Today was my first day back to work at UH because there was no gas to get me here. It is a freaking ghost town on campus, as it should be. They really should not have held classes this week at all. There are faculty, students, and staff members that do not have shelter at all much less access to electricity and clean water to get ready. Really bad move on the part of the administration. Strike One, Renu. edit: 6000th post is a b****&moan about work. LOL
I am going....Of course I have no power at home, and here at school I have access to hot showers, internet, lights, air conditioning, and cute girls all over the place..... Hard decision.
Well at least one prof was pissed off enough to write the Chronicle. Not exactly a fast start for UH's new president Ike should have pooped these elaborate party plans http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6010125.html By ROB ZARETSKY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Sept. 18, 2008, 8:26PM ''It's my party and I'll do what I want." We expect this reaction from a teenager, not a university president. Yet this is precisely the tone conveyed by Renu Khator in a series of messages sent this week to the faculty, staff and students of the University of Houston. We are condemned by our new president to an investiture party that was silly before Hurricane Ike and scandalous in its wake. For too long, UH has grown dizzy watching the revolving door installed in the president's office. For too long, we've seen a parade of suits who, rather than unpacking their bags at the presidential manor, instead unfold the newspaper to scope out retirement properties or new and more prestigious positions. For too long, we've seen presidents who regard UH as a means, not an end: All too predictable, many of us sighed, for an institution dismissed as a commuter school. The UH faculty enthusiastically greeted Renu Khator's appointment last spring. Not only was she smart and energetic, she also seemed committed to UH. During her first 100 days in office, more sightings of President Khator on campus were reported than of Elvis Presley in the National Enquirer. Concerts at the school of music, basketball games at the gym, classrooms and hallways — all became stages for her appearances. No less important, Khator made her presence felt in the city and state. We began to believe that, for outsiders, UH would become something more than the labyrinth of parking lots and mournful residential towers glimpsed from I-45. We held so tightly to this belief that we ignored contrary signs. I, for one, overlooked the handlers and photographers trailing behind President Khator during her visit to my own college. Yes, I watched when she collared an unsuspecting student who, staring uncomprehendingly into the camera lights, mumbled about his life while the president intensely nodded her head. But I told myself that these photo-ops were inevitable. Aren't all our lives turning into reality shows? Wasn't it a small price to pay for a bright future? I also tried to dismiss accounts about the president's method of administration. Particularly disturbing were the events surrounding the rapid approval of Ted Estess as interim provost. One of the most respected and loved individuals on campus, Ted Estess entered and left office in scarcely three weeks. The president's office announced that Estess was resigning for health reasons, but the claim was about as credible as the president's "spontaneous" encounter with the student. The news quickly spread that Estess was so dismayed by Khator's autocratic ways that he could not continue to serve the university to which he had devoted his life for more than 30 years. Here, again, I told myself a story: It must be the fog of administrative war, I said. But the fog has cleared in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Long before the events of last week, UH was planning for the president's investiture. During the first weeks of fall semester, my office box bulged with glossy invitations and in-house publications devoted to this event. The various colleges were "encouraged" to outdo one another in staging events for the celebration. The ambitions of the investiture risked spilling over into imperial coronation rather than a mere taking of office. UH is not alone, I must add: Investitures are as bling-bling as bar mitzvahs. Once simple and solemn moments to mark the stage in a family or university's life, they are now occasions for conspicuous consumption. And, of course, expenditure. According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, some universities spend more than $100,000 on investitures. The cost is partly defrayed by donations and largely defended by the claim that universities must spend money in order to make money, i.e., through alumni contributions, greater visibility, increased enrollment, etc. Yet this defense begs the question: Cannot these benefits be gained by other and less sumptuous means? This question becomes all the more pertinent in light of President Khator's announcement that "UH's celebration" — her quaint way of describing her week-long bash — would only be postponed. This announcement came on Tuesday, one day after an equally stunning message from the president's office: Since UH has sustained little damage, it would reopen for classes the next day. As I drove my family back on that same day from north Houston to our home in Clear Lake, we passed endless lines of cars winding around gas stations and FEMA pods. Looking to the left and right, my wife and I wondered how we would care for our kids until their schools reopened — in fact, until the supermarkets reopened. Was it possible, I asked, that President Khator is as clueless about the real lives of her faculty, staff and students as recent American presidents have been about their citizens? Her decision to postpone rather than cancel her investiture suggests that the lines between decisiveness and heedlessness, confidence and arrogance, are as easily breached as the Seawall at Galveston. In her messages, President Khator has noted the trials faced by the UH community. Yet she intends to hold her party. Rather than spectacles, President Khator could have asked for sacrifice. But Texas seems doomed to give us leaders who, at times of crisis, want us to forget, not forgo. Zaretsky is a professor of French history in the Honors College at the University of Houston. He can be e-mailed at rzaretsky@uh.edu.
Newsflash, life goes on. We planned a housewarming/bday party this weekend, I guess I should cancel because a hurricane came through.
We planned a housewarming party this weekend as well but we had to postpone it because our house still doesn't have power and most of our friends are dealing with damages/no power. The curfew is still in effect until Sunday. So, in some cases, we are forced to cancel or postpone events due to a disaster. I really don't know what to think of the UH president...it seems a little bit selfish on her part but I guess, life goes on.
I think you missed the point of the article. You counting on several thousand staff and 30,000+ attendees? Didn't think so. For me personally: I risked getting terminated by not showing up for work when I had no water, no power, and no gas to get to my job. I had to use MY vacation days that I earned to stay safe because the administration made a bad decision. There are people on campus that are here at work when they should be at home taking care of themselves. Really a huge disappointment, especially when UH-D did not open at the same time. I think they are even closed today.
They haven't even rescheduled it have they? Now that is crap, I agree. However, most of the article discussed the Investiture itself, not this.
did people really not fill up their gas tanks before the damn hurricane hit?? and the school opening was good imo, it gives me something to do instead of sitting at home with no entertainment, we already finished cleaning up even though our neighborhood is in ruins, there is nothing to do at home
But that was your choice, it was mandatory for us. It is one thing to say facilities are open but classes will not be held and another to open the University in full and hold classes like nothing outside of campus affects UH. The thing that kills me is her last gig was in South Florida, you would think she had hurricanes down by now... maybe that's explains it all. She thinks we are soft...
Rob Zaretsky sucks.. I had him for a professor during my freshman year and he was a big, pompous a-hole.
