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My concern about where we are now
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linus Offline
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Post: #1
My concern about where we are now
for all of us, I think, football has become the flashpoint for everything we think is wrong at UAB. I want football back-yesterday-but IMHO our emphasis on football endangers the most important issue we are fighting for.
And believe it or not governance is only part of the issue.

We need to remember we are fighting for the integrity and continuance of quality undergraduate education at UAB. If the BOT and their puppet Ray Ray can make this fight about football they win. They can continue to dismantle undergraduate programs at UAB and send them to Tuscaloosa. The weasels on the BOT think that every white middle class kid who comes to UAB is one that should be on the Tuscaloosa campus. They want a nice medical school and enough undergraduate to keep the undesirables out of Tuscaloosa.

Undergraduate integrity can only be maintained by a dramatic change in governance. As much as I love football, I will gladly give it up, if it frees us from the yoke of small minded individuals who wish our school ill. If they throw us the bone of renewing football without freeing us from the criminals on the BOT IMHO we have lost.

As I look at the suggested submissions to SACS and letters to members of the Faculty Senate, it seems we need to strengthen our language about the danger to undergraduate ed. The fact that the don't worry emails use the same language as the football emails IMHO is the most scary and damning thing we have to use against Watts.

Just my .01 because my opinion is worth about half of Brother Smaug's
01-10-2015 11:10 PM
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58-56 Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
I agree very strongly with all of this.
01-10-2015 11:13 PM
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BAMANBLAZERFAN Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
I agree that football is not the only thing we are fighting for, but it is in Alabama, something the non-university citizens can identify with. Only about 15% to 18% of native Alabamians have EVER darkened the hallways of any kind of Post Secondary school. Many think of college as just a bigger high school with some additional courses of study. It is the sports programs with which most are likely to connect so we must keep that facet in their eyesight while we fight for it all.
01-10-2015 11:20 PM
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Smaug Offline
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Post: #4
RE: My concern about where we are now
I can't disagree with any of that, (and you flatter me so).

I would point out, though, that football is what lights a fire under folks in Alabama, and the only language a lot of 'em understand. They don't get shared governance. They don't get institutional autonomy and integrity. "Damn, they took their football team away?" they understand.

It's a handy shorthand for what (and who) ails UAB.
01-10-2015 11:30 PM
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scales Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
I proudly display my diploma on my office wall in Atlanta...along with my UAB basketball, Mike Anderson bobble head, Graeme McDowell Blaze driver cover, UAB NAS paperweight, and stuffed Blaze on my bookshelf.

Due to the nature of my line of work, after dodging the usual jokes about the state of Alabama, the next question I get is this..."How does that stuff go on in Alabama?".

As much as I used to avidly defend my Alabama education, this situation makes it increasingly more difficult to answer. Let alone defend.

That being said, for all that have a diploma, this fight is to preserve that paper with your name on it?

Only in the state of Alabama, does football tie into the validity of your college diploma.

As a side note, I just hired a recent UAT football player as a sales rep. He is 23 years old and has no concept of the ill will toward our campus. As time marches on, we will overcome.

Viva UAB!!
01-10-2015 11:31 PM
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demiveeman Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
Fix the issues that caused the problems with football....you fix the issues everywhere else.
01-10-2015 11:37 PM
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USAFBlazerFan Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-10-2015 11:37 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  Fix the issues that caused the problems with football....you fix the issues everywhere else.

+1
01-10-2015 11:43 PM
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EnviroBlazerD Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-10-2015 11:37 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  Fix the issues that caused the problems with football....you fix the issues everywhere else.

Yep!
01-11-2015 12:16 AM
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BirminghamBound Offline
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My concern about where we are now
I wonder... Has a consensus formed on the direction of board reform? Is one forming? Previously, it seemed pushing for separation was akin to the nuclear option.

That was until people realized the board would nuke Birmingham to protect Tuscaloosa.

Given the momentum, should Jack now focus on garnering support for a split? Or is it too early to speculate before the noco vote?

