Students, if you care about your campus, it’s time to pay attention.
This is the most critical semester UH has seen in a while. There’s a looming budget deficit of at least $54 million. It’s an unsure time; programs are most likely going to be cut — and people are probably going to be laid off.
On top of it all, the administration — or the faculty — or the staff — or even the students — have never acted with more secrecy than today.
No one wants to be quoted; no one wants to take a stand.
What’s going on around us? It’s hard to tell (mostly because no one’s talking.) But if things like the KTRU debacle or the parking situation are any sign, it’s not good.
Between the construction across campus and the still-fresh Tier One pride, people campus-wide are becoming complacent.
Take the Student Government elections. The run-offs began Monday — yet the general election had less than 3,700 votes cast, when the enrollment for the campus is over 40,000.
That means that less than 10 percent of the student body voted. It also means that a football game draws about nine times more fans than the SGA does votes.
The SGA, while toothless, could actually be a driving focus for the University. They act as a unifying body — something all student groups and organizations can come to with problems.
Unfortunately, not too many people even know who their president is. Not to mention the individual senators from each college.
Or you can take the faculty and staff into consideration. Over the past few weeks, it has been increasingly difficult to get a staff or faculty member to speak about anything, even when it’s a quote about something completely harmless.
We are here to find out what’s happening. The Daily Cougar isn’t out to get anyone; the last thing we want to do is have someone lose a job or get pulled from an election.
An informed populace is an armed populace. If you want things to change — actually, really change — then get up and do something about it.
Funny when I read this it sounds so much the real world out there. Only 10 percent voter turn out? Sounds like many elections we have every year in this country. People who have a possible fear of losing their job in this wonderful P Bo economy don't want their name attached to a comment, not a surprise there. Wether the fear is real or unfounded, they still believe it is a possiblity. All the article points out are realities that are nothing out of the norm.
While this may seem as a general problem; it does not happen everywhere in particular not in organizations where top level people promote open and fair dialogue.
Unfortunately, the current UH administration is part of the problem instead of the solution. It promotes secrecy, discourages criticism, and wants to have dictatorial control over decisions.
President Khator says that she want to have input from the community concerning budget cuts. Yet, she wants to control this input by insisting that this input be emailed to her directly (eliminating the possibility of anonymous inputs or any input critical of her decisions).
Provost Antel says that he wants to have an advisory committee on budget cuts; yet 8 out of 12 appointees on this committee are from the administration and there is no student and no staff representation.
President Khator is known to be very dictatorial in her management style. She does not want to hear criticism, no matter how constructive it is. She surrounds herself with administrators and staff who tell her only what she wants to hear.
To give you an idea about the situation, here is an excerpt from a recent comment published at http://www.TexasWatchDog.org (full link below):
"Ba'al
Monday, 01/31/2011 – 06:38PM
I agree with the previous comments about the current spending spree at UH. (…) SInce Khator has come to UH, there have been several other really bad choices on how to spend massive amounts of money, "investments" that will see no return at all. However, with inside knowledge I can tell you that one questions one of her decisions at one's own peril. Previous administrations were useless in their lack of vision. Khator has that, but has poor judgment on how to implement her vision without bankrupting the place. "
http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2011/01/ktru-broker-…
Well Khator recently scored a gig on the board of our local branch of the Federal Reserve. So who knows, maybe we can redirect some of the ~$20+ trillion in bailout money our way 🙂
Spending money is so easy to do when its not your own. UH already has both a tv station and a radio station… how about another?