Simon Newman, the university president who said This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies…put a Glock to their heads,
has resigned.
This is what happens when you hire somebody to run a university who has no competency to do so.
Mr. Newman has almost 30 years of experience working as an executive with a strong background in private equity, strategy consulting, and operations. He is the former managing director of the private equity fund JP Capital Partners, as well as president and CEO of Cornerstone Management Group, founded in 1997.
During his career he has started or co-founded four different businesses, completed more than $33 billion in transactions, and raised more than $3 billion in equity funding for ventures and bids he originated. He has led several business turnarounds and delivered more than $200 million in profit improvements.
There’s nothing in that list of accomplishments to suggest that he was at all appropriately prepared to run an educational institution. But some people see dollar signs and figure that’s what a university is all about, so they bring in the money man.
Next up for eviction: Bruce Harreld.
During the Dec. 9 meeting of the UI Staff Council, Harreld said that any instructor who goes into a class without having completed a lesson plan “should be shot.”
The business world must be a really tough place if they routinely deal with difficulties with summary executions.
I have noticed that certain men in the business world are always trying to make their jobs sound as if they are the toughest jobs in the universe, They talk like they’re in the military ,when their jobs mostly consist of meetings, phone calls and paper shuffling.
Interesting way of recruiting new faculty. I hope they offer decent benefits for the surviving spouse and children.
Funny enough – having souled out to work for the Man – execution is relatively unheard of in the corporate world. Instead, bad decisions are met with bankruptcy (of the company) at worst, and the layoff of employees who had nothing to do with it at best.
Take Moda Health (formerly ODS) – a series of breathtakingly poor decisions has led to this insurance company having so little in cash reserves that the states of Alaska and Oregon both temporarily suspended their sale of individual insurance policies. Not a single executive is even facing a pay cut – however, to help with their money flow, they’re going to lay off some workers.
They could stop paying for their name to be on the local sports arena ($4 million a year).
They could cut the CEO’s compensation: “Moda paid CEO Robert Gootee $13 million in its 2013 fiscal year. That’s up from $10.4 million 2012 and just over $2 million in 2011.”
(from: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2015/11/ohsu_props_up_money-losing_mod.html )
The other executives are also clearly making more than they are worth — yet, their plan is to cut operating costs by laying off employees.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/health-care-inc/2016/01/as-moda-rebuilds-possible-downsizing-looms.html
Why are these people looked up to again?
Makes one think schools are going the way of investment firms in the novel Market Forces.
Lesson plans are a good idea for K-12 teachers, especially those just starting out or those who need to differentiate based on diverse student needs (basically to make sure everyone is covered). My lesson plan for today’s university level elementary science methods class was “discrepant events”. What else was I going to do the class before spring break?
Open the machicolations and pour boiling oil on them? A bit more set-up is required than a gun, but the results are more impressive and ensure your reputation as the evil mad professor.
“The One-Bullet Manager”
Anyone want to bet against his getting a gigantic severance package?
It is uncommon these days for termination by guillotine.
What I find baffling is that he had support from over 50% students.
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I am too working for a big corporation and as of now I have yet to see any execution whatsoever. I have seen promotion of incompetents, golden parachutes for inept executives and managers who try to defy laws of physics, but no execution so far. Maybe I am working for atypical company?
lakitha tolbert: “They talk like they’re in the military ,when their jobs mostly consist of meetings, phone calls and paper shuffling.”
So, like they’re in the Air Force then? ;-)
This guy sounds just perfect if you’re looking through Trump tinted glasses.
“The business world must be a really tough place if they routinely deal with difficulties with summary executions.”
Not executions per se, but massive layoffs can have a definite effect on the local mortality rate.
YouTube
Mitchell and Webb – Grammar Nazi
Universities don’t generally have growth as part of their core mission, do they?
The business world must be a really tough place if they routinely deal with difficulties with summary executions
Why yes sir now that you mention it our tumbrils are upholstered in the finest gluten-free upholstery ci-devant monsieur le comte…
I’m curious about something. Of all the people who have said something stupid and then claimed it was taken out of context, has anyone ever explained exactly what the appropriate context is? For example, in what context is holding a gun to student’s head, even if it’s figurative, the proper thing to do? I can’t imagine one that has anything to do with education.
My manager’s does occasionally complain about the amount of time I spend commenting on blo
@#17:
Of all the people who have said something stupid and then claimed it was taken out of context, has anyone ever explained exactly what the appropriate context is?
Yes, the context in which people forget what was said.
I don’t know if it’s what’s going on in this case, but I suspect a number of people observe the following sequence:
1. Ideological group (that subject A agrees with) posts apparently damning remarks/behavior from their opponents
2. Opponents respond that they were taken out of context
3. Opponents supply the full context that makes it clear that the damning implications were inaccurate
4. People without an ideological axe to grind on the issue lose interest
Because subject A agrees with the original attack, they dismiss step 3 and come to the conclusion that the attack was blunted because “I was taken out of context” is a magical mantra to excuse anything.
Then subject A tries it themselves when they say something horrible and they get called on it; then, when it doesn’t work (because they were not, in fact, taken out of context), complain they aren’t being treated fairly.
tl;dr cargo-cult conclusion that “I was taken out of context” is a “get out of outrage free” card.