Starving Colorado Professors Get Raise: $5 A Week.

By Professor Doom

     I’ve written before of the situation for most college professors in Colorado. They’re paid sub-poverty wages, and the laws/hiring are manipulated so that there’s no legal violation in doing so, even to the point of cutting their hours to avoid Obamacare—it really is curious how our Left-leaning campuses don’t support Leftist policies when it’s their own pocketbook being raided.

     Let me recycle one quote that really sums up the Colorado system that “can’t afford” to pay the professors even minimum wage:

“…in order to keep the administrative class afloat, this is the reality for me and for my peers. Our college system, for example, has hired two new administrators per day for the past three years…Its financial profile is rated at the top of the scale by the metrics of Standard and Poor’s or Moody’s, as a revealed in a recent analysis of CCCS finances conducted by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).”

     All the money flowing into higher education has done the students no good—our $1.3 trillion dollars of student loan debt can attest to that. It’s also done nothing for the workers in higher education, who find their pay frozen for twenty years or more, if they’re lucky, and in most cases pay has been reduced, much reduced.

     I understand that most workers have had their pay frozen, that the strife for higher education professors is reflected in most every profession nowadays. That said, it really is disturbing watching all the administrators drive to campus in shiny new cars, and watching glittering administrative palaces go up even when enrollment falls, while the professors go down to the food banks (which, in Colorado, actually specialize in helping professors, because there are so many starving professors). 

     Time and again I have heard expensive-suited administrators bleat about how education is worth any price, that students shouldn’t worry about the debt they’re taking on for the cost of tuition, because having an education leads to a high paying job.

     Our college professors are the most educated class of citizenry…and many of us are starving to death on the wages those obscenely overpaid administrators (who themselves often have minimal, if any, education) give us, based on that “valuable” education.

      The situation is really bad in Colorado, where faculty begged to be given a raise, a raise in a system that is flush with cash and has no trouble hiring yet another $150,000 a year Diversity Vice President on a twice-a-day basis even as it wouldn’t dream of paying a faculty member $30,000 a year…no money for the latter, you see.

      Committees were formed, and determined that, yes, it was about time for a faculty pay raise, to the tune of 28% (keep in mind, many administrators get pay raises on the order of 10% a year, so 28%, once every 20 years, is hardly excessive).

      Administration, always eager to say how precious education is, revealed their true colors at the thought of paying educated people:

Officials balked, saying the "current political environment" made such a hike unfeasible…administrative salaries have skyrocketed in recent years, along with major building campaigns on several of the 41 campuses operated by the state's thirteen community colleges…

     Take it from a veteran of state community colleges, they really are a cornucopia of opportunities for fraud, and actively support incompetence. Spend a few million on a building, pay for it with bonds…and most of it goes directly into administrative (or trustee) pockets in the form of kickbacks, and the system is set up so that you almost never can follow the paper trail (there are a few exceptions that give some idea of what goes on).

     Still, some administrators got tired of watching the faculty starve to death, and so deigned to let them have a little something. And we’re talking little:

 

(the above is a poster distributed protesting the meager pay raise. Snowflake photo SnowCrystals.com)

    That’s right, folks, the faculty beg for their first pay raise this millenium, admin looks down from a table loaded with foie gras stuffed lobster…and deigns to give them almost $5 a week more. That’s a few cans of beans, at least, but I really feel if educators had some influence over this system, there would have been something a bit more equitable.

     Seriously, $200 million for a college sportsball stadium isn’t much of a problem for the Colorado education system, but paying college professors even a starvation level wage is just too tough for administrators.

      No money, you see. Too bad. Better luck 20 years from now.

www.professorconfess.blogspot.com

UNC Retaliates Against Whistleblowers. Again.

By Professor Doom

     A recent book on the UNC scandal involving 18 years of fake classes, affecting thousands of students. The “customer” reviews on the book are rather split between 1 star votes and 5 star votes. I put “customer” in quotes because many of the 1 star votes aren’t verified purchasers…just folks that hate the book without, probably, reading it.

