State Board to act as if that’s even a possibility.
              Faculty members have aired some serious issues that warrant more active attention from the State Board — including complaints of closed-door budget decisions and high staff turnover.
              These concerns should resonate under any circumstances — and especially during a funding crisis that requires university leaders to make tough budget decisions, explain policy publicly and clearly and get and keep buy-in from key faculty and staff.
              “Sometimes we have to stand up and make our voices heard,” said ISU Faculty Senate chairman Phil Cole, according to the Associated Press. “The internal strife at ISU is killing ISU.”
              Turns out Cole was worried over nothing. The State Board of Education has a foolproof plan for handling “internal strife.” Just tell all the naysayers to shut up.
              “Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, e-mail editorial at idahostatesman.com.


              =======================================================
              List services made available by First Step Internet,
              serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
                            http://www.fsr.net
                       mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
              =======================================================


            =======================================================
            List services made available by First Step Internet, 
            serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
                          http://www.fsr.net                       
                     mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
            =======================================================

          =======================================================
          List services made available by First Step Internet,
          serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
                        http://www.fsr.net
                   mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
          =======================================================



        -----Inline Attachment Follows-----


        =======================================================
        List services made available by First Step Internet, 
        serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
                       http://www.fsr.net                       
                  mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
        ======================================================= 




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet, 
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20110224/1f934136/attachment-0001.html