Dear President Hogan,
Congratulations of becoming President of University of Illinois.
The placement scandal was a feather in a whirlwind. The firing of a Catholic teacher of Catholic Studies following a smear of Hate Speech is your Oil Leak, Katrina, Tsunami.
I would take this matter a serious affront to Catholics and scholars of all faiths and inclinations. More importantly, you might make this crisis an opportunity study and consider the fatuous nature of neologisms like Inclusivity, Diversity and Hate Speech. It is an atrocity what academic charlatns have done to language and social intercourse.
President Hogan, I wish you the best. Let's see what you will do.
Sincerely,
Mr. Pat Hickey
10%%& S. Rockwell
Chicago, IL 60655
Writing as a UIUC student who is familiar with the administration's organization, let me just say first that I identify with your concerns, but that personnel decisions at the departmental level aren't even under the president's office's list of responsbilities. Personnel decisions are a campus issue; the chief executive of each UI campus is a chancellor; the president oversees administrative issues concerning all three campuses.
ReplyDeleteLike any very large organization, including big corporations or government agencies, there is a certain amount of devolution of power made necessary by the sheer number of people involved.
Was Prof. Howell's dismissal poorly thought out by the religion department at UIUC? Absolutely. It was very short sighted and, from what I can understand, stemmed from a personal conflict between Howell and the department head, who was responsible for letting him go.
I am just tired of seeing all the news blaming Hogan.
Writing as a UIUC student familiar with our campus and our university's administrative organization, let me first say that I identify with your concerns and the Howell's dismissal was, yes, a bad decision, but blaming Hogan is totally off-mark.
ReplyDeleteThe President of the University of Illinois oversees the administration of all three UI campuses at the macro level. Personnel decisions at the departmental level on the Urbana campus are up to department heads.
Like any large organization, whether it's a multinational corporation or government agency, a certain amount of devolution of authority is made necessary by the sheer number of people involved in the organization.
Want to blame someone, blame the head of the department of religion. If I am to understand from the news stories I've read, the department head and Prof. Howell did not get along well.
Trent, My Friend, no blame to Pres. Hogan at all; nevertheless, the well-compensated President - one of the highest paid in the country BTW - needs to show his hand.
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