UA still hunting for new president - or maybe not

And so, dear reader, we begin a new week with the University of Akron Board of Trustees still unsure of the identity of the school's next president.

Presumably the gestation period began back in August, 2013, when President Luis Proenza announced that he would move on.    You can find more than one person on the campus who believes the required institutional "search" for Proenza's successor ended in 2011 when the school hired dethroned OSU football coach Jim Tressel and put him on
a fast-track career projectile that would seat him in the president's office when it was finally vacated.

The Board's  game plan appears to be drawn from the playbook of another OSU icon, Woody Hayes, known widely for a  grinding  offense relying on "Three yards and a cloud of dust". The trustees must have read about it somewhere.

The search, such as it has been,  has been  a pro forma exercise that finally drew a dozen and half or so applicants with Tressel prominently among them after a  series of coy responses on whether he was actively seeking the job.  Not only that job.   It has since been revealed that he has applied for the presidency at Youngstown State University. Has  the situation now opened to auction bidding for his services between the two schools?

There's been little coming from the Board, although I'm told that three Republican members, and maybe more,  are solidly behind hiring Tressel for the  top job.  That group is led by Jonathan Pavloff, Board vice chairman and chairman of the Summit County Republican executive committee.

Meantime, the next  president may have to demand hazard pay. He (or she?) will quickly be challenged by a projected $15 million budget  shortfall, a four percent decline in enrollment and a two percent increase in tuition. Tressel would find the challenges much greater than defeating Michigan.

College, anybody?

Are bobblehead dolls becoming the new gold watches?

News of the arrival  of a bobblehead doll in the likeness (sort of, if you only consider the black suit and yellow tie) of retiring University of Akron president Luis Proenza  may foretell a new era in which these novelties will become the traditional gold watches once handed out for long years of service.

Not that the sparkling  watch will be missed by  Proenza, who will be leaving with a future  adequately  sustained by a golden parachute that could have  easily covered the school's enormous debt.  Bon voyage

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One of the highlights of the past week's cable shows was the appearance of neocon mogul William Kristol on  Bill Maher's Friday evening show. When Maher  asserted that much  of the opposition to President Obama was the result of his being a black man in the White House, we got a less genteel  version of the usually suave, smirking Kristol seething in a voice-over:  "That's bullshit.  That's bullshit!"

Well, now.  Is that any way for a pompous  pundit to talk?  Yet here he was, fuming as the  profound sage  who has erred so often in  facts and judgment that the New York Times was forced to rid itself  of his column.  Two egregious ones come readily to mind: a hawkish, Cheney-like  defense of America's  invasion of Iraq that he guaranteed would bring enormous glory to the U.S.; and his burdensome influence in recruiting Sarah Palin as John McCain's veep candidate.

But Kristol will continue to present himself with that self-satisfied smirk and his followers will bow  in appreciative  genuflection. In the gated realm of Kristol 's conservatism, errors of fact don't matter that much.

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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a decision by Federal Judge John
Adams in the suit by then-Stow firefighter Anthony Rorrer  against the city of Stow.  Rorrer based his suit on a serious  eye injury suffered in an accident, blinding him in one eye.   Adams dismissed the suit.  However, the appellate court questioned Adams' handling of the case.  In a rare rebuke, the appellate court  "actually misconstrued its own discovery order"  with apparent bias toward Rorrer  and  remanded the case to the district court, calling  for another other judge to hear it.

* * * * *

Who knew? Rush Limbaugh  came on in another  racial burst after  "12 years a Slave" won the Best Film Oscar.  Rush said the picture won only because slave is a "magic word".  Anybody remember  how Rush downgraded a black NFL quarterback by accusing sportswriters of promoting African American QBs. (As I recall, a black QB led Seattle to a Super Bowl championship a few months ago.) Isn't it time that we stop referring to this crowd as the "far right" and call it instead the "far wrong"?

Is Jim Tressel's academic career on the goal line?

   Former OSU football coach Jim Tressel moved deeply into the red zone last week when the University of Akron board of trustees awarded  him a new title:  executive vice president. It is his third title since his arrival in 2011 as vice president of strategic engagement and later as the veep for student success.

The board's action spurred further speculation that his next title will  put him in the end zone:  president.

Not all of the speculation has met with  bravissimos in some faculty quarters,  where there are untidy questions about his lack of the doctorate so prized in academe for any  rise to the top administrative chair. 

