Diane Chase in her Interim Provost Update:
UCF has been dealing with state-mandated budget reductions for quite some time. Unfortunately, it appears that we may see more cuts to our state budget in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
In anticipation of these potential cuts, 2010-11 E&G budgets will be reduced by three percent, effective immediately. This action permits departments to make the necessary budget adjustments now, rather than in mid-year when cuts would be more difficult to manage.
From a reader:
How outrageous for our administrators to accept bonuses (including bonuses for previous years PLUS INTEREST)? Then to announce that they have to cut budgets? When did admin ever cut its budget? Why is it only ever the instructional budgets that are cut?
I have no info to add. Just angry about Diane's announcement today. Though I guess she wasn't on the wall of shame for getting a bonus, she is surely raking in the dough regularly.
From another reader:
Did you see this already?
The interim evil gnome is squawking from below a slimy rock...Gotta love this honest-to-sliminess-promise: "The holdback represents about $7 million and will be applied equally to all academic and administrative departments.", Yeah, right, Diane - just like last time when we 'had to' do layoffs of a bunch of long term faculty - but we were told that absolutely and certainly the same layoffs would happen among the administrators too (cause they are so easy to lay off since they aren't protected by any pesky tenure or collective bargaining rules - which you fucking try to break at every turn anyway...) And guess what, not a single administrator has been laid off - but a bunch of you fuckers got yourself some hefty bonuses.
So how do Terry's kneepads fit, Diane?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Wall of Shame
Here is the list of administrators and the amount of their bonuses:
John Hitt.........................$143,085.01
Terry Hickey...................$26,572.93
Marion Soileau................$21,122.07
William Merck.................$19,759.36
Robert Holmes................$19,759.36
Daniel Holsenbeck...........$16,352.57
Scott Cole........................$15,671.22
Maribeth Ehasz................$14,308.50
Helen Donegan.................$12,264.43
Friday, July 23, 2010
I Hate These People*
Have you ever said something so stupid that it pretty much stays with you for your whole life and you cringe every time you think about it? Here is the stupidest thing I have ever said on this blog:
First, UCF punished an administrator for stealing and now eleven UCF administrators are turning down $469,000 worth of raises. If this keeps up*, I’ll have to change the name of this blog to UCF Loves Doing the Right Thing.
* It won’t.
A few weeks later, I realized my mistake thanks to Jim Gilkeson:
The final straw? That secret bonus plan for UCF's top 11 administrators? President Hitt and his VPs didn't turn down the bonuses (as they claimed in a press release that was circulated one day before a television report about them was going to air), they merely deferred the bonuses to a later date. Our senior administrators still think they deserve over $450,000 in bonuses. Outrageous. They say there’s no money for raises. They make threats of pay cuts. Yet our senior administration still plans to pay itself half a million in bonuses – as soon as it won’t be a public relations nightmare to do so. It’s bad enough when this sort of behavior drives multi-billion dollar financial institutions into bankruptcy; it’s unbelievable that it would happen at a tax-payer supported, public university.
Gilkeson was right:
President John Hitt is among nearly a dozen top administrators at University of Central Florida in line to receive thousands of dollars in performance-based bonuses this year that were postponed from last year because of the bad economy.
Trustees voted to go ahead with the payouts totaling about $289,000, including interest, during a telephone conference meeting Thursday.
Later today or early tomorrow, I will post a list of the selfish, useless administrators who are getting these bonuses. It won’t do much, but at least when they google themselves, they will be directed to this blog.
* From a reader email about this article. I feel the same.
First, UCF punished an administrator for stealing and now eleven UCF administrators are turning down $469,000 worth of raises. If this keeps up*, I’ll have to change the name of this blog to UCF Loves Doing the Right Thing.
* It won’t.
A few weeks later, I realized my mistake thanks to Jim Gilkeson:
The final straw? That secret bonus plan for UCF's top 11 administrators? President Hitt and his VPs didn't turn down the bonuses (as they claimed in a press release that was circulated one day before a television report about them was going to air), they merely deferred the bonuses to a later date. Our senior administrators still think they deserve over $450,000 in bonuses. Outrageous. They say there’s no money for raises. They make threats of pay cuts. Yet our senior administration still plans to pay itself half a million in bonuses – as soon as it won’t be a public relations nightmare to do so. It’s bad enough when this sort of behavior drives multi-billion dollar financial institutions into bankruptcy; it’s unbelievable that it would happen at a tax-payer supported, public university.
Gilkeson was right:
President John Hitt is among nearly a dozen top administrators at University of Central Florida in line to receive thousands of dollars in performance-based bonuses this year that were postponed from last year because of the bad economy.
