Egad! What have I done?

Our department chair is a very good chair.  Everyone in the dept. thinks so.  But, he has wanted to NOT be chair for a long time.  The reason he didn't quit as chair before now is that he felt no one else was both qualified AND willing to step in.  When I first started working here, he eagerly asked me if I would be interested, as I had experience as chair where I used to work.  At the time, I said no.  But, a few weeks ago I told him that I would be willing to do it now, as I am feeling much better, I am familiar with the place now, and we have a new administration that should be easy to work with.   (In addition, a dept. chair here gets both course releases and a pay raise!)  So, he told our dean he would like to step down, and the dean is now soliciting chair applications from the dept. faculty. 

All well and good, but then last week the new scandal about the "special" international programs broke. Most of these programs are agreements with Chinese universities. The computer science junior and senior level courses are largely (1/2 to 2/3) populated with Chinese students from these special programs. I just talked to the chair a few days ago, and it seems that the Chinese government is mad at us about this whole deal, plus the cancellation of the Confucious institute, and we will probably never get any more of the special program students.  OOPS!  So, now what do we do, Ms. Chair?   Maybe this wasn't such a good time to be chair, after all! 

Black days for the teapot.

Just as I was typing yesterday's post, more things started to happen. 

Actually, it started yesterday morning when an administrator (NOT the one that resigned) missed a meeting, and could not be reached.  Later, it was reported that he was distraught (cause unknown at this point), had a gun, and was on foot.  The entire campus community was sent home, except for the dorm residents, who were put on lockdown.  An elementary school and a high school in the neighborhood were also put on lockdown. 

Later in the afternoon, his body, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot, was found in a neighborhood park. 

I knew him, but not well.  Other faculty members that knew him better were totally shocked.  Never saw it coming.  He was NOT mentioned in the judge's report, so whether or not this was related to the on-going scandals is not known at this point. 

Tempest in a Teapot - Fallout #3

The results of the audit were disclosed today.  It seems that of the 500 or so students in "special" international programs over the last 9 years, about 90% of them were awarded degrees when they should not have been.  Not the fault of the students, but of our own staff and administrators.  Just exactly why and how that happened is not yet clear, but I'm just glad it's out in the open. Evidently the just-fired president was not the only one aiding and abbetting that kind of thing, but his predecessor, also.   I have been hearing for years that this kind of thing was going on.  Finally, someone is doing something about it!  Hot dog! 

Tempest in a Teapot - Fallout #2

The second head has rolled.  The administrator cited in the report as having broken policy announced his resignation yesterday.  (See Dec. 29 post to refresh your memory.) 

The campus has been crawling with auditors for several months investigating lots of offices about lots of things, not just money.  Everything.  Today, the president wants to speak to the whole campus - faculty and staff in the morning and students in the afternoon - to tell us the results. 

Oh, by the way, the proposed Confusious Institute has been cancelled.   This faculty member is glad! 
It would have been a bad idea for a campus this small in the best of times, and this is not the best of times.