     Many of the negative voters cite “UNC’s academic fraud is no different than the academic fraud at many other institutions.” This is true, many campuses offer special fake courses and programs to their athletes, who otherwise would have no chance in a college environment. But I don’t think this is enough of a justification to hate a book…why should a book that tells the truth be necessarily bad? It’s clear more people need to know about at least some of the obvious conspiracies going on in higher education today; considering UNC administration spent many years and untold millions trying to squelch the truth about the academic fraud at UNC, I think a book covering it all is justified, even if “everyone else” is also engaging in the same type of fraud.

     Somehow, magically, nobody seems to ask why or how, private e-mails between the co-authors were released to the public. It looks like the co-authors had an affair, to judge by the e-mails. 

     Many critics cite these private e-mails from the authors, saying the e-mails indicated the authors are being less than sincere in their writings. I don’t quite follow the logic, as what two people do on a bed in no way is related to a near 20 year pattern of fraud by UNC.

     What I find more interesting here is how the media (and the critics of the book) don’t ask the obvious question: “How did those private e-mails get released?” Having seen admin retaliate against another whistleblower by releasing private e-mails, I know that this sort of behavior is in the administrative bag of dirty tricks. It’s just…weird that nobody considers how these private e-mails get released. It’s not like UNC admin has a clean record when it comes to harassing whistleblowers, I wouldn’t put it past them to release fake e-mails, and I would expect them to “ask” their many underlings to post negative reviews on the book. Why isn’t the source questioned here?

“…….”

--no, I’m not going to quote private love letters here, they’re irrelevant to what happened at UNC.

     In this case, the e-mails are pretty salacious, but have nothing to do with the UNC scandal. Instead, they reveal a possible affair between the authors of the book. Granted, this puts an extra meaning on the cheating going on at UNC but…no, this doesn’t mean the book is bad, and no, this doesn’t exonerate UNC.

     And, again, I point out, UNC administration had access to those private e-mails and almost certainly is responsible for their “random” release to the media, which lapped it up, unquestioningly. 

     The hypocrisy of the critics here is pretty audacious: “everyone does it” so the UNC’s fraud should be overlooked, meanwhile a sexual relationship between two people working very closely together on a big project (honest, this isn’t rare) should be a major focus…and admin’s vicious retaliation in revealing the affair is just par for the course for the rulers of our higher educational system.

     The administrative hypocrisy is well worth exposure, however. Always when I tried to report the frauds and inappropriate behavior at the community college, on paper admin was all “we’re very interested to hear about it” while the reality is no interest whatsoever, along with retaliation for me trying to stop the inappropriate behavior.

      I want to demonstrate this sort of hypocrisy by looking at some documented activity at UNC; yes, these are e-mails, but at least these e-mails are submitted by one of the persons involved, a whistleblower who tried very hard to resolve the fraud at UNC:

     Here’s the whistleblower’s e-mail to the Poo Bah:

President Ross,

Last week an article written by Dan Kane mentioned that UNC Administration hired a PR firm to refute my claims. …Kane’s article mentions that you might be interested in hearing the truth. If you would like to listen to my interview with general counsel…or Jim Martin…I have retained copies. I would also welcome the opportunity to speak with you in person. 

     UNC did everything it could to silence the whistleblower, to the point of spending huge sums of money to discredit her. The Poo Bah, of course, despite any public assertion of interest in learning the truth, had no such interest, and completely blew her off:

Dear Ms. Willingham,

Thank you for your e-mail and offer of assistance. I have access to your interviews and will call upon you in the event I need additional information.

      It really seems like the whistleblower was willing to work with UNC admin to fix the problem…but admin saw no problem with fraud.

When she sued, Willingham said she hoped to accomplish what no other investigation has done -- to subpoena documents and to depose university officials under oath. Her lawsuit never got that far.

