Yea, yea , yea - more water shifting from the the Lord Chamberlain of the Inner Circle. This crew has had their chance at leadership, and the results have not been positive. Oh did I mention the number 395?
By the way Sneakers own schedule lists 45 minutes for the Friars, not mine. Pathetic.
Here is the list of problems that sapped energy and finances from SBU (decisions made with very little input from the community):
+ Bona World - failed mission to turn Bona into a shopping strip mall, property consisting of the former Castle property later sold to a bank holding company
+ Bonahil merger - This merger proposal tied up university resources for over two years. Very limited input from the community, despite the that fact the mission took on a life of its own. Hundreds of thousands wasted on this effort, not to mention thousands of hours of staff work diverted from supporting our community. No university convocation. Proposal would have cut faculty salaries. Oh boy.
+ UBTK - Where do we start? How about bogus A10 letter about Bona student fans and their legendary behavior used by the newly minted AD to sell, yes I know its hard to believe, premium seats in FRONT of the student section. A complete farce, again no input solicited or required from the community. Followed by the apparent mass resignation of the entire AT staff - a mere coincidence though according the the Lord Chamberlain of the Privy Council. Not to mention the insulting treatment of decades long season ticket holders who were told to get lost so some high rollers could park their MB's closer to the RC - oh those picky 89 year old fans, don't they know their place in the big picture? More to come from UBTK as he "settles" into the job - did I mention that a Bona alum was in the running for the job?
+ New Outreach/Worship Center - Yup, the inner circle at work again on this new structure, and here is the kicker - the main meeting area will contain no symbols of our Catholic faith or Franciscan devotion. Apparently the crew is readying campus for the masses of Chinese or Brazilian students who may be devoted to Buddist or Pagan traditions? Any way a new first - our first campus building officially to be agnostic. Wow what a breakthrough! Holy smokes.
+ Enrollment - under the crack Ft Duke team our frosh enrollment has continued to plummet and is now at a new all time low of 395. The Ft Duke solution, no I am not making this up.....recruit not in the NE and MW in Catholic parishes, high schools, communities, jc's, cyo's, etc,etc.......its China and Brazil. Again no input just more pandering to some demographic excuse making. Maybe the financial resources devoted to Bonahil should have used on recruiting efforts in Catholic communities (sorry to repeat Catholic, but we are a Catholic university right?)
+ Presidential Succession - Now we are told we need 18 months to pick a successor to the retiring number one. Really - no succession plan was developed? No convocation to gain input from the community was held by the Privy Council. Oh yes I forgot convocations are so messy. You even have members of the community attending and making statements that may be unscripted, and expressing views that may be sincere but are contrary to the views of the inner circle. Oh my can't have that now can we. No convocations from this crew.
+ Swan Building - different date, same story. In this one the community meetings with SMC (actually she only attended one community forum, she was a no show for the daytime event) were held only after plans for the building and its controversial site had been finalized, and only after faculty and community protests. In fact construction was one week away when the community meetings with alums, faculty and FOSBU were held! Go figure? Enough said, perfectly consistent abhorrent behavior.
I can't wait for the new President to be installed, via university convocation of course! Stay tuned. Better times are on the way.