Readers may recall my earlier report on the strange weekend ouster of UVa president Teresa Sullivan last week where I suggested there might be a Michael Mann connection because supposedly he was offered the Kington chair, and the fellow whose name is on it allegedly called the emergency weekend stealth meeting leaving some board members behind. UVa has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting FOIA requests from the American Tradition Institute and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for Mann’s emails related to his publication of MBH98 done while at UVa, and from what I hear, this issue has been very unpopular with some alumni and has resulted in some fund raising issues under Sullivan’s tenure.
Now, in the middle of this turmoil, word on the street is that Michael Mann will not get the Kington Chair. Meanwhile Larry Sabato, Director, U.Va. Center for Politics reveals (via his Twitter Feed ) the mood at the wee hours of the morning end of the UVa board meeting (at 2:39AM) after the weekend coup ousting president Sullivan.
From The Republic it seems the faculty is pretty upset too:
University of Virginia asks rector, vice rector to resign after president’s ouster
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — University of Virginia faculty leaders on Monday demanded the reinstatement of the school’s president and the resignation of two board members involved in her ouster. Officials gave no sign of complying, but acknowledged they could have handled Teresa Sullivan’s abrupt departure better.
“We recognize that, while genuinely well-intended to protect the dignity of all parties, our actions too readily lent themselves to perceptions of being opaque and not in keeping with the honored traditions of this university,” Rector Helan Dragas said in a statement issued by the university.
“For that reason, let me state clearly and unequivocally: You, our U.Va. family, deserved better from this board, and we have heard your concerns loud and clear.”
That wasn’t good enough for members of the Faculty Senate, who earlier met privately with board members to demand the removal of both Dragas and Vice Rector Mark J. Kington. The Senate’s executive committee also requested that faculty be given a voting position on the board, known as the Board of Visitors.
full story at The Republic
h/t to Ryan Maue
[UPDATE: I trust Anthony will not object to my adding that the “Kington chair” he refers to is actually the Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professorship in Environmental Change. It is a newly endowed professorship, and it was established by their son, Mark Kington, in the memory of his parents. Mark is active in UVA matters, and presumable is the man Anthony refers to as working behind the scenes with the Board. -w.]
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Similar to the actions of ex NASA employees speaking up, most people fear to speak up because they fear for their jobs. Thus it often falls to ex employees, retirees, and alumni to correct the evils that flourish when good men (and women) remain silent.
UVa has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting FOIA requests from the American Enterprise Institute and Attourney General Ken Cuccinelli for Mann’s emails related to his publication of MBH98 done while at UVa, and from what I hear, this issue has been very unpopular with some alumni … .
And where have you heard this? I haven’t seen any evidence that Mann had anything to do with the President’s ouster.
I believe the FOIA’s referred to have been filed by American Tradition Institute, not American Enterprise Institute.
[REPLY: So many Institutes! Fixed. Thanks. -REP]
very confusing. no official acknowledgement of what the issue is, and Sabato says Kington et al are unpopular, not Sullivan. ??
The kerfuffle has led to fund raising issues, and the following fits:
QUOTE:
According to the onetime editor of Woodrow Wilson’s papers, however, long before any of them strode the academic-political scene, Wilson observed often that the intensity of academic squabbles he witnessed while president of Princeton University was a function of the “triviality” of the issues being considered.
http://ask.metafilter.com/80812/Academic-politics-are-vicious-because-the-stakes-are-so-low
One of the problems at universities is that the faculty refuse to acknowledge that they are just employees.
I’m sorry, but this seems a bit “gossipy.” Shouldn’t we wait for some verifiable information?
Dear Mr. Watts, etal.
Some good info on the power elites we are all up against over at another blog.
Denis McDonough, who is very very close to Pres. Obama. He is now the leader on the NSC.
Seems that he has common problems for you guys and we others.
He is the guy who is running the protection operation on Fast and Furious as well as he is a user of the CO2 fraud your working on here.
Good read, but long, notwithstanding we of the Forward Operating Post know that rule one is know what the other guys are doing.
He is doing things, come to know him and those things.
http://www.sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the space to post.
fob person
REPLY: Thanks, but no “Dr.” should be attached to my name – Anthony
Phil C says:
June 19, 2012 at 8:09 am
And where have you heard this? I haven’t seen any evidence that Mann had anything to do with the President’s ouster.
Define “see”! Mann is not really the point. Money is the point. Connect the dots. Follow the money.
http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2012/06/18/inside-the-turmoil-at-the-university-of-virginia/?KEYWORDS=uva+president+sullivan
Dragas and Kinton claim to have ‘heard’, but were they *listening*?
What do they intend to DO – besides watching their credibility melt faster than the ice in a Mint Julep in June?
The suddeness and urgency of the weekend process that resulted in Sullivan’s dismissal is not consistent with her having financially underperformed nor with her resistance to modernization.
Those were sort of the official reasons given for her dismissal.
The actual reason could be something more accute and embarrassing. Waiting for evidence about what the real reason might be for the suddenness of her dismissal.
