Tenure? We don need no steenkeeng tenure!

Talk about a thinly veiled plan.

Read this article in the Tulane Hullabaloo, where the former puppet dean of engineering, Nikki Altiero states that "the school is in the planning stages of adding new engineering programs."

"We're looking at the possibility of adding programs that are engineering-oriented: materials science and engineering, computer science and something related to environmental or geological engineering have all been discussed."

"We asked, 'what are the disciplines of the future?" Altiero said. "We are involving a lot of advisers from industry, government and academia in our planning. We want to hear multiple views on what the disciplines of the future are."  So that we can then ignore them and do whateverthefuck Cowen tells me to do.

The pomposity is amazing.  I said that Cowen and MoLester were just cleaning house so that they could rebuild everything in their own tainted image.  Now it's clear.  They eliminated the School of Engineering simply so that they could: 1) fire all the tenured faculty and 2) get their hands on those endowed funds.

Now, before the corpse of Engineering is even cold, Cowen and his puppet Altiero are moving ahead to reinstitute these programs, just without the tenured faculty. 

Somebody call the AAUP.  Me, I'll just sit here and wonder why Where Y'at has more detailed coverage on the annhilation of local Universities than the Times Pic.

Comments

[saintseester]

I was already feeling nauseated BEFORE I read this.

[Mr. Clio]

Correction: they're not moving ahead. They're moving forward.

Also, I'm going to need a tutorial on how to get the venn diagram on my blog. Can't figure it out. I edited it a little, but it's now ready.

[Richard P.]

I thought that since Tulane didn't have the resources to be "great" in engineering there was no point in having an engineering school or so went the official party line.

What's most striking about Cowen is his "after you remove the veneer of whatever his stated position on something is" apparent sole motive of self-aggrandizement.

Make Tulane Div. III to win over the critics of big-time football or it was in 2003. Now it's football "carrying the torch..." of Tulane.

I used to think he really was the critic, the non-believer, the earnest reformer in big-time football. Now I realize that there is and was no actual heartfelt belief either way.

I myself was critical of Eamon Kelly's punishment, i.e. "abolition" of the basketball program back in 1985. Also, I am aware that many, a decade before that, in the academic community were critical of former president Hackney's stance on football. No matter what or who doesn't agree with what, it seems clear that both men acted based on their own personal deeply-held beliefs.

Cowen is worse than anything in that he's just so completely superficial and how there's nothing actually sincere about him other than his desire to build up his own stature -- and yet there are legions of alumni who think he's the greatest.

[ashley]

"there are legions of alumni who think he's the greatest"

Really? I don't know of anyone who supports him other than the puppets in administration and the feeble minded students whose programs he didn't axe.

[Richard P.]

I'm not trying to convince anyone that Cowen isn't nuts. However, not unlike with George W. Bush, there are extremes of opinion about him, and, yes, many in the alumni community are quite taken with him.

[ashley]

I believe you, Richard, it's just that I'm surrounded with the Engineering types who want his fat head on a stick in front of a levee.

The only people I saw defending his actions were the clueless students who believe that no one should question his decision, as the idea that he may not have their interests at heart is totally foreign to them.

And all of the Newcomb women want him burned at the stake.

[Richard P.]

I am curious about something, if you don't mind.

Do you have connections with anyone in the medical school/Public Health & Tropical Medicine complex?

There's been some talk apparently and some of it not very encouraging about the future for the medical school.

Obviously this is very, very important for the city and the area.

Have you heard anything?

Weren't the majority, actually, of the layoffs back in December 2005 in the medical school BTW?

Back to Cowen directly, I think what probably garners him favor with a lot of alumni is their perception of how he's running Tulane like a business, i.e. he's getting rid of waste, non-productive programs, etc. and they like that like they like low taxes, less government, etc.

Maybe Eamon Kelly was a little too liberal for them -- although with him there was, as I said, some sense of what exactly his convictions were.

[ashley]

My connections did tell me that, if you look at whom was laid off, just about every one of them received funding via Charity. So if you were connected to Charity, you got the axe.

Thus, Cowen is ultimately responsible to a large degree for the death of Charity hospital.

The law school is safe, as they can separate at any time, and Cowen can't touch them.

And yes, the vast majority of layoffs were from the med school, but he did not eliminate entire departments there, as he did in Engineering.

As for running things that aren't a business like a business, well, I bitched about that before: http://ashleymorris.typepad.com/ashley_morris_the_blog/2006/05/its_not_a_busin.html

[Carina]

Our AB Normal Club was supposed to do 1 or 2 more clbmis before June but the rains came a little too early this year. I miss writing about our clbmis, too.But don't worry I may write about a really great climb done by my Boy Scout pals soon.

[Betty]

Getting an Irish politician to stand up and admit they've done wrong and leave their post is like thedaring a needle with mooring rope.The greens should have walked out of goverment months ago but have drifted along through all the shite dropping a few self righteous sound bites here and there.Cowen would probably have to beat, rape and shoot someone in front of a packed croke park before he fucked off. And even then the gaa/fianna fail crowd would probably applaud.They're the most brazenly unashamed bunch of fuckers and it's been like this for decades.