     Despite the extensive character assassination by UNC, they did eventually decide to settle the lawsuit with her out of court, for $335,000 (like I said, UNC’s record when it comes to harassing whistleblowers isn’t clean…) in exchange for not having any more truth revealed. Gee, if UNC was so confident the whistleblower was lying, why settle for so much? That’s not even half as much as they spent on the PR firm they hired to assassinate her…

     I know, I’ve covered the immense fraud and cover-up of the UNC scandal, but just in case the gentle reader has missed the previous, allow me to present another quote from an article about the book:

Using the players' online IDs and passwords, administrators and tutors masqueraded as the players in submitting bogus coursework. This was all allegedly managed by the director of basketball operations who reported directly to the school's revered head basketball coach, Jim Boeheim.

     Now, one of the many questionable lines admin has fed the gullible public about the UNC scandal is that it was restricted, mostly, to the sportsball players. But I really feel the need to point out the implication of the above quoted paragraph:

      There’s nothing to stop administration from just logging in as a student and submitting bogus coursework, allowing a student to pass.

       As I've said before, there's no reason to trust online work at all. That’s just the online courses at UNC, but I’ve cited a few institutions where admin cuts out the middleman and just changes the course grade directly. Now I wish to point out another important implication from the UNC scandal, where this sort of fraud was practiced:

      Even with very credible allegations of this level of fraud, it takes 18 years of repeated investigations before, finally, the allegations are revealed to be true…and not one single person responsible for the fraud will pay even the slightest penalty.

     Now, maybe the gentle reader can ignore my allegations that academic fraud regarding athletes is fairly common in higher education, but even if my own eyes are wrong in this matter, I promise that the Poo Bah of every sportsball university in the country is looking at what happened at UNC and considering the implications I’ve raised.

    Every Poo Bah is now thinking “Gee, there’s no drawback, and I’ll get more money if I do the same thing UNC has been doing for nearly 20 years.” Even if the huge fraud at UNC is rare, it’s a safe bet that will be quite common in the future.

www.professorconfess.blogspot.com

New Book on UNC Scandal Slams Admin. Of Course.

By Professor Doom

     I know, I’ve written about the academic atrocity at UNC a few times, but obviously all I know for certain is what’s been published. I’ve made some conjectures, of course, based on what I know of how higher education is run these days. So, it’s good when a book comes out and says what I was already saying years ago.

     The book is Cheated: The UNC Scandal, the Education of Athletes, and the Future of Big-Time College Sports, and before getting to the book, I want to talk about the reviews on Amazon, which are spit between 5 star and 1 star (mostly 5) reviews.

     It’s always interesting when reviews are split like this, it means something is up. In this case, there are lots of people that buy into the “win at any cost” mentality of college sportsball. Some of the critical reviews really drive the point home of the mindset:

1.0 out of 5 stars Happens to some degree at most all schools

Byjody loweon August 19, 2015

Format: Hardcover

i am quite sure this must go on at all schools to some degree--do you think Duke basketball players can compete academically at Duke? Sure a few can but most would have to have significant help

 

     I’m a little hard pressed to consider this a fair review (from someone who didn’t buy the book, no less, though I admit the person might have read it). Just because it happens to some degree at most all schools, how does that make this book, documenting the cheating going on at UNC, bad? Boring, maybe, but you’d kinda think the reviewer here would know what he was getting. So, obviously a partisan, or a plant.

     Another non-buyer of the book who we have to just assume read it:

 

1.0 out of 5 starsCalling this disingenuous would be giving it too much credit.

ByLanceCon May 28, 2015

Format: Hardcover

To say this book is disingenuous in the story that it tells would be to give it too much credit. UNC clearly has some issues in regards to it's academic program but the authors of this book are doing little more than making a fraudulent attempt at cashing in on it. If you hate UNC and are a fan of fiction this might be the book for you but if not I'd take a pass.

     Again with the theme of “yeah, there are problems, but so what?” Is the book a cash-in? Quite possibly, but the UNC scandal is so heavily documented now that it’s pretty tough to call it “fiction”…and you can’t exactly call the book fiction in one line while admitting to the problems the book discusses in another. Again, I suspect something here.