Just thinking out loud.
01-11-2015 12:20 AM
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biglizard Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-11-2015 12:20 AM)BirminghamBound Wrote:  I wonder... Has a consensus formed on the direction of board reform? Is one forming? Previously, it seemed pushing for separation was akin to the nuclear option.

That was until people realized the board would nuke Birmingham to protect Tuscaloosa.

Given the momentum, should Jack now focus on garnering support for a split? Or is it too early to speculate before the noco vote?

Just thinking out loud.

I think first we get through this week. I'm sure more stuff is going to come out in addition to the NC vote and we have several weeks before the legislative sessions begins. We'll need that time to find out how much political capital we have to spend.
01-11-2015 12:23 AM
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BirminghamBound Offline
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Post: #11
My concern about where we are now
(01-11-2015 12:23 AM)biglizard Wrote:  
(01-11-2015 12:20 AM)BirminghamBound Wrote:  I wonder... Has a consensus formed on the direction of board reform? Is one forming? Previously, it seemed pushing for separation was akin to the nuclear option.

That was until people realized the board would nuke Birmingham to protect Tuscaloosa.

Given the momentum, should Jack now focus on garnering support for a split? Or is it too early to speculate before the noco vote?

Just thinking out loud.

I think first we get through this week. I'm sure more stuff is going to come out in addition to the NC vote and we have several weeks before the legislative sessions begins. We'll need that time to find out how much political capital we have to spend.

Good point.
01-11-2015 12:26 AM
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BAMANBLAZERFAN Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
Athletically there are the C-USA issues that could come up this month. While we might suppose C-USA may be willing to give UAB time to "right the ship", there is no requirement for that to happen. What if they vote to send our delegation home this month -- or serve notice of separation after spring sports are over? What did Temple do when faced with that problem?
01-11-2015 02:33 PM
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Matrix Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-10-2015 11:43 PM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  
(01-10-2015 11:37 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  Fix the issues that caused the problems with football....you fix the issues everywhere else.

+1

Agreed, but let's be clear on one thing, feel free to disagree..UAB's Football program was their primary target in all of this. They know how devastating the effect was going to be (or so they thought) especially utilizing the manner in which they carried out their plan. Reminds me of that excerpt from the song by "Rage Against The Machine"..."They took the power to the have-nots...Then came the shot!" Just when UAB Football was becoming a symbol of empowerment and pride on the UAB campus and this city was when the claws came out. They were counting on the same results from us when they sabotaged the OCS. They (bleeped) up...Big time...

#Blazergate #GrandTheftFootball
(This post was last modified: 01-11-2015 03:55 PM by Matrix.)
01-11-2015 03:55 PM
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58-56 Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-11-2015 03:55 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Agreed, but let's be clear on one thing, feel free to disagree..UAB's Football program was their primary target in all of this.

We're facing multiple "theys." For some of them, this is certainly true.

Others, less so. Watts, and likely some of his supporters at the BBA (like JohnJohnJohn) want a corporate-governance model for UAB, with the president serving as CEO and the faculty as employees, with the latter steadily replaced by low-cost adjuncts on at-will employment contracts with increased reliance on MOOCs. In that vision (and Ray Watts does declare himself a "visionary leader" - read his bio on the UAB website sometime, it's a paean to self-love that could have been plagiarized from Nicolae Ceausescu), there's no place for "student life," in fact student amenities are an unnecessary added cost and a distraction. The role of students is to serve as cattle-like consumers of educational product.

Ray Watts is following the leadership mantra of John Sperling, founder of the University of Phoenix: "The essence of capitalism is to extract from consumers the most they'll pay in exchange for the least they'll accept."

Football is just an early step (and not even the first) in the least-ification of UAB.

