Sickle Cell Doesn’t Kill People; UCFAA Does *

I’m pulling the blog out of retirement for just a day to make comments on the 10 million dollar judgment against UCFAA in the Plancher case.

Grant Heston’s spin:

Heston said that the ruling on punitive damages vindicates the members of UCFAA and proves that "they're people of great character, integrity and professionalism."

Ha Ha Ha. Such spin. A jury just determined that UCFAA was negligent to the tune of ten million dollars in the death of a football player, and Grant is talking about how the decision vindicates UCFAA. By the way, Grant, I watched some of your interviews with the media about the case. You looked constipated. Now, that may be because you were constipated but as a good PR person you should work on that. You want to appear to have regular bowel movements even though you are all knotted up inside. That’s PR, buddy. Do you understand?

Did any of you watch that one football player testify for the defense? Fucking creepy. He thought players that “went outside of the circle” and talked to the news media were “cowards.” I don’t ever want to try to leave a cult that he is part of.

I just loved that the judge said O’Leary wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.

This is really a verdict against John Hitt. He hired O’Leary despite obvious concerns about his character. And even now after all the evidence he won’t fire the fuck up because that would call into question the wisdom of his original decision.

* If you didn’t pay obsessive attention to the trial you might not get this joke. UCFAA argued that Ereck didn’t die from complications (i.e., an O’Leary workout) of sickle cell but from an undiagnosed heart condition. Obviously, the jury didn’t buy the argument.

Keep Me Away From Red Kryptonite

Recently, there was a “good news” UCF story. It wasn’t something I would ever bother to comment on except there is a hysterical, gossipy back story. I really want to write about this back story, but UCF gossip is not what this blog is supposed to be about.

I could make a thematic connection about UCF loving money, but the connection would be weak; it would be obvious that I just wanted to tell this really good story.

Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil.

Damn it! I just thought of a clever James Bond reference for the title of the post that I ought not ever post.

I’m going to be good.

I’ll try anyway.

Sportsholes

A society that gives George O’Leary a four hundred thousand dollar bonus for doing something that is as unremarkable as it is unimportant is a fucked up society indeed.

The Eat Shit Criterion

I’m glad UCF won its first bowl game. I hope the success continues.

I recognize my bias. I’ve been shitting on UCF for so long that no matter what it does, I’m going to be inclined to interpret it negatively. So, I want to propose a criterion that if met by UCF will get me to say “I was wrong, and Hitt knew what he was doing.”

If UCF sells enough tickets, merchandise, and TV rights that it can substantially lower the student athletic fee then the program will be a success. If that happens then I’ll retract my criticisms.

I’ll still think the school is a diploma mill, however.

Hitt’s Failure is an Orphan

Sorry for the light posting, but I’ve been busy hanging lights and dressing up as Santa Claus.

If you haven’t seen it, you should check out this Beth Kassab article about the business of UCF basketball.

The University of Central Florida's home court is the centerpiece of the largest construction project in the school's history: a $242 million development that includes the 10,000-seat arena, retail shops, student housing and a parking garage.

The complex opened in the fall of 2007, just before the worst recession since World War II got under way.

As a result, the economy has taken its toll on the town-like social center near the school's new football stadium. High turnover and empty storefronts plague the retail space. The pull-back in consumer spending has slowed ticket sales and concession revenue for concerts and other events. And a naming-rights deal for the arena itself — projected before the start of construction to be worth $250,000 a year — never materialized.

Hitt has always aspired to be more than an administrator tasked with the orderly and efficient operation of a university. He has aspired to be an entrepreneur. But he is not. Entrepreneurs raise capital from investors not taxpayers. Entrepreneurs are able to sense the future and profit from it.

Interesting

The Sentinel did another article on the cheating scandal. Taylor Ellis tends to speak his mind.

The midterm exam was 55 multiple-choice questions, with different versions generated by a computer program each day during the midterm testing period. Quinn set up the test so that each version was pulled from the test bank, a practice Ellis said was not ideal.

First Chink in the Armor

I haven’t gotten a particularly bad vibe from the new Provost, but this essay is really weak. Surely he could have done better.

More Bad Press

Ostensibly racist textbooks don’t win admirers.

Grant Heston Sucks, Part III

UCF spends a lot of money on PR, yet UCF gets terrible press coverage. As best I can tell, UCF PR does two things. They write good news stories that have a state-run media vibe, and they deny UCF’s culpability in the scandal of the week (e.g., they tell the press that the football stadium doesn’t need water fountains).

But they don't get UCF good press coverage.

