So what the heck, you’re welcome
Glad to have you with us
Even though you’re the biggest criminal in state history
You really ought to lead Iowa’s public schools!
The good folks of Des Moines saw no reason not to hire Ian Roberts as their school superintendent, even though they did no due diligence on his, er, spotty background. Weapons arrests, in the country illegally, lied bigtime about his university degrees.
The lying thing is de rigueur among many school principals (you get a salary bump with a doctorate, and schools don’t seem to mind if, like Roberts, you buy it from an online vendor), but the rest of it makes for an unusually rich brew.
********************
Story jumps to the NYT.
**********************
The schools are suing the recruitment firm that fucked them up.
‘Their collaboration has continued with [Ian] Roberts behind bars. [Roberts’ collaborator] said on Sep. 29 she was told by Roberts’ wife to move forward with publishing a book called “Unshakeable,” a compilation of Roberts’ inspirational messages to Des Moines schools.‘
Iowa’s finest, Ian Roberts, committed more than the so far – what? – five thousand? crimes he committed as Des Moines public schools superintendent. He also awarded Des Moines school district contracts to his own side business, which specialized in soaking DEI budgets.
The district did catch one of his early attempts to pocket money in this way; but apparently they failed to catch later, successful, ones.
How stupid is Iowa? MUCH stupider than I ever imagined.
*******************
There’s a DEI sickness at the heart of Iowa’s public schools. It’s why they hired and retained a consummate con man.
Franchement, they got what they deserved. New leadership needed. Desperately.
UD REVIEWED
Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
New York Times
George Washington University English professor Margaret Soltan writes a blog called University Diaries, in which she decries the Twilight Zone-ish state our holy land’s institutes of higher ed find themselves in these days.
The Electron Pencil
It’s [UD's] intellectual honesty that makes her blog required reading.
Professor Mondo
There's always something delightful and thought intriguing to be found at Margaret Soltan's no-holds-barred, firebrand tinged blog about university life.
AcademicPub
You can get your RDA of academic liars, cheats, and greedy frauds at University Diaries. All disciplines, plus athletics.
truffula, commenting at Historiann
Margaret Soltan at University Diaries blogs superbly and tirelessly about [university sports] corruption.
Dagblog
University Diaries. Hosted by Margaret Soltan, professor of English at George Washington University. Boy is she pissed — mostly about athletics and funding, the usual scandals — but also about distance learning and diploma mills. She likes poems too. And she sings.
Dissent: The Blog
[UD belittles] Mrs. Palin's degree in communications from the University of Idaho...
The Wall Street Journal
Professor Margaret Soltan, blogging at University Diaries... provide[s] an important voice that challenges the status quo.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, Inside Higher Education
[University Diaries offers] the kind of attention to detail in the use of language that makes reading worthwhile.
Sean Dorrance Kelly, Harvard University
Margaret Soltan's ire is a national treasure.
Roland Greene, Stanford University
The irrepressibly to-the-point Margaret Soltan...
Carlat Psychiatry Blog
Margaret Soltan, whose blog lords it over the rest of ours like a benevolent tyrant...
Perplexed with Narrow Passages
Margaret Soltan is no fan of college sports and her diatribes on the subject can be condescending and annoying. But she makes a good point here...
Outside the Beltway
From Margaret Soltan's excellent coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal comes this tip...
Money Law
University Diaries offers a long-running, focused, and extremely effective critique of the university as we know it.
Anthony Grafton, American Historical Association
The inimitable Margaret Soltan is, as usual, worth reading. ...
Medical Humanities Blog
I awake this morning to find that the excellent Margaret Soltan has linked here and thereby singlehandedly given [this blog] its heaviest traffic...
Ducks and Drakes
As Margaret Soltan, one of the best academic bloggers, points out, pressure is mounting ...
The Bitch Girls
Many of us bloggers worry that we don’t post enough to keep people’s interest: Margaret Soltan posts every day, and I more or less thought she was the gold standard.
Tenured Radical
University Diaries by Margaret Soltan is one of the best windows onto US university life that I know.
Mary Beard, A Don's Life
[University Diaries offers] a broad sense of what's going on in education today, framed by a passionate and knowledgeable reporter.
More magazine, Canada
If deity were an elected office, I would quit my job to get her on the ballot.
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