Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's too much and not enough at the same time. We really need a decent summary.
You could start with this: http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2012/06/coup-detat-at-...
It says nothing. How about some facts?
UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
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Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've always associated "uva" with the university of valladolid, spain (www.uva.es). It wasn't until I read this that the letter being in english finally made sense.
And I though of this: http://uva.onlinejudge.org/
I think UVA as Universidad valladolid because i use their online judge.
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#73Additional backstory: the revolt of the faculty is due to the Board wanting to close marginal academic departments at the University. Further backstory: the expenditures of the academic division at UVA have increased about 80% since 2001. Enrollment has only increased 9%. In-state tuition has increased about 275%. I'm not a UVA alum, but I grew up in Virginia, so I care about what happens at UVA. UVA's faculty can wa…
>In-state tuition has increased about 275%.
I was thinking about going to graduate school there in 2008, but somehow it was cheaper to take 3 classes remotely at out-of-state rates (at a higher-ranked school, mind you) than to drive 15 miles into town and take 1 class at UVa as an in-state student, so I decided against it.
Edited to add: I later moved to start a PhD program at the other school, stayed here and got a job, so UVa's high tuition indirectly removed me from the pool of people that would work and pay taxes in VA.
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#74It it ethical to publish someone resignal letter?
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#75Additional backstory: the revolt of the faculty is due to the Board wanting to close marginal academic departments at the University. Further backstory: the expenditures of the academic division at UVA have increased about 80% since 2001. Enrollment has only increased 9%. In-state tuition has increased about 275%. I'm not a UVA alum, but I grew up in Virginia, so I care about what happens at UVA. UVA's faculty can wa…
OK, what departments did she want to cut?
Honestly, I've never hard a harder time trying to figure out what an HN story was all about.
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#76Brief description of what's happening: a bit over 2 years ago, Teressa Sullivan was appointed the first woman president in the history of UVa, a school that was all male until the 70's. Suddenly, last week she was forced to resign because of a "philosophical difference" with the Board of Visitors, a group that is appointed by the state of oversee University Affairs and top level hirings. It was later revealed this wa…
I'll add that by all accounts she was beloved and was doing what was widely considered a great job. NOBODY was openly complaining, it was very sudden.
As a current student (undergraduate; CS/Math), and the son of two faculty members (Music/English) I'll agree with this. Every faculty member involved in some sort of administration that I know (both parents, multiple family friends, and people I have had courses for and work for) were in favor of Sullivan's proposed changes: anyone who has spent time around a University can imagine how hard it is to get that level of buy-in from the professors. (Hint: imagine herding irritable, opinionated, and very, very smart cats that are often impossible to fire. Then imagine that some of them have large bullhorns and are willing to write for Slate if they disagree with you, like Siva Vaidhyanathan here: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_m...
Point being, it is hard to get consensus, and I might be understating that.)
The main objection that I and most people I've talked to have is that the BOV hasn't given a good reason for its actions. It may very well be that Sullivan deserved to be fired. It may very well be that there needed to be more drastic changes than she was willing to make (although for an appropriate idea of how hard drastic, top down change is at a top University, see my description of faculty consensus above). But without releasing any concrete reason, backed up by publicly available data, and by essentially saying "shut up and trust our judgment", they showed a fundamental disconnect between their idea of acceptable governance and the rest of the university's idea of acceptable governance. For the record, I think that if you look at them as the board of a corporation replacing a CEO, their actions are totally reasonable (and I wouldn't be surprised if this was, in part, how they viewed themselves; this doesn't really say much for their case, though, because that still shows a massive cultural disconnect between them and the university body).
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#77[deleted]
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#78The article in the Washington Post mentioned that the Board was unhappy that the ousted President wouldn't cut "obscure" programs like German and classics.
Guess who majored in that obscure field of study? Tim O'Reilly, and he talks about how studying Classics helped him decode trends in technology.
I'm an alum of the Engineering school, but I wouldn't have attended UVA were it not for the strength of some of these obscure programs. Monied interests are ruining this institution in the name of profit.
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#79Additional backstory for those not gleaning sufficient context from either the HN title or Bill Wulf's resignation letter (echoing another comment: more a resume than a list of wrongs). From the Slate article below: On Thursday night, a hedge fund billionaire, self-styled intellectual, “radical moderate,” philanthropist, former Goldman Sachs partner, and general bon vivant named Peter Kiernan resigned abruptly from t…
"Sullivan is an esteemed sociologist who specialized in class dynamics and the role of debt"
Actually kind of a revealing sentence.
Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board
#80Bill Wulf who? I spent 5 years at UVA, graduating with honors and an MCS in 2005, but never had a single interaction with him. Ironically I did meet interim pres Carl Z at a breakfast for corporate recruiters last year and was impressed by his welcoming honesty. My anecdotes only reinforce what is obvious: Bill is a peripheral academic overdue for retirement, Carl Z was rightfully recognized, and UVA is in safe hands.