Such talk among faculty and the school's boosters has been the subtext of his whirlwind career path since the school's president,  Luis Proenza, announced he was heading out in June from the position he's held for 15 years to engage in a  one-year sabbatical.  That would be followed by his return to the campus as a full time professor and president emeritus.

Since settling on the downtown campus, Tressel has been treated as a celebrity while busily engaged in motivational work with students as well as poetry reading to a UA creative-writing session and speaking at a Program Learn fund-raiser where attendees could get an autographed copy of his book,  The Winner's Manual.  

He's also considered to be an excellent fund-raiser at a time when the school is trying to find a way out of deep debt and a declining graduation rate.  With those elements in the equation, it might be reasonably asked how much is  a doctorate really worth in today's academic marketplace?   

Meantime, everyone directly involved in Tressel's future has been  quite guarded about his next move.  They have politely spun around media questions about his future,  particularly now that the formal search for Proenza's successor has begun.   But several sources  close to the scene have told me:  "It's a done deal."

Following this week's board meeting, the Beacon Journal noted that  Tressel "sidestepped" a question about his interest in the job.  Reporter Carol Biliczky quoted him as saying, "I think in fairness I'm interested in whatever role it is that our leadership wants of me".

Beyond that, the play calling remains in the brass'  huddle.  But when you are this close to the goal line it would certainly sound foolish to call for a Hail Mary.

(Re-posted from Plunderbund)

For Tressel, first down, one inch to score?

Are you eagerly into the Tressel Era at the University of Akron?

The iconic ex-football coach seems to be on a lot of people's lips as the looming successor to retiring President Luis Proenza.

Oh, there are scoffers to be sure.  They shrug  off all talk of a Tressel advance to chief executive as, well, you've probably heard the same expletives. But  the dot-connector will tell you that Tressel is on the one-inch line on first down, a breath away from Touchdown Heaven.  "It's a done deal,'' one told me, resigned to the connecting dots.

I haven't  seen any of the big shots on campus in the UA club, including the trustees who are engaged in the pro forma search committee, dismiss the possibility.  And Tressel told the Chronicle of Higher Education that he would be "flattered and interested" if he were offered the job.

The Aug. 28 edition of the Chronicle was less enthusiastic about the idea, noting that Tressel was asked to leave OSU because of the  silent treatment he gave to the sale of athletic memorabilia by several players in return for tattoos or cash.  The Chronicle also declared that he "lacks the traditional credentials of a  college president.  He has earned praise from Akron's president and Board for his work as an administrator, but for most of his career Mr. Tressel has viewed academe through the lens of a big-time college-football coach."

Still, in the current Tressel Era at UA, I have to think metaphorically about that one-inch line to the goal.  And as the school's critics have raised serious questions about the Proenza administration's hot kitchen on falling enrollment, cutbacks on faculty and the plunge into deeper debt, Tressel's name keeps appearing in his role as vice president, marketed by title as  "strategic engagement".

Which brings me to the latest Tressel  initiative that appeared today on the front-page of the Beacon Journal as a a putatively upbeat  sign that UA is trying hard to redefine its image, come hell or high water.

Tressel is promoting a program that will pay part-timers $8 an hour (!)  - 25 cents higher than Ohio's  minimum wage - to work with students to improve their academic chances of staying in school.

But you will need at least  10 years of teaching experience (do x's and o's on the game plan count?)   and it would doubtless help if you had a master's degree. "We're looking for people who want to make difference," Tressel told the BJ.

At their entry-level  pay scale, they would have to be desperate to put food on the table.

The Sibert moment on UA's Board of Trustees

WITH THE IMMINENT retirement of Russell Sibert over at the University of Akron Board of Trustees there has been an interesting shuffling of the deck to fill the vacancy. Sibert has been the $150,748-a-year fellow with a title that would stretch from one goal line to the other in UA's new stadium: Assistant secretary of the Board and vice president of Board operations. The veep designation was largely arranged in 2001 by a previous trustee to adorn Sibert's resume even though he would be reporting to another vice president, Ted Mallo, the Board's general counsel. I'm not sure what labors Sibert's new vice presidency added following his promotion. It recalled what a touring Mark Twain said when he was told that Heloise's uncle Fulbert was a canon of the cathedral of Paris:

"I do not know what a canon of a cathedral is, but that is what he was."