     One more:

1.0 out of 5 starslazy and dishonest

ByJarHeelon March 25, 2015

Format: Hardcover

Lazy. Dishonest. While there is a problem with the education of the student athlete, this book is entirely about the authors' personal desires and ambitions. It does a disservice to the cause that they claim to champion.

     Seriously, were all the negative reviews written by one guy?  A few of the other negative reviews reference private e-mails that were released, “somehow.” Gee, I’ve certainly seen Admin do such things before to retaliate against a professor speaking out.  So, the e-mails are supposed to destroy the credibility of the authors here…I’ll look at those e-mails, but, again, the UNC scandal is pretty well documented at this point. 

     The gentle reader needs to understand that the super heroic lengths admin has gone to cover up the scandal means that a reasonable person should expect that what we know now, is the bare minimum of how bad the corruption is…it’s almost certainly worse.

     The 5 star reviews, of course, have a more credible theme to them, and most of the reviews are 5 stars. Let’s see what others have to say:

The book is very hard on UNC’s administration, which ignored evidence that many athletes in the big money sports…

     Gee, who else has been hard on admin? Oh yeah, me. Look, administrators are not educators, they’re mercenaries. There’s nothing to stop them selling out higher education for personal profit, and ultimately, selling out is their job. Time and again I’ve seen admin come in, find out what the school had to be proud of, and cash in on the prestige to enhance their own status…before moving up to another position. Time and again I’ve been stunned at admin doing vicious, inhuman things to our kids in college (especially community college)…and then been stunned again when I learn that there’s absolutely no impediment to such monstrous behavior.

“Cheated recounts two instances when staffers told superiors that football or men’s basketball stars handed in plagiarized work. The university took swift, decisive action, the authors write: It punished those who made the reports.”

     Hmm, so the book says that when faculty reported students as cheating, the faculty were punished for catching cheaters. Hmm, who else has been saying that on campuses throughout the country faculty are punished for catching cheaters? Oh yeah, me.

      I know the things I say in this blog are outlandish to the point of incredulity. I totally respect if readers of my blog think I’m making stuff up. Thus, I take pleasure when others report and document, in writing, exactly the same things I say here.

UNC happened to get caught, then made things worse by trying to sweep the scandal under the rug with superficial “investigations” that said, “Move along, folks, nothing to see here.”

    Now, the kind of scandals going on at UNC don’t happen everywhere…but many schools have frauds, even “wide open frauds” known by hundreds, if not more, personnel at the institution. The problem is, faculty are intimidated, and the few faculty left with integrity that try to do something, merely get punished and hit with retaliation that can be both petty and bizarre.

   

      So, while this book covers the huge scandal at UNC, I’m not beneath giving an “I told you so” when the next wide open scandal erupts…I promise you, there’ll be another one just as big, just as long-running, and just as widely known despite endless administrative attempts to squelch any investigation into the truth of the matter.

      I’m pleased to see that some folks understand the academic fraud going on at UNC (and elsewhere) is far bigger than just the fake courses for athletes that—let’s face it—we all know are a part of “almost” every institution with sportsball:

Talk about exploitation of the athletes (some of them at least) is a distraction from the big picture: that many colleges and universities have decided to enroll academically weak, disengaged students and keep them in school (and thus bringing in revenue) with easy-to-pass courses and inflated grades.

     This really is the ultimate reveal of the UNC scandal: if a university, even a big name university with a great reputation, decides to sell out and offer completely fake courses and bogus degrees, there is nothing, nothing, to stop it from doing so. Even if whistleblowers come forward, nothing will be done, and the scandal can run for years before finally seeing the light of day.

      Next time we’ll quickly consider those private e-mails that mysteriously appeared, and, again, I’ll point out the easiest way that could have happened is if administration wanted to retaliate against the authors.

www.professorconfess.blogspot.com