May 29, 2009
WSU alum and high powered attorney Bill Marler has called WSU admins’ bluff and put up money for the common reading program. After days of attention from blogosphere The Omnivore’s Dilemma will be read by incoming freshmen after all. The administration had said the reason for not going through the program was budget concerns even though 4,000 books had already been purchased. It seemed very likely the real reason was they didn’t want to anger AG interests.
The story even hit the NYtimes:
This month administrators said budget cuts forced them to suspend this year’s program, but some faculty members and students were skeptical. They suspected that the decision had less to do with money than with pressure from the state’s powerful agribusiness interests. After all, they pointed out, the university had already purchased 4,000 copies of the book (published by Penguin Press), which links the agriculture industry to obesity, food poisoning and environmental damage.
So Mr. Marler, a personal-injury lawyer who has received a Distinguished Alumnus award and served on the university’s Board of Regents for six years, figured that he would find out if money was really the issue by offering to pay the program’s estimated $40,000 shortfall. The result is that the common reading is back on.
We have posted about Marler before here and his blog is here.
May 24, 2009
Next year’s common reading book Omnivore’s Dilemma will not be read by all WSU students.
On the Common Reading webpage Susan Poch, Associate Vice President, Educational Development, Student Affairs, Equity and Diversity says:
This year, given the circumstances currently facing our institution, changes must be made to the program. Instead of distributing the current selection, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, at the Alive! summer orientation sessions as was previously done, program staff will contact faculty to ascertain whether they wish to use the book in their classes, and then will arrange for distribution.
During the academic year, the Common Reading Program will be re-evaluated to ensure adequate funding and continued excellence in program development.
Thank you for your consideration.
A translation of this BS memo is we are afraid to piss off agribusiness people. They have already purchased 4,000 books clearly the only reason they are not having the common reading is the wrath of some donors not some concern about academic quality of the program.
Different websites have picked up on this development.
Huffington Post
Treehugger
Themoderatevoice
May 11, 2009
We are a little late on this short story that happened late last week.
from the AP:
Two Pullman men were beaten with a golf
club after urinating on a vehicle downtown.
Police say the men suffered injuries after they relieved
themselves early Friday morning on a car they thought was
unoccupied.
Police say the owner got out of the car and assaulted the two
men with a golf club. One of the men suffered a possible arm
fracture and was transported to Pullman Regional Hospital.
Police Sergeant Dan Dornes said urinating in public is a crime,
but the two men will probably not be cited in this case. Police are
trying to locate the owner of the car.
May 7, 2009
Don’t cross sociology faculty or they will come after you, well at least do some blogging. Shamus Rahman Khan an assistant professor Department of Sociology Columbia University sticks up for the Department of Community and Rural Sociology (CRS) at WSU. With the budget cuts there are a lot of positions getting cut at WSU, the whole CRS department is getting the ax along with 8 faculty members.
From the blog scatterplot:
Some of you have probably heard the news … In the face of a 10.5% budget cut, Washington State University announced on May 1 that it will eliminate the Department of Community and Rural Sociology (CRS) and terminate the employment of eight faculty members, including Don Dillman (Regents Professor), Emmett Fiske (Professor), Annabel Kirschner (Professor), Ray Jussaume (Professor and Chair), Jose Garcia-Pabon (Assistant Professor), William Gray (Professor), and myself (Assistant Professor). For most of us, employment will end in 12 months. Because Jose has been at the university for less than two years, his employment will end in 6 months. More information about our department can be found here.
In the words of my, Annabel Kirschner: “Our unit has 3 problems: extension support, size, and inaccurate information. President Floyd has decided to do vertical cuts to cope with the budget reduction to ‘preserve the quality of the university.’ Thus sciences and vet med are being cut by around 4-5%, and extension is being cut by 20% (much better than the 75% cut that was floated by the provost at one time). Many of us have extension appointments, and we are relatively small, so they’re hoping they can cut the department without too much of a problem.
The information that filtered up to the top was also inaccurate. It stated that our faculty brought in only $23,000 in grant money last year. Actually department faculty have averaged over $600,000 for the last 3 years but some of this gets credited to other units because of split appointments and other factors. Our teaching program was not recognized either. While we don’t have a major, we teach about 400 student credit hours per year in 4-6 different courses on a .8 teaching FTE. We also serve on numerous MA and PhD committees for students from different departments.”
