University Diaries » Ah! mes amis, ah! mes amis…

… says UD, smuggling in another totally random musical reference…

Mes amis, you and I will never know the depths of the no-end-in-sight greedy human heart. Jour prospère! But isn’t damn near a million dollars a year (when you throw in all the goodies) prosperous enough for a university president? And the president of SUNY Upstate med school, David Smith, was about to be appointed the new president at Penn State at another huge salary… Poor wretched Penn State, which not only needs to pick its amis with much greater care than it has in the past, but needs to recover from the sixty million plus dollars it’s had to pay out because of its ami Jerry Sandusky.

Enfin, it hired an excellent search firm, a fine tooth comb kind of search firm, and the firm reported to Penn State as well as to SUNY that … well, call him “Paddy” Smith:

Smith’s outside money has been coming from two companies during recent years that are linked to SUNY Upstate: Medbest Medical Management Inc. and Pediatrics Service Group LLP.

Where else is the dude gonna get an extra four hundred thousand a year? From students? He has no choice but to take bribes from companies who get contracts with SUNY! What’s the point of being president of a whole university if you can’t shake down your vendors?

Smith’s unapproved arrangements added substantially to his pay, according to a Nov. 1 letter to Smith from SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. In the letter, she alerts Smith to a recent review of his income and says he accepted $349,295 from the outside sources without Zimpher’s approval.

****************************

I gotta say – this is one of the few cases of a search firm actually being worth real money. The last thing insanely scandal-scarred Penn State needs is a brand new president they immediately have to fire (paying out a huge severance!) because he’s – reportedly – a sneaky little liar.

Isaacson Miller is the name of the search firm: Make a note of it. The no-end-in-sight greedy heart? E strano! E strano! In other words, fuggedaboutit. But you can always hire a good search firm.

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