Going Home

I was able to visit my hometown over Christmas. While there, I was able to get in touch with a good friend from my high school and undergrad days. We hadn’t connected in about 8 years.

It was a bittersweet visit with him. As a young adult, the world was waiting for him. A natural and gifted athlete, he was out-going and made friends easily. He had a very marketable undergrad degree from a Big Ten School and he landed an internship that he parlayed into a great and lucrative job upon graduation. I was jealous of him then. I was still plugging away in school looking to become a social worker and he had this great job. As well, he had just gotten married and bought a house. He looked like a great success story and I used to second-guess my chosen educational and upcoming career path.

Fast-forward 20 years and boy oh boy how the times change.

He is on his third marriage now, run into some legal challenges for himself and he has stepchildren who are on a first name basis with the local DA. His once promising career evaporated years ago and he bounces around now in jobs that aren’t in any fashion related to his education, abilities or intelligence.

People making wrong choices, well, I’ve seen a ton of ‘em. I usually have a bit of que sera sera attitude when I see it professionally with colleagues or students. This one hits close to home and it makes me uncomfortable. I realize I shouldn’t be sad for him, or me either I might add. But, I still wonder what went wrong and wonder what could’ve been.

Home Schooled Students

Twas a few days after grades were turned and all through the campus not a professor stirred, not even the early tenure hopefuls.

My grades had been posted and several malt beverages had been toasted.

An what should appear at my door?

Was it Prancer, was it Dancer?

No!

It was that bore!

The one who was home schooled and taught by mom.

He had just found out his grade in my class had been a bomb.

This has never happened to me before, I've always done well.

I replied with a huff and a snort, I'm a teaching professional and not your mother.

I give credit where credit is due.

And unfortunately young man, the grade you've earned is true!

So away to the parking lot I did fly

And with a tip of my hat, I bade him good-bye!

(My sincerest apologies to the fine English faculty over in Radford!)

Rob Kaiser of the Appleton Post-Crescent

At this level of teaching, most of us are authors. We author books and textbooks. We publish articles in our areas of scholarly endeavors and obviously have written a thesis or two. Very few of us, though, are writers.

True writers are artists. The blank page is their canvas and their words are brushstrokes that paint indelible images as vivid to the eye as if Renoir or Monet stood at the easel.

It is not often that I’ve come across a newspaper columnist who is, by my definition, a writer. The late Mike Royko, Bob Greene and humorist Dave Barry come to mind while Stew Rieckman, doesn’t. But to the list of the former I add Rob Kaiser from the Appleton Post-Crescent.

Read his Sunday front page column, http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711180559
and try not to be moved. You can’t. His words paint an indelible picture. Those painted words draw you in. We smell, we see, and we feel the story. He is a writer and a very good one at that. I look forward to reading more of his work.

Halloween!

I’m a simple guy, really I am. I enjoy simple things. Simple things are fun. Simple things like watching the Chicago Bears lose, fun! Another one of these simple things is Halloween. Candy, kids in costumes, the whole bit. Fun. Really.

My ire has been raised though by an apparent societal movement of wrecking Halloween for kids and for those simple folk such as me. This movement is coming from two schools of thought. Movement one comes from the very fundamentalist Christian folks who see Halloween as Satanic Rituals (ooh!) taking over the hearts and minds of our children. Newsflash one to these folks, giving a KitKat bar to an eight old year old dressed as Ninja Turtle is not going to convert anyone to a follower of ol’ Beelzebub. Newsflash two, Harry Potter is make-believe!

The second school of thought is directly opposite the bible-thumpers. We must stamp out Halloween because it is a Christian Holiday. It is that whole separation of church and state thing thus, public grade schools everywhere have FallFest and Pumpkin Days instead of ‘trick or treating’ and Halloween. Jesus was nailed to a cross, died and went to Heaven ……so kids can get those little tubes of Whopers (personal fav) and boxes of MilkDuds because they are dressed like Shrek? Yeah, right!

True, some of the origin of modern Halloween is rooted in Christian tradition but actually early Christianity co-opted many of the pagan and druid traditions of harvest celebrations. Those crazy druids were of course worshiping trees, bushes and sacrificing the occasional goat in the name of their religion during the harvest season and early Christians must have thought, there has got to be a better way and they of course came up with those little peanut chewy things wrapped in the orange and black wax paper (who eats those things, anyway?) as a way to spread their enlightened thinking.

Halloween is, or should be, a kid’s holiday. Ya hoo, free candy! Costumes! Pretend to be something you’re not (hmmm, are we talking presidential primaries or ‘trick or treating’).

If you don’t like Halloween, don’t participate. Keep your kids out of the costume contest at school, turn your porch light off and don’t hand out candy. Stay home and read your bible. Stay home and gnash your teeth about how only you can save the world from the horrors of the spread bite-size Snickers.