Ray Watts must go. He must go now.
01-11-2015 04:28 PM
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the_blazerman Offline
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Post: #15
RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-11-2015 02:33 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  Athletically there are the C-USA issues that could come up this month. While we might suppose C-USA may be willing to give UAB time to "right the ship", there is no requirement for that to happen. What if they vote to send our delegation home this month -- or serve notice of separation after spring sports are over? What did Temple do when faced with that problem?

Then Watts' head will be served to Bentley on a platter that much sooner.
01-11-2015 04:39 PM
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CajunBlazer Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
I agree, football was and is their primary target. If you consider the members of the BOT who are behind this, you will know exactly why. I don't think that those two care much about anything else but their sacred football program and/or settling old scores. I don't disagree that Watt's himself may have had in mind a de-emphasis on the undergraduate school in favor of his beloved medical side of the campus, but he is now severely damaged goods. If he can't win on the football issue, he won't be able to attack anything else at UAB effectively. He knows he is already on thin ice, and he won't skate where the ice is even thinner if he has and intention of remaining as UAB's president. Heck, if does decide try to drive nails in football's coffin, because that is probably a condition of his employment, that will seal his fate and he will not last much longer at UAB. If the Faculty Senate votes no confidence, he will be totally de-fanged next week.
(This post was last modified: 01-11-2015 04:46 PM by CajunBlazer.)
01-11-2015 04:41 PM
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Hopeful Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-11-2015 04:28 PM)58-56 Wrote:  
(01-11-2015 03:55 PM)Matrix Wrote:  Agreed, but let's be clear on one thing, feel free to disagree..UAB's Football program was their primary target in all of this.
Watts, and likely some of his supporters at the BBA (like JohnJohnJohn) want a corporate-governance model for UAB, with the president serving as CEO and the faculty as employees, with the latter steadily replaced by low-cost adjuncts on at-will employment contracts with increased reliance on MOOCs. In that vision (and Ray Watts does declare himself a "visionary leader" - read his bio on the UAB website sometime, it's a paean to self-love that could have been plagiarized from Nicolae Ceausescu), there's no place for "student life," in fact student amenities are an unnecessary added cost and a distraction. The role of students is to serve as cattle-like consumers of educational product

This sums up exactly how I feel.

I do believe that the end of football was a chief objective for some people, but this is really a mission to effectively put a corporate model in place. It just so happens that throwing UAB athletics under a buzz saw and degrading undergraduate coincide with his operation. The increased and renewed focus on costs, the lack of transparency, and unilateral decision making process all reflect the aim of Dr. Watts and his administration.

I think this was really an effort to make UAB, as a whole, more profit driven as an institution, except without the interest of the students, faculty, alumni, or community at heart. They won't be able to pull a RPI, but it remains to be seen how much damage they can do before Dr. Watts is eventually forced to leave.
01-11-2015 04:56 PM
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blzr4life Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
(01-11-2015 12:23 AM)biglizard Wrote:  
(01-11-2015 12:20 AM)BirminghamBound Wrote:  I wonder... Has a consensus formed on the direction of board reform? Is one forming? Previously, it seemed pushing for separation was akin to the nuclear option.

That was until people realized the board would nuke Birmingham to protect Tuscaloosa.

Given the momentum, should Jack now focus on garnering support for a split? Or is it too early to speculate before the noco vote?

Just thinking out loud.

I think first we get through this week. I'm sure more stuff is going to come out in addition to the NC vote and we have several weeks before the legislative sessions begins. We'll need that time to find out how much political capital we have to spend.

Agree wtih both of you. If they can do this to Football, they can do it to any other program.

As far as future direction of where do we go from here, this should be made known at tomorrow's NAS meeting and find out what their plan is moving forward (if they even have one).
01-11-2015 04:57 PM
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UAB Band Dad Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
If they don't have a plan going in they will have their marching orders afterwards. If the existing leadership does anything else they will find themselves the former NAS leadership in the near future.
01-11-2015 05:36 PM
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the_blazerman Offline
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RE: My concern about where we are now
^^^

The NAS will not be allowed from here on out to pussyfoot around.
01-11-2015 05:38 PM
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