From an article about Chopin’s bicentennial this year.
The astronauts who blasted into orbit on the Endeavor space shuttle Feb. 8 carried with them a CD of Chopin’s music and a copy of a manuscript of his Prelude Opus 28, No. 7 – gifts from the Polish government.
The Endeavor commander, George Zamka, who has Polish roots, told the Polish news agency PAP ahead of his trip to the International Space Station that listening to Chopin in space would enhance the majesty of the cosmos.
I like Chopin too, but this seems excessive praise.
… the latest in Norwegian faculty speech codes.
The University of Oslo recently fired Arnved Nedkvitne, a medieval history professor with a mouth on him. He appealed, but a court backed the university, which argued that he often said mean things about his colleagues.
Spurred on by this victory, the university’s human relations specialist Mette Børing
… proposed to work out guidelines as a kind of code of conduct at the university with lists of words and expressions not to be tolerated when describing a colleague. She claimed this was needed, having four or five other cases on her table after the Nedkvitne case, with similar accusations of improper characterisations of colleagues. She said something had to be done.
This strange proposal brought her to the front page of the major Oslo finance newspaper, Dagens Næringsliv, with a comment by Kristian Gundersen that he regarded this as a clear breach of his democratic right of expression. The following day, Oslo Rector Ole Petter Ottersen denied such a work was in progress.
Several people commented on the proposal with Professor Bernt Hagtvet of political science at the university asking rhetorically: “Would for instance the expression ‘braindead perfumed puma’ be accepted in her list of words?”…
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Update: Limericks:
1.) From Ahistoricality:
There was a braindead perfumed puma
subsisting on gossip and rumor:
“When I make up rules
to govern these fools
I can fire all these Molly Bloomers!”
2.) Dave:
I said “you’re a puma: brain-dead, perfumed”
To the Dean, and my tenure was doomed.
It wasn’t much to the liking
Of a censorious Viking.
“Should’ve called him a lynx,” I assumed.
3.) UD:
The brain-dead and perfumèd puma
Lives deep in the hills of Exuma.
At first it was Prussian.
Then, quite briefly, Russian.
Until banned from the halls of the Duma.
You bet your ass.
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I know it’s not fair to brand them all.
As soon as she set eyes on football coach Rich Rodriguez, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman decided to make this trouble-prone loss-leader her mistress.
Before Rich even came to Ann Arbor, she paid his millions in debts to West Virginia University. She overlooked his many legal entanglements, his long history of coaching violations, his tendency to belittle his players. She set Rich up in glorious surroundings and gave him massive amounts of money.
Love does funny things to you.
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Fervent she may be about Rich, but Coleman knows she cannot shout her love from the rooftops. Not everyone approves. So when she meets with trustees to discuss Rich’s latest infractions (the NCAA is investigating Rich for breaking team practice rules) , she makes sure it’s closed door.
But here we go again. When it comes to Rich, you never stop paying:
When the University of Michigan Board of Regents met this month for an update on the NCAA investigation of the football program, they did so behind closed doors. And that, says a lawsuit filed today, was illegal.
The suit, filed by a U-M alumnus in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, accuses the Board of Regents of violating the state Open Meetings Act, which places restrictions on how and why such public bodies can meet in private.
Robert Davis’ lawsuit says discussing the NCAA probe isn’t a valid reason to meet privately. The Open Meetings Act allows such boards to meet behind closed doors to discuss things such as personnel issues, student disciplinary cases and consultations with its attorney on certain issues. The law spells out procedures that must be followed to go into a private session. The lawsuit claims regents did not follow proper procedure…
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When asked to comment, Coleman burst into song:
He will not always say
What you would have him say
But now and then he’ll say
Something wonderful!
The thoughtless things he’ll do
Will hurt and worry you
Then all at once he’ll do
Something wonderful!
SUNY Binghamton’s Lois DeFleur
Told her students “I’m totally seur —
As the sports program grows,
We will smell like a rose!”
Only now the place smells like maneur.
Headline in the Kalamazoo Gazette:
SEARCH TEAM FORMED TO FIND
WMU MEDICAL SCHOOL DEAN
… you are SO not surprised by the iSight scandal.
iSight, SynchronEyes… Why are they always about eyes, guys?
Kecaman pun mengalir deras kepadanya. Salah satu datang dari Margaret Soltan. Lewat website-nya, Soltan mengusung tajuk bernada sindiran kepada Twitchell.
Which Google Translator renders
Criticism flowed freely to him. One came from Margaret Soltan. Through its website, carried the headline Soltan satirical tone to Twitchell.
