UCF PR Could Fuck Up a Wet Dream

Despite spending too much money on public relations, UCF often gets bad press. Two recent examples:

UCF recently reduced tailgating hours, and based on the coverage in the Sentinel, it appears that many donors are pissed off and thinking about no longer supporting the program. If UCF were good at PR, they would have figured out how to persuade the boosters to support this reasonable policy change.

The second example is more important. Forbes magazine recently ranked all the colleges in the country. UCF came in 475th. I get that UCF is going to get beat by FSU and UF, but UCF lost to Florida Southern University and Eckerd College. Florida Southern and Eckerd!? UCF sucks in so many ways, but it is much better than either of those schools. It is a public relations failure that UCF got beat by colleges that cater to rich kids with poor high school records.

Folsom Prison Blues

From the Sentinel (emphasis mine):

FSU grad student Justin de la Cruz is spearheading a campaign to replace outgoing President T.K. Wetherell with rapper T-Pain, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

A Facebook page for the "cam-pain" was pushing toward 1,800 members tonight. UPDATE: 2,400 members as of this afternoon.

T-Pain is a Tallahassee native. He's endorsed the movement though his own Facebook page, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper got this response from Wetherell, a former House speaker stepping down after six years at the helm at FSU: "I'm more a Toby Keith, Johnny Cash guy. I don't know what a T-Pain is. Can he lobby the Legislature? That's all I want to know."

Hey T.K., I think Jack Abramoff should succeed you. I know he has that little felony problem, but a felony conviction didn’t keep your brother from becoming a Provost at Daytona State College.

Florida’s universities will never have any respect if they continue to be run by lobbyists/politicians.

Question of the Day

From a reader:

I attended UCF's graduation ceremony this weekend and was forced to sit for two hours and watch the various VP's and other functionaries smirk and pat each other on the back, while the D-List speaker (Orange County School Superintendent, Ronald Blocker) mouthed platitudes about leadership and quality education.

But, what I would like to know is this: was President Hitt's omission of Ida Cook's name while acknowledging the Very Important People on stage accidental, or was it a smackdown for voting against the BOT in the July 23rd meeting? He did go back and make a point of correcting the oversight later in the ceremony, but that only seemed more awkward and weird.

Eternal Recurrence

The first line of the movie Peter Pan is: All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again. Much has happened in the past couple of months.

Hitt and Hickey love their tiny slice of power. Both exude this false modesty that only serves to demonstrate their massive arrogance. Their decisions make sense in the context of their desire to keep and expand their power. Hitt and Hickey cut academic programs instead of cutting useless AVPs because the figurative rim job they get from AVPs is more important to them than academic programs.

There have been those who have tried to stop them. The faculty union has done an admirable job of refuting Hitt and Hickey’s nonsense. At times, the Orlando Sentinel and the Central Florida Future have done reporting and opinion pieces that have exposed the inanity of UCF.

Still, Hitt and Hickey get pretty much everything they want. Why? The first reason is ironic: They get what they want because in the larger context, they are unimportant. Most people in Central Florida don’t know who John Hitt is. Anonymity facilitates corruption.

The second reason is sad: Hitt and Hickey get away with it because most state funded colleges and universities are playing the same corrupt game.

All of this has happened, will it happen again? Probably. Frank Brogan was recently appointed the Chancellor of the State University System. He is a non-academic, career politician. He will make 400K a year to lobby the legislature to give the SUS more. He has neither the necessary understanding nor the motivation to repair the system. When Hitt is gone, is it likely his replacement will be someone who is more interested in academic quality than acquiring more employees and constructing more buildings? The rubber stamps on the UCF Board of Trustees will certainly not be looking for this kind of leader.

The future is bleak but there is hope. The internet. Before the internet, it would have been impossible to get the message out about UCF. No newspaper would have printed the factually sound arguments that I make in this blog (e.g., UCF lacks academic rigor; UCF wastes money; John Hitt bribed Evelyn Lynn; David Mealor is a thief; Terry Hickey is short). If UCF administrators are shamed enough, hopefully they will shift their priorities from money to academic quality.

Question of the Day

From an Inquiring Mind at UCF:

Ray Drecker, the lead character in the new HBO television series HUNG, is a male prostitute, high school teacher and basketball coach. He is also a graduate of the University of Central Florida in the series.

The question is was the use of UCF as his school a product placement by John Hitt and his crack administration? If it is a product placement, how much did they pay for the placement and is that one of the reasons they will not pay for academic programs?

Dig of the Day

UCF administrators are a tad on the old side. A reader wrote:

It's like Cocoon without the vitality pool. Everyone is geezerfied; trust only old buds; staff with adoring appointees who applaud and nod and convene meetings.

Cut of the Day

Lyman Brodie, Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Humanities. He is paid 137K a year, and like so many of the big earners at UCF, he is incompetent. Because he can’t handle important tasks, he is usually given meaningless tasks that he doesn’t do; eventually, he gets the work assigned to someone else.