May 3, 2009
WSU student Stuart John Robertson died early Saturday morning. He was last seen leaving from a party at the Chinook Apartments.
From KXLY:
Officer believe the student, 21-year-old Stuart John Robertson accidentally fell 40 feet to his death off a cliff near an apartment complex, a short distance away from Bishop Boulevard.
Police received a call at 5:30 Saturday morning to investigate an unconscious person found along side the road.
In their investigation, officers determined that Robertson might have been the victim of a hit-and-run. Troopers from the Washington State Patrol made the trip from Spokane to help Pullman Police investigate the possibility of a hit-and-run scenario.
Police believe Robertson began walking near the cliffs and accidentally fell off of them.
An autopsy will be performed in the next few days to determine Robertson’s exact cause of death. Robertson was a viticulture/enology major originally from Bend, Oregon.
Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.
April 24, 2009
Elson Floyd and Jim Stark put out a statement killing the dumb idea.
Regarding the ongoing discussions about the possibility of moving future Apple Cups to Qwest Field, Washington State University Director of Athletics Jim Sterk released the following statement Friday:
“President Floyd and I have decided not to pursue further conversations about moving the Apple Cup to Qwest Field,” said Sterk. “I want to reiterate that at no time did we have a finalized agreement. It became evident an understanding on ways to maintain the neutral-site atmosphere in regards to ticket allotment could not be reached; therefore, our student-athletes and Cougar fans would not be best served without this key component. I was not going to continue following a path that was not in the best interest of WSU Athletics, the university and our fans.”
“What made this possible agreement attractive were the additional number of tickets available to our fans, the financial gain seen by the athletic department, and the tremendous exposure created by playing a game of this magnitude at one of the premier sporting venues in the country. However, the final details could not be ironed out.
“We appreciate the relationship we have with First & Goal and will work with them to maintain WSU football’s presence at Qwest Field.”
April 21, 2009
Coug Chelsea Banic (did we get that spelling right?) is shown here talking about why she is trying out for a bikini contest.
April 13, 2009
With the Judicial Board invalidating the results of the ASWSU executive election there is going to be a new election April 23 and 24th. It is likely that the winners Derick En’Wezoh and Jay Hendrickson will just win again.
Here were the results from the election:
Derick En’Wezoh and Jay Hendrickson 2129 votes 48%
Jake Bredstrand and Molly Aigner 1450 votes 33%
Ryan Mulenga and Sarah Driscoll 862 votes 19%
If the other two tickets want a shot at beating Derick En’Wezoh and Jay Hendrickson they are going to have to make a deal that sees just one ticket facing off against the previous winners. Even this might not work as Derick En’Wezoh and Jay Hendrickson already have the momentum and the advantage as already being seen as winners. One might think they would offer one of the losing tickets positions in their administration just to be safe.
One item of note is that Derick En’Wezoh and Jay Hendrickson is the only ticket who doesn’t still have their website up.
April 1, 2009
Twitter seems to be everywhere. It can be a useful tool it can also be useless. Really who needs 142 words or less updates about how people are picking what they are going to eat tomorrow? Different WSU departments and entities have taken to twitter. It remains to be seen how active they will be but at least they can feel hip.
Here is the WSU page on who is twittering.
We are wondering when President Floyd will embrace yet another new paradigm….
March 30, 2009
Well after only 3 seasons men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett is leaving WSU. While we did not expect him to stay long we thought he would have a 4 or 5 year tenure but apparently not. Two years after signing a seven year contract with WSU, Bennett is off to the University of Virginia.
More from Daily Progress:
Sources have confirmed that Washington State coach Tony Bennett is Virginia’s new men’s basketball coach.
Bennett, 39, is the son of former Wisconsin-Green Bay coach Dick Bennett. He played for his father at UWGB.
According to sources, he has been described as “a young Mike Krzyzewski” and has previously turned down offers from LSU, Marquette and Indiana.
Having just finished his third year at Washington State, Bennett owns a 68-30 (.694) overall record with the Cougars. This season’s team compiled a 16-13 overall record (8-9 in the Pac-10) and reached the NIT, where the Cougars were eliminated in the first round. His previous two teams both made it to the NCAA tournament, including a Sweet 16 finish in 2007-08.
That team compiled a 26-9 overall mark and finished 11-7 in the Pac-10, good for third place. Bennett’s 2006-07 Cougars went 26-8 and finished second in the conference with a 13-5 record and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