Da Comrade

I’ve been reading, with a mix of humor and consternation, many of the blogger posts (Miles2Go and others) on the Rivermill sidewalk issue.

“Wealthy elite”, “wealthy entitled group”, “snobs” These are just a few of the adjectives used to describe the residents of the Rivermill area. What a load of crap! Wealthy elite my ass, these are folks who work at the university, school teachers and local business people. So if you get an education, work hard and earn a decent salary somehow or another you deserve to be scorned and ridiculed for your opinions? Yes, they have a vested interest in the sidewalks that were installed in the subdivision. And yes, despite their vested interest in the sidewalks it is an exceedingly dumb project to be tying up the city council with considering all the other issues that have faced the city in the last year.

The way some of the postings are vilifying the Rivermill residents I am half expecting marchers carry torches shouting “death to the bourgeoisie and long live the proletariat” traipsing up and down the blessed sidewalks!

Could This Happen Here

This was brought up this morning by a fellow faculty member; the UW financial aid office contacting students to rally for Gov Doyle's budget. This is at WTMJ's website http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes#Scene_1

I would hope, but I'm not confident, that this couldn't happen here (how about that US Bank deal). Regardless of one's stance on Doyle or the budget (which needs to get settled)it is patently wrong of a staff member to glean students for a press conference. What is next? Do we as faculty members get a request to troll for our students, too?

When we as a university start asking students to do something i.e. support a political budget we are abdicating our responsibilities as educators. To a student, getting an email such as one that went out at UW, there is an undercurrent of 'do this or else'. We are here to educate students in their chosen fields and we can educate them on the political process and not suggest that they participate on one side or the other. Students learn and discover what is right and wrong according to their own political leanings.

That memo shouldn't have gone out and I hope it doesn't happen here.

You’ve Got to be Kidding Me!

What a bill! Check it out here: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=671251

Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids) is proposing to limit public access to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Project internet search site. What happened to the ‘public’ in public records?

No one, other than Schneider and the bill’s co-sponsors, seems to be cheering this blatant attempt to limit public access to public records. The argument from one of the co-sponsors that public access unfairly allows criminal convictions to haunt individuals convicted of crimes is laughable. The fact that they were convicted of the crime haunts the criminal not the fact that there is public access to said conviction. What would be next under this type of scenario of closing public access? Closing trials to the public and banning media reports of criminal cases?

The records through this website include traffic, probate, family court, civil and criminal and the bill proposal comes forth under the proviso to protect those convicted of crimes? In California, for a small fee you can get entire case pleadings on line.

The records are public, the internet is a means of accessing the records. Anyone can go to a courthouse and get court records as they are public. For a lawmaker to propose to make it more cumbersome for the access of public records is a very, very scary proposition.

McGee Nails It

Kevin I applaud your column in the Northwestern this morning http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070924/OSH06/709240413/1189.

When this scandal first surfaced via the Milw JS we were all treated to this official comment from the university:

“Nonetheless, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article does raise some questions regarding costs to students who select the debit card service…. While recognizing that larger financial institutions typically offer a wider array of services and thus, may charge higher fees for some of those services, we will use this opportunity to review the fee policies associated with offering our students the best services for the best value.

In short, we will use this opportunity to continue to advocate for even better service at reduced costs for our students, faculty and staff.” Email from Tom Sonnleitner to university staff dated Monday June 18, 2007 in re: UW Oshkosh - U.S. Bank

Almost 4 months later, what has been done? One is tempted to think that the university has decided that as the university is getting paid by US Bank, it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks.

Media Censorship

Yes, I’m in favor of it!

Last night while surfing the news networks while watching the Brewers lose (CNN, MSNBC, et al) I was left with the understanding that two of the most pressing issues facing our country, nay THE WORLD, are the child custody case of Britney Spears and the OJ Simpson, robbery case.

I almost sprained my thumbs trying to avoid that drivel. If there is such a thing as the v-chip can’t there be such a thing as the idiot celebrity news-chip? Bill Gates are you listening?

Osh NW Articles

This morning’s Osh NW had 2 interesting articles which shows, for us UWO folks, the differing priorities of our city.

One article, on the bailout of the 100 Main TIF shows that the city has had mixed success in revitalizing the downtown. On one hand, it physically looks good (I’ve been here for about 20 years so I remember what it looked liked pre convention center/hotel, the 100 Main project and Soldiers Square green space) but really it has just been window dressing as the 100 Main project failed from the beginning (which many thought it would).

The other article was on the state budget and the financial needs of the campus to continue expansion projects. What wasn’t mentioned in the article is the need for additional financial support from the community for the new academic building and the stadium complex.