UCF Loves Getting Sued

From the Sentinel:

A former University of Central Florida professor has filed a lawsuit against the school after she said she was let go because she refused to use a textbook that "contains antiquated and offensive racial, ethnic and other stereotypes."

Hitt hates dissent and from reading the lawsuit it appears this mentality has filtered down to the College of Nursing.

Answer the Question, Jerk!

Knight News has some fun video of Quinn ignoring an inquisitive reporter.

Grant Heston Sucks, Part II

From the Sentinel:

The university is still trying to figure out how students acquired the test questions. It appears they accessed them online somehow, said UCF spokesman Grant Heston.

Quinn, Heston acknowledged, did not write his own questions for the test. Citing an ongoing investigation, he could not say whether the questions were publicly accessible online.

Publishers often create exam questions from their textbooks that are made available to instructors and professors. And sometimes those questions end up on websites.

In this case, Quinn's test questions came from the publisher of the textbook used in his class, Heston said

Heston would not speculate if the incident could have been avoided had the instructor come up with his own questions.

"Let's be sure to keep the focus where it belongs," Heston said. "Not on the instructor who administered the test but on those students who chose to acquire the test beforehand and use it inappropriately."

The scandal, which ended up on Good Morning America this week, has been a public-relations nightmare for UCF and has sparked a lively debate online about who's to blame.

The coverage has drawn dozens of comments to orlandosentinel.com — some from readers who argue that students were not cheating if they did not steal any questions.

One Sentinel reader blamed both the students and the professor: "These students knew their professor well. They know he has been using the same resource for test questions for years. They took advantage of his shortcomings."

Heston insists that the professor was not the problem.

"I think it's really unfortunate that there seems to be an effort to cast blame on this instructor when he is blameless in this," Heston said.

Why is the instructor blameless, Grant, because you say he’s blameless? If you don’t know how the students obtained the questions then how can you be sure that they are cheaters? Is every fraternity and sorority that keeps files of past tests guilty of cheating? It is certainly a debatable point where it would be nice if you offered something besides circular reasoning.

More importantly, why is UCF so down on these students? The school doesn’t have a problem with cheating. An obvious example is the million dollar football coach who lied on his resume and along with other UCF employees engaged in a cover-up of the facts surrounding the death of a player.

But what about David Mealor? He was paid by UCF while he was serving in the state legislature. When this became public, he didn’t get fired. He didn’t have to attend an ethics seminar. All he had to do was pay the money back over several years with no interest and no penalties. And if you try to argue that it was an oversight, you are living in a fantasy land. Everyone talked about what a double-dipping bastard he was way before all this stuff became public. And, yes, Mealor is dumb but he is not so dumb as to not notice that he was getting paid when he wasn’t working.

These are the questions I would like to see someone answer, Grant.

Question of the Day

From a reader:

Hey,

I like the blog, at least someone is watching.

Have you ever thought about working to change any of these problems?

That’s what I’m trying to do with this blog. I want UCF to be better. By paying attention, I’m hoping that some things change.

Like Taking a DMV Test

There is a video circulating that shows Quinn implying that he writes his own exams when it is now well known that he simply used the textbook’s test-bank.

If I were a student in that class, I wouldn’t even bother listening to the lectures. I would just read the textbook.

Quinn is Lazy

From a reader:

There is more not to like. When he decided to give the second test,
he made his graduate students make up the questions. They are making up the final too. He has been using questions that the textbook publisher produced, and these are the ones that he has apparently been using for years.

I was embarassed for him as he did not seem to have a problem with this.

I Bet the Kool-Aid Tastes Good

When I watched Quinn’s cheating lecture, I disliked him. I went looking for something about him to like. That didn’t work out:

With more than 53,000 students, UCF is now the largest university in the state, but Quinn believes the institution has grown in a positive way. "For me, it is not just how much the university has grown in the past 10 years, but how it has grown. With most large universities, the surrounding community grows primarily to service the needs of the university. At UCF, the opposite is true," he explained.

"UCF has systematically grown to serve the needs of the communities that surround us. The bond between UCF and the central Florida region is not only strong, but impressive in its vitality and sense of purpose," he added.

Fifteen Minutes

The “cheating” scandal gets national coverage on Good Morning America. From the segment, it seems like Richard Quinn is enjoying being in the limelight.

Tone Deaf

At the October meeting where they voted to deny the faculty raises, Tom Yochum and Rick Walsh were overheard talking about which Porsche they drove to the meeting.

What Will Happen?

On November 10th, there is a BOT meeting to determine if Hitt and his lackeys will get their big bonuses.

Don’t Confess

It is well worth the 15 minutes to watch this really bizarre rant.