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UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

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Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#111

Post by scott_s »

chrisrhoden wrote: post #101
scott_s wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in the DC area (Virginia side), and myself and others there never considred it "the South." I always thought of it as the dividing line between North and South. This always seemed natural to me, since Virginia seceded in the Civil War, and Maryland did not.

Dirty little secret time - me too. I have moved around a bunch since then, and thats the case at every major metro "in the south." Norfolk considers itself the dividing line with the "real" south (which obviously starts in North Carolina), and guess how people feel about Raleigh? Even by the time that you get to Charlotte or as far as Atlanta, there is a feeling among most people that one is outside of "the south." K…

I live in NY now, in Westchester. I know what you mean about the difference between small towns and major cities. But the small towns up here are still different from the small towns I know from Virginia. I lived in Williamsburg for three years, and Blacksburg for a total of eight and a half years. Both times, I did think of myself as living in the South.

The difference between the DC area and all of the other cities in the South is that the DC area was actually the dividing line between the Union and the Confederacy.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#112

Post by aphyr »

scott_s wrote: post #40
gpvos wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the writer dismisses the term "strategic dynamism", he acknowledges the actual problem that the Board of Visitors tries to address: the imposed large budget cuts make it necessary that entire subjects/departments have to go, instead of small budget cuts across the board. Something that Sullivan apparently in the end wasn't able, or prepared, to do. (Note: I know nothing about the case, really; I am just pointin…

I thought that part was interesting as well, and it's a seriously hard problem. I am aware of one institution making that hard choice, though: the College of William and Mary. Sometime before I arrived there in 2003 for grad school, they had eliminated graduate departments that the school felt could not become top-ranked in their area.

Seems to me that a major state university should aim to provide its students with a broad range of fields. Not being able to study German at a public school seems absurd.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#113

Post by sophacles »

rmc wrote: post #107
trevelyan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not know the details, but it does seem incompetent to identify German (language of the most important economy in Europe) and the classics as marginal departments which must be eliminated in the name of economic efficiency. A vendetta against the humanities perhaps, but economic efficiency? Neither are departments likely to have soaring costs: all you need is a classroom and professor. Lecturers in the classics w…

Lots of people in Germany speak English.

See, this is a great reason to discourage people from learning German - you don't even need to know the language of the people you are doing business with. To the chopping block!

Oh wait, no. There are lots of german speakers in the US, but when German companies do business here, they send people who can speak English. Many (most?) US companies send employees to do business in other countries who speak the local language. It doesn't have to be even a fluent level of speech, but the gesture is well received on all ends. It is a general courtesy to at least attempt to have people who speak the language, as it signals other cultural awarenesses and sensitivities.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#114

Post by chrisrhoden »

scott_s wrote: post #111
chrisrhoden wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dirty little secret time - me too. I have moved around a bunch since then, and thats the case at every major metro "in the south." Norfolk considers itself the dividing line with the "real" south (which obviously starts in North Carolina), and guess how people feel about Raleigh? Even by the time that you get to Charlotte or as far as Atlanta, there is a feeling among most people that one is outside of "the south." K…

I live in NY now, in Westchester. I know what you mean about the difference between small towns and major cities. But the small towns up here are still different from the small towns I know from Virginia. I lived in Williamsburg for three years, and Blacksburg for a total of eight and a half years. Both times, I did think of myself as living in the South. The difference between the DC area and all of the other cities…

NY is different from VA, that's true. But I think part of that is that you're never that far from a seriously major metro (even upstate). Have you been to Maine?

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#115

Post by scott_s »

chrisrhoden wrote: post #114
scott_s wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in NY now, in Westchester. I know what you mean about the difference between small towns and major cities. But the small towns up here are still different from the small towns I know from Virginia. I lived in Williamsburg for three years, and Blacksburg for a total of eight and a half years. Both times, I did think of myself as living in the South. The difference between the DC area and all of the other cities…

NY is different from VA, that's true. But I think part of that is that you're never that far from a seriously major metro (even upstate). Have you been to Maine?

No, I haven't. But did you ever encounter people in Maine who felt kinship with the Confederacy?

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#116

Post by chrisrhoden »

scott_s wrote: post #115
chrisrhoden wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NY is different from VA, that's true. But I think part of that is that you're never that far from a seriously major metro (even upstate). Have you been to Maine?

No, I haven't. But did you ever encounter people in Maine who felt kinship with the Confederacy?

Do you mean people who are overly zealous about the history of their state, people who are bigoted, or both? Because yes. Everywhere. Not just Maine.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#117

Post by yardie »

rmc wrote: post #107
trevelyan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not know the details, but it does seem incompetent to identify German (language of the most important economy in Europe) and the classics as marginal departments which must be eliminated in the name of economic efficiency. A vendetta against the humanities perhaps, but economic efficiency? Neither are departments likely to have soaring costs: all you need is a classroom and professor. Lecturers in the classics w…

Lots of people in Germany speak English.

I haven't taken a language class in a decade but last time I was there there was a lot more than speaking going on in class. It's one thing to speak a language (Google translator has you covered), it's quite another thing to know what to say.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#118

Post by rayiner »

scott_s wrote: post #86
rayiner wrote: post #48

Additional 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…

I don't think that's an entirely accurate backstory. The facutly are in revolt because the Board fired the President without warning or stated cause. Eventually, the Board said the cause was that the President, who is in the process of making cuts, was not acting fast enough. For the other stuff, to add to the budgetary woes, the amount of state money that the public universities in Virginia receive (not just UVA) ha…

The state money argument is a bit of a canard. State funding has dropped $26 million since 2001. All of that since 2007 (i.e. the Great Recession). Expenses have increased $590m since 2001. As the rest of the economy was belt-tightening the last five years, expenditures on faculty salaries kept growing.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#119

Post by rayiner »

jleader wrote: post #90
rayiner wrote: post #48

Additional 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…

"the expenditures of the academic division at UVA have increased about 80% since 2001...In-state tuition has increased about 275%." This says to me that some other source of funding (state subsidy?) has just about disappeared, is that right?

The idea that tuition increases are just to make up for deep cuts in state funding is mostly a myth. State funding was cut during the Great Recession, yes, but even if state subsidies had kept pace with enrollment growth and inflation, tuition would still have had to double.

The problem is that expenditure growth is outstripping all non-tuition sources of revenue. E.g. research grants, which account for 1/4 of the budget, have increased only 60%. Endowment income, of course, has not kept pace either given the state of the markets. The University has grown expenditures far faster than its growth in revenues, and has made up for the difference by tripling tuitions.

Re: UVA Computer Science professor resigns over incompetence of board

#120

Post by mitchty »

rmc wrote: post #107
trevelyan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not know the details, but it does seem incompetent to identify German (language of the most important economy in Europe) and the classics as marginal departments which must be eliminated in the name of economic efficiency. A vendetta against the humanities perhaps, but economic efficiency? Neither are departments likely to have soaring costs: all you need is a classroom and professor. Lecturers in the classics w…

Lots of people in Germany speak English.

English speakers learning German gain more from learning another language than the ability to speak the language to its native speakers. I know I've benefited from learning German. As my German teacher said, "I dare anyone to learn a language and not learn anything about its culture or history and more."

Eliminating teaching a language due to economic reasons is extremely shortsighted. What point is a school if it doesn't actually teach a fairly major language?

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