John
This thing is crazy. As a UVA student parent and an alumni, I find Dr. Sullivan’s ouster apparently by a select few on the Board, to be disturbing. I suspect Mann’s impact on this is minor if it had any impact at all.
This post does not reveal who the real crooks are at UVA. Is it the ex-president, the Board, the faculty, a combination of each or some?
You’re still wildly speculating on her departure. Hopefully the next president will be a bit more amenable to FOIA requests.
Any university admin that does not know the difference between ouster and ousting is not worthy of the position.
Sullivan is a radical lefty. She gets fired, probably because of things she did because she is a radical lefty. Now the Marxist faculty is having a fit and orchestrating protests and propaganda campaigns. Just watch for all the pro Sullivan trolls, with handle we have never seen before, to start showing up on every story related to this issue.
One point of great significance is that no reason has been given for the dismissal of Sullivan. There are reasons why various people and groups might have liked to see her fired, but, there simply is no real information available.
People, read the first article linked above if you are confused to who is who in this saga. It is a saga because frankly we are witnessing a power struggle that is most probably due to AGW politics. The fact is that it has very little to do with anything other then money. Some people want to keep the climate gravy train going and want to prevent FOIA requests and to give jobs to people such as Dr. Mann who have soiled the name of the university. The people so mentioned are probably mostly faculty and grad students who stand to lose big if the university starts going even somewhat balanced on the issue of AGW. They stand to lose big, but in the end the university is getting hurt more by the nonsense due to people not donating money simply because they disagree with the political aspects of AGW and how the university is covering things up and not having full disclosure and hiring such unsavory people.
That is the power struggle in a nutshell. I doubt the people fighting against AGW for the most part in this struggle care about the struggle itself…they are fighting against it due to the money angle and nothing else. Their jobs are to make sure the university is flush with cash, and since its losing more then it gains for going pro-CAGW, well in other words the cat is out of the bag and the people who can think are fighting back for no other reason but for the money.
This is how popular discourse and how websites and blogs like WUWT make a difference. They show the world how science has been hijacked by activists and how you can make a difference by countering free Government pork with not giving money to a university that is not honoring FOIA requests and is in other words digging its head in the giant trough of taxpayer money being given away.
This is probably the best grassroots way to end this charade of activist hijacked science at the college level in the US. Make the universities pay. When those “phone calls” come from your university talk the ear off of the person calling and tell them why you aren’t donating a cent and why you are telling everyone else not to as well. It seems to have really worked in this case….so its time to expand efforts. And when they do change their ways like in this case, donate the money.
People might not care about politics and/or global warming, but they do care about the money. Its always about the money no matter how much we talk about the science or the politics involved.
I’m trying to connect the dots. I need more dots here, and less “read between the lines.”
IMO, Mann should be a discredit to any educational institution associated with his name. Can we show that fund-raising is down, and UVa’s obstruction of the FOIA requests are a factor? Can we show that alumni have raised this issue?
Let’s not forget Sullivan and Elizabeth Warren’s paper.
[SNIP: Way Off Topic for this thread. Please submit to Tips and Notes or perhaps here or even here. -REP]
“Let’s not forget Sullivan and Elizabeth Warren’s paper.” E. Warren? Lieawatha? Fauxcahontas? Danceswithidentitypoliticsvictimstatus? That E. Warren?
Just Curious.
Physics Major says:
June 19, 2012 at 8:25 am
One of the problems at universities is that the faculty refuse to acknowledge that they are just employees.
I agree
Who is working for whom. The Board is not employed by the liberal faculty. The President is an employee and may have tried to think otherwise. . Maybe they ought to teach business class and teach the teachers that they are not owners. They are workers required to perform work.
One of my degrees came from UVa and I’m an outlaw of a former Rector. I’ve been a lifelong observer and participant in governance at academic institutions. It wasn’t all that long ago that these institutions were overseen by a handful of “pillars of society” possessing inherited fortunes who were simply carrying out the duties of noblesse oblige.
Somewhere along the road, academic institutions discovered marketing and salesmanship. With the active cooperation of the gullible and avaricious mainstream media, they exploited the insatiable demand for “prestigious” education by artifically constraining supply whilst simultaneously raising tuitions at twice the rate of inflation ( which they have now done for more than forty years). These institutions have always served as havens for anti-authoritarians and non-conformists seeking careers in academia as alternatives to traditional employment. Many of them bear a close resemblance to spoiled children— along with the same over-inflated ego, sense of entitlement and narcissism. Enabled by the rise of parvenus and noveau riches, “brand name” academic institutions began selling any and everything including— but not limited to— seats on the Board of Visitors/Overseers/Trustees. Not surprisingly, those Overseers/Rectors/Trustees somehow reached the perfectly understandable conclusion that they deserve something in return for all that money they’ve handed over.
Comedy is the inevitable result.
Breitbart suggests academic fraud might be at the root of Sullivan’s troubles.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/16/Did-Breitbart-Investigation-Play-Any-Role-in-Sudden-Resignation-of-UVA-President