What is interesting is that the university is a proven economic commodity. More so, we are an economic powerhouse. We bring students here, we bring staff here, we bring faculty here. They bring their money here, they put down roots here and they better the community.

A vibrant university fostered the development of the Pearl St corridor with business and apartment complexes paying God only knows how much in property taxes into city coffers. The university has made an effort to show to the community how the stadium complex will continue university growth but the city, via the school district which uses the complex and the community at large won’t help with financial support. The university is now trying to show the community at large how beneficial the new academic building will be.

100 Main was a pipe dream and got taxpayer support, UWO is a proven economic (and social) powerhouse. Which one gets the handout? Yep, 100 Main St. Yes I know, we can’t get TIF money but the school district which uses our facilities, can kick in money towards those facilities.
I’m not crying in my beer but, the university DOES make a tremendously positive (financial, social, intellectual) impact on this city. It would be nice to be recognized by the community at large for this.

Faculty Leadership

As we embark upon a new academic year with the promises of personal, professional and academic rewards to come, I thought about a character trait that is sorely lacking in many faculty members at many universities: leadership.

Too often, we choose our faculty for tenure track positions solely on the basis of their accomplishments within our discipline and we fail to look at them empirically. By this I mean the individuals are talented within their respective field but we should look at what else can they bring to the university and community.

This lack of leadership leads to failure by some tenure track faculty in the form of being denied tenure. Where am I going with this one may ask? Another Oshkosh blogger is decrying the denial of tenure, at other universities no less; of two rather well known academics/pseudo-political philosophers. The crux of the posting on the denial of tenure is that their political and social beliefs/positions are not in the mainstream and therefore these universities are effectively censoring them, and their beliefs, by denying them tenure. To quote an oft used trite phrase “the man is keeping them down”.

I really don’t think so. The universities I’ve been at are virtually the same for tenure track requirements: scholarship plus university and community involvement. We have freedom to teach, within reason, many different view points. I do not know the two individuals involved but, I’ve seen this type of faculty member before. Big “new” ideas (often poorly researched, too) and a lack of involvement in campus activities in favor of a preaching the “new” doctrine. Often times these individuals feel that their “message” is more important to get out than the actual business of learning students. I’ve seen these types of folks hold themselves up as too globally important to teach 101 courses, hold regular office hours or participate on campus committees.

Being a leader means looking forward and charting a course not only for ones self but for students and the university. We know in tenure track positions what we need to do in order to get tenure; please don’t whine when you so obviously miss the mark.

DB Cooper Lives

You’ll have to be of a certain age to get the reference about my last blog entry. If you don’t understand it, one can always google it. Back in my day, that was the use of the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature. I’m always amused by blogging gone bad i.e. the name calling, the finger pointing and recriminations not to mention the off topic responses.

Play Nice or Not at All

Some recent replies calling me ‘evil’ from a local blogger on my post on Tony Palmeri and his opposition to Dave Omachinski reminded me of how I describe what I do to folks not in higher education.

Way back when, in meeting neighbors or individuals in social situations, the subject of employment inevitably would come up. When mine was discussed, the reaction always was along the line of ‘you teach college’. I’d always explain that I’m not a teacher but rather, I facilitate learning at a university. Young children are taught. Don’t touch the stove because it is hot and it will burn you, etc. They remember lessons by rote.

It isn’t until later, that children begin to learn by making discoveries and thus at the post secondary level, we don’t teach our students but we learn ‘em. I present topics and ideas, and students research and form opinions and come to formulate their own ideas in my area.

Often times at this level, our learning ‘em improves on the rote learning of their youth. Finally, I’m getting to make my point.

As a child, one is taught to not call others bad names; it is not nice. As the child grows and matures the child learns, hopefully, that calling names also isn’t productive to rational discourse. Calling someone a derogatory name or assigning them uncomplimentary character traits isn’t a way to win an argument. So as I make my point (see first paragraph) on the postings of “working to make a living” I’m guessing that as a child he/she wasn’t taught as a child not to call others names and as a young adult, he/she hasn’t yet learned that name calling doesn’t lead to swaying the opinions of others.

So, play nice and post nice is my motto. Rational discourse is good, name calling is bad. I ask “working to make a living” to save the name calling for the street rallies ‘cause if you do it again, I got the big ol’ delete key ready and waiting.

Right on Schedule?

I dropped in last week to get my parking permit and I learned that the much awaited parking ramp won't be done until mid October. I'm wondering why it isn't on schedule and if there are any contract penalties that will be paid be the general contractor as it was supposed to be done prior to the start of the semester. I'm not bothered by the delay as I don't park down there but still........

I look at my email today and see that the new Rec Center will be $360 per year and oh yeah, I can't bring my wife. I guess we are keeping the Y membership! PS, it isn't on schedule either!