This is the post in question.
She doesn’t even have a job to go to. But Dr. Marilyn French Hubbard (she has no right to the Dr. title, having picked it up at a diploma mill, The American Institute of Holistic Theology) can’t seem to be there for Central Michigan University trustee meetings — and she’s vice-chair of the trustees.
And that’s just the beginning. Student editors at CMU’s paper want to know about another trustee, Gail Torreano:
Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting was the second of the last four that Trustee Gail Torreano has not attended.
Such a record is detrimental to improving Central Michigan University, especially in a time of vital transition and economic uncertainty.
As such, Torreano should respectfully consider resigning from her position on the Board.
… How can the public take Torreano seriously if she is incapable of showing up to meetings that are planned months in advance?
… With the exception of 2009, members of the board only have to attend five meetings a year, all of which are scheduled far in advance.
If she cannot come to the majority of meetings, she should not be part of the important decision-making the Trustees are responsible for.
… Aside from Torreano, the attendance at Thursday’s board meeting was fair, at best.
Trustee Marilyn French Hubbard was available via conference call.
She spoke only to give her consent when votes were taken and did not contribute at all to discussion.
Even Trustee John Hurd left a few minutes early, so only four members were physically there until the end.
And this, only days before a new president comes on board.
Why was attendance this weak for a Trustees meeting?
This is supposed to be CMU’s governing body, the people who have the last say on any major decision at the fourth largest institution of higher education in the state.
Family emergencies and other similarly important matters are excusable, but not much else.
CMU doesn’t need trustees who are absent when they are called upon. Students are expected to be responsible for themselves. The Board of Trustees should do the same.
Really, even by board of trustees standards (UD has learned, in the writing of this blog, just how low these can be), CMU’s lot is disgraceful.
… “I think she’s wacko,” said Roy Miller, [Amy Bishop’s lawyer.] … “[S]he’s probably one of the nicest ladies you’d meet.” …
WHNT News
… in the sexual assault case involving three lacrosse players at Sacred Heart University. They apologized in court to the woman involved. (Background here.)
The 18-year-old female student from New Jersey had been having consensual sex with [one of the players] in a room of SHU’s Roncali dormitory, according to police, when he suddenly held her down on the bed and called out to two fellow lacrosse players.
One of them seems to have come into the room, though it’s not clear he did anything beyond showing up and taking a look. The third seems not to have been involved at all.
Pay attention because this one’s a little confusing.
From the Associated Press:
A former University at Buffalo addictions researcher hired professional actors to testify on his behalf during an investigation into whether he fabricated data in federally funded studies, state prosecutors said Tuesday.
[Okay, so we start with two levels of fabrication: Fabrication of research, and fabrication of testimony.]
William Fals-Stewart paid three actors to speak by phone during a university misconduct hearing in 2007 – and then sued the state for $4 million when their false testimony helped exonerate him, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office said.
[Right. So the actors did a good job and convinced the university he was innocent of the charges. He then turned around and sued New York state for four million dollars. That was dumb. He should have taken his exoneration and run. But to the two layers of fabrication we must add greed.]
The office charged Fals-Stewart with grand larceny, perjury, identity theft, offering a false instrument and falsifying business records.
[Again, there’s a lesson here. STOP WITH THE HIRED ACTORS. DON’T GO FOR THE MONEY.]
… Fals-Stewart, 48, appeared in Buffalo City Court on Tuesday, where bail was set at $2,500.
[Pretty damn paltry bail for such a bad boy.]
His attorney did not immediately return a call for comment… [Who’s his attorney? Richard Gere?]
… The actors, using scripts written by Fals-Stewart, testified as three people who had worked on his projects at the university’s Research Institute on Addictions or who had access to records, prosecutors said in court documents.
… Fals-Stewart, claiming the allegations had tarnished his reputation, then demanded $4 million from the state to settle a federal lawsuit, Cuomo’s office said.
The attorney general’s office uncovered the fraud when, as the state’s lawyer, it was called on to defend the university and the state against the court action, Cuomo’s office said…
University Diaries‘ webmistress, UD‘s niece Carolyn, works in a building in Austin not far from the anti-IRS crash.
She wrote me a couple of hours ago:
Hi Aunt M. In case you have heard about the Austin plane crash, I just wanted to let you know that I’m OK. The crash was near my office building, and I’ve heard people saying that they can see the smoke if they go outside. I’m going to stay inside to avoid the airborne toxic event….