EY's Rants and Raves

For many years, I've watched the president of my alma mater make decisions which are not in keeping with the spirit of the school, or at least, not the mood when I was there. Instead of being a leader in education, Current Prez is a money-grubbing ho who seems to care only for how many times HIS name is in the paper.

His boondoggle that infuriated me to the point of cutting off all contact with the school was to ask the city to replace a stoplight on a MAJOR thoroughfare with a roundabout. Roundabouts are fine and have their place. Indeed, the city has a few in LOW traffic, single-lane areas. That's not what this one is. This is a high traffic, two-lanes each way, major intersection where big trucks pass on a regular basis. To make matters worse, school has built right up to the edge of their property on 2 sides of this intersection. Roundabouts need room. The more lanes you have, the more space you need. CP initially wanted the part of the road that goes in front of the college to be one lane each way and have crosswalks on the street instead of the unslightly (but safe) pedestrian bridge that exists now. Hmmmm. People trying to get from one end of town to the other get stuck in a roundabout, nearly get run over by the driver from Local Big Truck Firm who has no idea how to negotiate his huge 18 wheeler in a traffic pattern he's never encountered, now drivers are panicked and LATE, so to make up time, they'll shoot out of the roundabout and get back up to normal traffic speed (which, on that road is about 45-50). Yeah, I want to walk out in front of THAT.

The latest boondoggle is "The Hamlet". Clear cutting a lovely bit of land so that houses can be built. Clear cutting. This school, when I was there, was all about the environment. We recycled before it was cool, pushed the landscape folks to use fewer chemicals, pushed the cafeteria to serve vegetarian meals and source foods locally. Goodness knows Our Fair Town doesn't have enough housing. Designed by an architect from Miami who made fun of Fair Town when he was presenting the idea with CP to the press. That's how you know you got a good architect, when they have no respect for the area and insults you as he's taking your money. The Hamlet will be a very planned community where you can walk around, meet your neighbor, and now, possibly walk to work. A large energy company is building a building there. Only here's the catch: If you work at the school (especially if you work at the school) or the energy company, you won't make enough to afford a house in The Hamlet unless your spouse is really raking in some dough. Houses start at $200K and go up drastically from there. And for your money, you don't "own" the house. The Hamlet does. You get a long term lease. [Editor's note: I have a 3000 sq ft house on 3 acres not 8 miles away from The Hamlet for less than that and it's MINE.]

CP envisions internships for the science majors. What about the OTHER majors on campus? I get that there are a lot of science majors (a degree from school is an easier ticket to med school than a degree from the local State U), CP says 40%. I'm not great at math, but my reading says that over half your students do NOT study science. Big F's to them, CP?

Sigh.....The more I read about the goings on, the more I wish I'd gone to large state school.