Trustees voted to go ahead with the payouts totaling about $289,000, including interest, during a telephone conference meeting Thursday.
Later today or early tomorrow, I will post a list of the selfish, useless administrators who are getting these bonuses. It won’t do much, but at least when they google themselves, they will be directed to this blog.
* From a reader email about this article. I feel the same.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
No Respect for Money
UCF is spending the student athletic fee on a new advertising campaign around the concept of UKNIGHT. Get it? They want you to UKNIGHT around the football program. When I first read about this, I thought it was a terrible waste of money, but as readers of the blog realize, I have a general antipathy towards the jagoffs that run UCF so I wondered if my reaction was fair.
But then I read the comments about the first two UKNIGHT commercials on the Sentinel’s blog about UCF sports. I read this blog regularly, and most of the commenters are positive about the program. However, their reaction to these ads was overwhelmingly negative. Go read for yourself. My favorite was “not bad for a community college.”
But then I read the comments about the first two UKNIGHT commercials on the Sentinel’s blog about UCF sports. I read this blog regularly, and most of the commenters are positive about the program. However, their reaction to these ads was overwhelmingly negative. Go read for yourself. My favorite was “not bad for a community college.”
Friday, July 2, 2010
Just When I Thought I Was Out…
I’ve been getting emails asking me to take a few final shots at the departing Provost Hickey. I decided to take a pass because what is the point of kicking someone when they are getting ready to start shopping for coffins? But then I read Hickey’s goodbye interview with the Orlando Sentinel, and I’ll be damned if that crooked-tooth, little mother fucker hasn’t pulled me back in.
From the interview:
When it comes to academics, what has been your focus?
Access is one. I was a first-generation college student. I came out of a high school where few went to college. But I worked hard and got financial aid to go to college. Dr. Hitt comes from a similar environment. So access to a college education if [sic] very important to us. Higher education can make all the difference in the world to someone.
I’m fine with giving everyone a chance, but you don’t have to give everyone a degree. UCF degrees are giveaways.
When you took the job, you told people you planned to stay six or seven years.
And I did. It's time to do something else now, time to get out of the way. I started working as a kid, mowing lawns. So I've been working for 55 years. I'm going to take some time to unwind. That includes some tennis. I'm taking up a fitness program — it's Navy Seals-type training. I haven't read for pleasure in years, so I'm looking forward to getting back to that. There was just so much to read connected to the job, no time. I've been approached to do some consulting. But for now, I'll be taking some time to figure out what comes next.
Hickey loves to lie, and this quote is a perfect example of how Hickey can’t help prevaricating even about things that don’t matter. He can’t just say he is going to exercise. He has to say that he is going to do Navy Seals-type training. Really? Seriously? This is right up there with saying the UCF medical school is more selective than Harvard.
Any regrets?
Getting to the point of having to do layoffs. I would have loved to have not had to do that. The last three years of budget-cutting have been tough. But not a week goes by that someone doesn't say thank you. I think we did better than a lot of other institutions.
Well, here’s a week that someone also says “Fuck you, Terry.”
From the interview:
When it comes to academics, what has been your focus?
Access is one. I was a first-generation college student. I came out of a high school where few went to college. But I worked hard and got financial aid to go to college. Dr. Hitt comes from a similar environment. So access to a college education if [sic] very important to us. Higher education can make all the difference in the world to someone.
I’m fine with giving everyone a chance, but you don’t have to give everyone a degree. UCF degrees are giveaways.
When you took the job, you told people you planned to stay six or seven years.
And I did. It's time to do something else now, time to get out of the way. I started working as a kid, mowing lawns. So I've been working for 55 years. I'm going to take some time to unwind. That includes some tennis. I'm taking up a fitness program — it's Navy Seals-type training. I haven't read for pleasure in years, so I'm looking forward to getting back to that. There was just so much to read connected to the job, no time. I've been approached to do some consulting. But for now, I'll be taking some time to figure out what comes next.
Hickey loves to lie, and this quote is a perfect example of how Hickey can’t help prevaricating even about things that don’t matter. He can’t just say he is going to exercise. He has to say that he is going to do Navy Seals-type training. Really? Seriously? This is right up there with saying the UCF medical school is more selective than Harvard.
Any regrets?
Getting to the point of having to do layoffs. I would have loved to have not had to do that. The last three years of budget-cutting have been tough. But not a week goes by that someone doesn't say thank you. I think we did better than a lot of other institutions.
Well, here’s a week that someone also says “Fuck you, Terry.”
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A House Divided = More Administrators
The Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies has been split up. So, one terrible department will now be two terrible departments.
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