Jack Stripling's latest article in Inside Higher Ed is worth reading for getting to some of the heart of why CSU is the way it is. One can only hope that if the state authorities won't exercise oversight, maybe the federal authorities will. Wayne Watson may be in the Cook Bldg., but the story is not over.
Oh Governor, Where Art Thou?
October 1, 2009
Chicago State Faculty is an embarassment to the environment. Most of the commentary is polluted with hatred instead of help for students. Sadly, faculty and staff have suffered injustice, ignorance and mismanagement at the hands of inept PRIOR Presidencies. The evident contrast is that Watson has a track of wins for STUDENTS. Faculty has to work, and produce graduates. Negatively campaigning against a winner is ludicrous. Slanderous untrue statements from such an educated body is shocking!! Are you trying to close the university and damage the future of CSU? Watson came here to Help us kids, not you guys that have jobs and get paid nmo matter what. Help us to graduate. Volunteer to tutor or something....It's a new day..can't we just all get along??
ReplyDeleteOn Watson's record defending students: it was under Watson's helm that students who actively supported their teachers in the City Colleges Strike were prosecuted, suspended, and threatened with expulsion. Also, as I have remarked before: when Watson dismissed all of the non-tenure track teachers who honored the strike, including emeritus professors who were some of the City Colleges best teachers, was he serving student interests? How could our addicted friend believe that?
ReplyDeleteThat's right Paul--and as one of the posts from the "Oh Governor Where Art thou?" said, Watson is laughing all the way to the bank. We faculty may have our problems, but it's not us who have destroyed the reputation of the university. This is what is shocking and an insult to the students and people of Illinois--political hires masquerading as "educators." Read below:
ReplyDeleteMoney, money, money
Posted by Ringo on October 4, 2009 at 4:45am EDT
Always look to the money someone said. I wouldn't cry crocodile tears for poor Wayne or portray his devotion to duty as maligned by a few disgruntled faculty of late. If he really had any more lucrative offers than CSU he should have taken them. I doubt that was the case. For the record: Watson's CSU salary will be around a quarter million dollars a year, he will live in the grand presidential mansion in Beverly, Illinois for FREE, he will get $75,000 per year to maintain that residence, plus he will get a chauffered-driven car.
On top of this he is supposed to be getting his "retirement" money from his years at City Colleges (only in Illinois or Chicago can you retire from one job and collect your retirement and then take another job in the same retirement system and begin collecting a $250,000 per year paycheck). What a racket!
On top of this the board of trustees--does he owe them or what?-- voted to revise his "contract" so that he would collect the same amount of money in just a fewer number of months because the original contract dated August 1st would have violated Illinois retirement laws. All the trustees did last month was revise the contract to give him the same amount of money but begin it two months later on October 1st.
So don't play the fool and feel too sorry for Wayne. He and his buddies are making out very well off the backs of the students and the taxpayers of Illinois. They are the cynics posturing as edu-ca-tors and they are laughing all the way to the bank. Maybe CSU should be called Enron U.