[W.F. Lantry]

Bad news today, folks. This is the biggest scandal in DC higher education in the last five years, and that's saying something. God help poets when their University gets a new president. We support E. Ethelbert Miller!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/g...-he-isnt-sure/

Thanks,

Bill

[John Whitworth]

It appears your university administrators are as bad as ours. Here is an anecdote. My wife took early retirement. She went into the office of the Bastards and they offered a severance package. She said it wasn't good enough and withdrew her resignation. Without missing a beat the Under Bastard took out another, much superior severance package. The first one was just to see how naive she was.

Administrators in schools are just the same. A bit of beheading would not come amiss.

[Rick Mullin]

It looks like 84 people got the same treatment, no?

[Roger Slater]

Yeah, I don't get why the article is all about this one person out of 84, nor do I get why his being a poet is particularly relevant.

And John, I'm absolutely shocked that someone actually engaged in a negotiation!

[Michael Cantor]

Like several others. I feel that this poorly written article raises more questions than it answers, and that it's short on facts on long on one man's situation. If you're going to trumpet this as the largest scandal in the past five years (actually, I'm not sure if that's the writer's doing, or just you, Bill) some additional information would really help. Were 80 or so others actually fired, and if so how was it handled? The same way as Ethelbert Miller, or with adequate notice and compensation? And what other steps were taken? Most colleges have grown far more quickly in non-teaching/administrative positions and costs than in teaching staff. Were the bulk of the layoffs in the administrative area, or did they focus on academic staff? What other cost cutting measures were taken - or not taken - before this occurred? Doesn't tenure get involved? Wouldn't Miller - there for forty years - have tenure? Did anybody ask the school for a comment?

Sorry. It may indeed be the worst academic scandal in the last five years - or the last fifty years - but it deserves a better written and more thoroughly researched article.

And - when you say "we" - (as in "we support E. Ethelbert Miller") who is the "we". The royal "we"? The Eratosphere "we". Speaking for myself, if the situation is anything close to as depicted, of course I support him - but I prefer to make those decisions on my own.

I should add that I am personally close to a similar situation in that my own college - Cooper Union - is in the same boat. Expenditures have outrun income - and a new President solved the problem by changing the basic nature of what had been a tuition-free college (founded and funded and and aimed at providing a free education - no dorms, no football team, no fringes - just a free and very fine education for those who could not afford college) by charging tuition, and totally changing the nature of the school. Hugely escalating administrative costs and staff - including the President's salary - and poorly conceived new programs weren't touched. The entire process is quite possibly illegal in view of Peter Cooper's founding documents (1857) and intentions, a law suit brought by a large group of alumni and faculty is pending, and I have switched my personal contributions from supporting the school to supporting the people who are fighting the President. So - when I ask whether the bulk of the people being let go at Howard were teachers or administrators - it stems from my own knowledge of what has happened at my school.

[Michael Cantor]

Sorry, Bill, but I got curious and did some googling. I knew nothing about Ethelbert Miller, and a check indicated that he is super-established, very well regarded, and a "player" both as a poet and a mentor. However, it also indicates that he has had particular and serious communications problems with Howard University which go back at least fifteen years. Check out this 2000 article on Miller from the Washington Post. The article is extremely flattering - as a matter of fact, I found it on Miller's web site - but scroll down about 3/4 of the way to the section headed The School. The article makes it clear that - even fifteen years ago - there was a huge gap, and bitterness, between the poet and the university; and you can read whatever hidden messages you want into the statements from all sides. But I think there is a hell of a lot more to this situation than the recent article (also from the Washington Post, but by a different write) you quote indicates.

[Richard Meyer]

I share Michael Cantor’s view on this subject. The article is sketchy and lacking in details.

In addition to the insidious particulars of this individual’s situation, whatever they may be, there is a larger problem. Recent news reports and articles have highlighted major financial crises facing many universities and colleges. And I have little to no sympathy for their plight, since much of the problem is caused by bloated administrative personnel and foolish or unnecessary expenditures.

Within the article cited there is a link to another article about Howard University, and it states that Howard

…has faced some fiscal challenges in recent years. In 2013, the university announced that it was cutting 75 staff positions. Last year, it said it was cutting about 200 positions. At the time of the 2014 announcement, a spokeswoman said the university had 5,474 employees

The same article goes on to say

In fall 2014, the university had 10,265 students. That was almost equal to enrollment the previous year.

What in the hell is up with those numbers? Nearly one employee for every two students! And what percent of those five thousand plus employees are teaching staff? Howard University apparently has a lot of problems that go far beyond the controversial dismissal of one professor. I’d give a nickel to know how many American colleges and universities are in serious trouble because of administrative incompetence and wasteful spending.

Richard

[Quincy Lehr]

Richard--

The short answer to your last question is "a lot."

[Ed Shacklee]

Well, I only know of Mr. Miller from a distance, but it seems like he's done a lot of good stuff. A shame.

Best,

Ed

[Ned Balbo]

I read the article a few days back & was particularly struck by the way E. Ethelbert Miller -- & others, I infer? -- were dismissed without any reasonably respectful protocol such as, er, actually informing them as to the state of their employment...?!

This sort of treatment is inexcusable, whether it happens in academia or elsewhere. (That there may be precedents elsewhere, or that it's legal, doesn't make it any less inexcusable, in my view.)

I look forward to finding out more from future articles or updates.