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I am in awe of the fact that our own leaders feel they are at "WAR" with the very people who care about the future of this university. Shows what a disconnect we have at the top.

I'm with you. That is a strong statement by them and it shows their mentality.

To be fair, our side said it was war first.

(02-26-2015 11:28 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  To be fair, our side said it was war first.

True, but we called it as perceived by us. However, "They" fired the first shots, and we had the first, and biggest, casualties: The OCS, football, rifle, and bowling programs.
And, it is hard for it to be correctly termed a War by us... It's a constellation of one-sided acts of aggression, i.e. a series of MURDERS.

(02-26-2015 12:06 PM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 11:28 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  To be fair, our side said it was war first.

True, but we called it as perceived by us. However, "They" fired the first shots, and we had the first, and biggest, casualties: The OCS, football, rifle, and bowling programs.
And, it is hard for it to be correctly termed a War by us... It's a constellation of one-sided acts of aggression, i.e. a series of MURDERS.

Our side (nice to see Memphis use that term) has far more often used the term "revolution" which is a much more accurate description of resistance to oppression. I have been careful, in fact, not to use that word. War, real war, is a serious business that unlike Clay Ryan I do not take lightly.

Here's the difference: we have never pretended that Watts is one of us. Ty Long put it well on December 2nd, down there in my sig file. Watts has made this claim and in fact has to do so to justify his presidency; his pretense to be the leader of our community is the crux of their PR effort. Clay Ryan's use of those three letters is therefore a very big deal, as it directly exposes the lie behind their entire position, and does so in their own words.

Watts and his handlers do not see us as one community. He accepts the concepts of oppression and force, and his rule is therefore illegitimate. The concepts of "war" and "shared governance" cannot co-exist.

Clay Ryan has utterly destroyed his client's position. Watts cannot lead, the Board cannot lead, and this is made crystal clear by the words of their own handler.

"Bungler" rather than handler, I would say.

But, it remains to be seen if good folks will just sit idly by and watch while UAB gets squashed, and they eat their peanuts and shake their heads saying, "Bless their hearts..."

(12-02-2014 11:01 AM)braish Wrote:  The BOT is about to cross the Rubicon. Once they do, we make this a political fight for reform in a corrupt system and demand transparency and equal representation. This battle may be lost but the war has just begun.

(12-02-2014 02:50 PM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  Yep. we may have lost the football battle, but the War for an independent U_B has begun in ernest!!!

(12-03-2014 09:11 AM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  We may have lost this major battle, but the war to #FreeUAB can still be won.

(02-26-2015 12:36 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 11:01 AM)braish Wrote:  The BOT is about to cross the Rubicon. Once they do, we make this a political fight for reform in a corrupt system and demand transparency and equal representation. This battle may be lost but the war has just begun.

(12-02-2014 02:50 PM)USAFBlazerFan Wrote:  Yep. we may have lost the football battle, but the War for an independent U_B has begun in ernest!!!

(12-03-2014 09:11 AM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  We may have lost this major battle, but the war to #FreeUAB can still be won.

I believe your point was validly made in your previous post. Is there something else?

There's a huge difference between deploying a tired cliche (lose the battle, win the war) and describing your relations with the people you swore an oath to represent as a war.

Clay Ryan stepped over a line, and did so in a major way. They have, in their own words, declared war on their own constitutents.

(02-26-2015 12:47 PM)58-56 Wrote:  There's a huge difference between deploying a tired cliche (lose the battle, win the war) and describing your relations with the people you swore an oath to represent as a war.

Clay Ryan stepped over a line, and did so in a major way. They have, in their own words, declared war on their own constitutents.

I agree. Then there a huge difference in the sources of the "war" comments. We in the UAB movement (be we students, alumni, or friends of UAB) we are individuals united in common goal - at least the vast majority of us who aren't heckling from the sidelines are. As individuals no one is responsible for how we phrase our comments but ourselves. The larger group cannot be held responsible for how any individual speaks or acts because as a group we cannot control them. We can only ask, individual to individual to respect how individual actions may reflect unfavorably on the movement.

That said, I don't think anyone in the movement can be accused of saying something in private that they would not also write or say in a public forum. There has been absolutely no need for any of us to be duplicitous.

In addition we are not employed or paid for our work on behalf of the movement. We contribute our time and work freely without any expectation of remuneration except for the possible accomplishment of our goals.