In a letter to the campus community, President Luis Proenza reported that Paul Herold, special assistant to the president and associate vice president of public affairs and development, "will relinquish his associate vice president role, continue to assist the president and serve as the assistant secretary to the board." That sort of takes the job back to the pre-Sibert days. But there's more. Proenza wrote: "Paula D. Neugebauer, administrative assistant senior in the office of the vice president of public affairs and development, will be transferred to the office of the Board of trustees and assume the duties of the retiring coordinator [Marcia Fletcher] in addition to other current duties." Proenza says the "restructuring" will save more than $157,000 in personnel costs annually. From this distance, that's a lot to ingest in one sitting, but that is what it is.

I've been told that Sibert had planned to retire and return at some point with state retirement payments on top of his U pay, commonly known as double dipping. But I also understand that at least one trustee rose up to block it. Right, Mr. Sibert? Say it isn't so.

Taxing rants about taxes, et al

AMERICA AT MID-WEEK:

Hearing Republican pols endlessly chant about the evils of taxes, I am forced to conclude that their greatest orgasmic experience would occur with the abolition of all taxes except those that provide for their daily wage, health care insurance and for some, therapeutic night life. . That would leave the voluntary construction of highways to neighborhood associations; the care of the national parks system to garden groups and law enforcement to the Lone Ranger. Too bad for the R-pols, it won't happen. All of which means they will go on and on talking about it.

If you've spent a few minutes listening to Sen. Max Baucus, the Medicare-eligible Montana Democrat, boasting of the merits of his newly released committee health care reform plan, you might agree with me that he is a Republican impersonating a Democrat. And he's damned good at it. He'd better be inasmuch as he's into the health-care and insurance industry's treasury for about $4 million in campaign cash. It proves that experience does count, considering that he's been in the Senate for 31 years and doubtless knows all of the unlisted phone numbers of the lobbyists who need his undivided attention. (Two of his former chiefs of staff now work as lobbyists for health and insurance related companies. I rest my case.)

Mayor Don Plusquellic's critics will not spare the rod in denouncing the 201 layoffs the city announced this week. So what's the counter-proposal for these troubled economic times that is affecting city governments from coast to coast? Raise taxes to pay for the services? What? Are you crazy? There would be a dozen Republican candidates for mayor if Plusquellic breathed such evil. Cut back more city services? Those who opposed this week's layoffs would be the noisiest critics of further shrinkage of the safety forces. Fortunately, FirstEnergy has made its community presence felt with a $2.2 million grant to the city to ease a little of the pain. Plusquellic has presided over the best of times in the city, and is now having to make the hard choices in the worst of times. If there are less painful solutions these days, I'm sure everyone concerned would like to know about them. (The mayor could take a cue from former President George Bush, who advised Americans after 9/11 to "go shopping.")

Former President Jimmy Carter, a bona fide Georgian, sounded quite sane when he bared the roots of southern outrage sgainst Barack Obama in the White House. Quite simply, he called it "racism", which too many others who know better are trying to ignore. And people like Rush Limbaugh are exploiting it Klansman-style with not-so subtle reference these days to a newly-minted ObamaWorld, which Limbaugh sees as clear evidence of black hatred of all whites. I used to believe that Obama's election would allow us to move on as a nation from the not too-distant past when the New York Yankees turned down a chance to sign a young man named Willie Mays because, you know... he was black. Once Mays signed on with the New York Giants and did his magic act on the field, many fans became color-blind.

The University of Akron is in the midst of dodging another hit on its image with the latest episode involving John Case, the U's vice president for finance and education, who was placed on leave after his arrest on a charge of driving under the influence. But Case, who was arrested once before for erratic behavior behind the wheel, will continue to be paid under his $242,625 annual contract that runs through next June. UA President Luis Proenza says he will find some special jobs for Case to perform in the meantime. My sources tell me that it amounts to a waiting game and that Case's contract will not be renewed in June 2010. Taking note of the contretemps, the Plain Dealer concluded editorially a few days ago:

"It's a generous reassignment that the University of Akron can ill afford. While Case has been whisked offstage at full pay, the university is balancing its $419 million budget by eliminating vacant positions and reducing other costs. Surely this could have been handled better."

At the same time, UA must still adjust to the two ethics convictions of Board of Trustees member Jack Morrison, Jr. who obviously has no intention of giving up his seat on the board.