A Mistake

Last late night one of our own, Tony Palmeri, blocked one of our own, David Omachinski (Foundation Board, Alumn, Guest Lecturer) from a position on the Oshkosh Redevelopment Board. That crux of the argument to block the appointment was that Oshkosh Bgosh outsourced jobs to third world countries and that third world countries labor standards are not very good.

Right church, wrong pew.

Yes, there is no denial that third world labor practices are below those of developed countries. Often, compared to the practices in the US, these practices are abhorrent. There is no dispute here. However, one of the comebacks to the labor practices is that by having some jobs over no jobs, it will allow the third world to develop better economies. Economic historians bolster this argument by showing how the textile trade left the UK in the late 1800's and early 1900's for India and arguably now, India has one of the faster growing economies world wide and is one of the world's largest secular democracies. True, there are still major problems in India but economic historians will point out the growth and changes to bolster their argument.

But back to Mr Omachinski. I know Dave, I've worked with Dave and Tony you were wrong to block him. Should Dave had not outsourced Oshkosh and gone bankrupt? Would that have been a better outcome for the entire company to fold? Is it better for all to perish in outside the lifeboat if you can't fit everyone in? Is this your point?

To argue that the Authority needs someone representing organized labor on there is an interesting concept. Let someone from organized labor who has Dave's background (successful CEO of a public traded company, board member of others, and civic/philanthropic participation) step to the plate. To argue that the Authority needs organized labor representation is a hollow argument: the Authority needs competent membership not special interest group representation. If you've got someone out there equal or better to Dave from organized labor, please let us see it. You knew about the opening, did you present some candidates to Mayor Tower?

Don't just grab someone because of organized labor. Job creation and economic expansion starts with ideas and not with protecting the buggywhip industry.

Morning Walk

I had the occasion this morning to need to go downtown-yes there still are reasons to go down town-and rather than driving, I walked from my campus office.

It brought back memories as I walked by the many churches and remembered several weddings I attended. The memories that surprised me while walking were as I walked by the Salvation Army across from the Courthouse. Way back when, some 2 decades ago, I was a social worker before my quest landed me working and teaching in higher education.

A saw mothers going into the Salvation Army with children in tow. I thought how hard it was to reconcile the mission of the SA with our mission of higher education and how just 2 blocks away from each other, they appear to conflict. We are turning out educated students who should have bright futures and the SA is trying to keep young adults just hanging on.

My memories of working as a social worker, being a naive youth armed with BA degree, were how could this be happening with young women-girls actually-having babies and not wanting an education or anything more in life such as a career? I had several client families that were 3 generations of women living on welfare with no desire to go further. As a professional I felt helpless at times. I remember one young mother of about 18 or 19 who wanted to learn to read so she could read to her baby. As much as I tried as a professional to help this young woman, I thought how the baby was still lost

I saw that today. Young women with children going to the SA, the children growing up not wanting or expecting to succeed based upon the situations in which they are being raised.

As I embark on a new academic year I want to remember to encourage my students to remember that higher education will give them the tools to succeed and when they succeed that they need to make damn sure they give back and that they instill the drive and passion for success in others who may not have it.

Textbooks in the UW System

Go figure. Textbooks through the UW System bookstores are high priced-very, very high priced! The Milw Journal-Sentinel ran a great article http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=639173 on this issue focusing on all the campuses.

The dirty little secret not brought out in the article is the university profit margin on the textbooks. Some faculty, not myself, have opposed rental textbooks because of quickly changing texts would freeze out the latest and best scholars. To a certain extent, in many areas, I can understand that but, in other areas I don't agree with it.

Our university administration though, opposes rentals simply on a profit margin. A former asst vice-chancellor here did trumpet the rental program which was shot down very quickly. The dirty little secret is profit margin. Reeve Union sucks up over a $1million in student seg fees every year and the bookstore profit margins mitigate this figure.

Many of my students routinely spend $500+ for books per semester. What further is driving this figure up is as many students figure out alternative methods of book shopping i.e. Amazon, Harry's Books Store etc, the university bookstore raises prices further to offset lost sales. Much in the way Reeve food sales volume continues to decline annually with the influx of restaurants on Wisconsin St, the unit prices continue to increase.

Howdy!

I'm new at this but I think I can do it. My goal is to provide commentary on political issues that I really can't comment on publically because of my job. Yep, not fair and all that but tis true.

My political leanings are exactly that: leanings, as I bounce back and forth between candidates and parties.

At UW Oshkosh, I have concerns on a variety of topics and the whole freedom to speak your mind in the world of academics is a noble concept but it does have limits thus, my identity is a secret.

In the City of Oshkosh: where or where do I begin to comment!

Participate along with me and in the words of Garrison Keillor "do good work"!