The same cannot be said of a University President paid over $800K a year and an attorney who is also paid handsomely for his by the university. They hold positions of trust which make them personally accountable for the things they do and say. It is not okay for people in such positions to declare "war" on those that they are paid to serve. It is certainly not okay for them to declare "war" on their constituents in private while in public promising shared governess and asking everyone to move forward and gather together to sing Kumbayah.

Dr. Watts has run UAB like a dictatorial corporate CEO, not like a University President should. Well, he had better be glad he is not a corporate CEO because given the stunts he has pulled if he were a CEO he would have been sacked a long time ago.

The only way to change anything at this point is to vote people out of office.

(02-26-2015 09:06 PM)Agent Orange Sauce Wrote:  The only way to change anything at this point is to vote people out of office.

You've already given up on the fight in Montgomery?

Does anyone really have confidence in anyone in Montgomery? SACS, whom everyone thought was going to come to our rescue just shrugged their shoulders, what do you expect people that actually have ties to Tuscaloosa to do?

Confidence in it? No. No, those bastards have a stranglehold on political influence, money, and dirty dealing.

Do you propose we just sigh, say "Oh well", and go home and forget about it?

The task force is useless. The one's on there who were legitimately concerned with the well-being of UAB and bringing back lost programs have just been shown that they were nothing more than pawns in the "Save Watts" game.

I was dismayed to find that this article was not in the print version of the Bham News today. Was it in Wednesday's paper instead??

Okay, Watts didn't up and resign as soon as the no confidence votes came in. Did you really expect him to quit? Instead of firing Watts, the BOT doubled down and issued statements of support. Did you really expect anything different? I agree that SACS report was very disappointing, but I had been warned by someone knowledgeable about how SACS operates to expect nothing more from them. Unfortunately that individual was right.

So what are we going to do now? Quit? Just give up? Roll up in a fetal ball and let the BOT and their puppet do whatever they please with UAB?

HELL NO! We have already filled the local media with countless articles supportive of our cause. We have made this into a national story. We have forced Watts and the BOT in publicly backing down and at least open the question as whether the banded sports should be brought back, regardless of what Watts ultimately does with the recommendation of the Carr committee. We have irreparably damaged Watts, his henchmen, and the BOT, and we scared the hell out of them. We have have helped to expose their expensive and disingenuous PR campaign and laid it out for all to see.

In short, while we have not yet achieved our objectives, we have been able to accomplished more than anyone, including ourselves, ever thought possible. I don't want to hear these negative vibes about how it can't be done. We are not quitters and we damn sure not going to quit now.

This is like a heavyweight championship fight. It the tenth round and we have hit our opponent with some good shots. We have had his knees wobbly more than once. He has shown some good defensive skills, but he hasn't countered with anything solid. But he is the champion and if we don't put him down for the count in the next round, he may yet survive. The next round is in Montgomery; we can't even think of quitting now.

I believe in Jack Williams. I believe him when he says we have a chance in Montgomery. I am one of almost 200 people who have agreed to help him. We are going bring the fight to the state legislature and we are not going to be easily defeated. Now you the rest of you can join us in that fight and do whatever you can do given your circumstances or you can sit on your butts and say it can't be done; it's your choice. But, to quote, 58-56 - WE FIGHT.

HeLL YES!

Additional information: I have it from a very good source that Watts and his cronies shut down their anti-FreeUAB PR campaign Wednesday after Archibald's article appeared on al.com. I can understand why. If I were them I wouldn't the public reminded that I am wasting the public money every time they see one of those "the UA BOT loves UAB" commercials.

And by the way, Archibald's article also appeared in the Sunday edition of the Birmingham News, I suspect for maximum exposure.

(03-02-2015 10:48 AM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  Additional information: I have it from a very good source that Watts and his cronies shut down their anti-FreeUAB PR campaign Wednesday after Archibald's article appeared on al.com. I can understand why. If I were them I wouldn't the public reminded that I am wasting the public money every time they see one of those "the UA BOT loves UAB" commercials.

And by the way, Archibald's article also appeared in the Sunday edition of the Birmingham News, I suspect for maximum exposure.

Unfortunately, this probably means that they just reallocated those funds to a little less public activity - a full out lobbying effort in Montgomery.