"What Does Bernie Machen Actually Do?"

From Alligator.org:

We're confused What does Bernie Machen actually do?

It must be great to be UF President Bernie Machen. No, not because of the motorcycle - it's hard to feel the wind rushing through your hair when you're bald. We're talking about hiring and firing university administrators. That sounds like fun.

Let's say you screw up. Big time. You're in Idaho, fly-fishing, without a care in the world and then - bam! - all of a sudden, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is drowning in debt. You can hop the next flight to Gainesville and fix UF's biggest college. But why?

It's so much easier to let CLAS Dean Neil Sullivan sort things out - or not sort things out, as the case may be. And when he botches the job, when CLAS keeps overspending, year after year, all you have to do is fire him. Your hands are clean.

Pretty cool, huh? But it gets better.

To make sure something like the CLAS meltdown doesn't happen again, you can hire new administrators to do your job for you - a senior vice president for administrative affairs to handle day-to-day operations, and a chief financial officer to keep an eye on the bottom line.

Now you can kick back and relax. That's right - it's nothing but Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire until quitting time. But you still have to put in appearances at fundraising dinners, building groundbreakings and conferences. It's tough to get out of those.

Unless - yes, of course! You can hire look-alikes, skilled impersonators to stand in for you at public events. Just like Saddam Hussein! That's using your noggin.

Then again, you could just do your job.

Kidding, kidding! We had you going for a second, didn't we? Why work up a sweat when you can delegate every responsibility, every shred of accountability, every tough question to a subordinate? Ah, to be Bernie Machen - what a life that would be.

Machen discusses raising tuition fees for future students

From the Gainesville Sun:

University of Florida President Bernie Machen proposed his newest phase in the plan to push UF into the nation's top 10 universities Tuesday night to a crowd of about 300 students and student senators in the Reitz Union Auditorium. The plan, called the Academic Enhancement Program, would call for hiring 200 additional faculty members and 100 academic advisers to help reduce the faculty-student ratios that have hampered the university in U.S. News & World Report rankings. It would require all undergraduate students who enroll for the first time at UF in 2007 to pay a fee of $500 each semester. Currently enrolled students will not have to pay the fee. “We are one of the nation's very best universities, but we have one of the lowest tuition fees,” Machen said. Aside from New College of Florida in Sarasota, UF charges the lowest tuition in the state, and the program is an attempt to narrow the gap between the amount UF and other institutions in the state and the nation charge in tuition and fees. Phased in over a four-year period, the program would generate about $36 million annually, according to a university press release about the program. The money will be distributed among the four colleges with the largest undergraduate population: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, engineering, business and agriculture. The program requires the approval of UF's board of trustees and the Florida Legislature, Machen said in a later interview. The board of trustees will review the proposal in its December meeting, and the state Legislature will meet in March to review the proposal and possibly draft the bill. Machen is calling his proposal a "program," not a tuition increase. The UF president has struggled to convince lawmakers to allow UF to raise tuition, in large part because of a tuition hike's effect on Bright Futures. Even a 1 percent tuition increase would add about $2.7 million to the cost of the Bright Futures program. In-state undergraduates at UF taking a full load currently pay $1,603 per semester in tuition and fees. Machen's plan would push that to $2,103. Many students said they were concerned with control of the program, since Machen's proposal didn't address a way to regularly check the program. “I think we can work out a way to make sure the money will go toward where it was intended to go,” Machen said. “We have to make sure we do what we say we're going to do with this money.” Another concern brought up Tuesday night was financial aid. Florida Bright Futures Scholarship program and the Florida Prepaid College Plan will not cover the fee. But, students who receive need-based financial aid, or 40 percent of the undergraduate population, will not be charged the fee, Machen said. Similarly, students who file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid can include the $1,000 per year fee as one of the costs of attending college. After Machen's forum, Student Senate held its meetings in the Reitz Auditorium. A resolution, penned to encourage the wireless service to improve coverage in the area, failed to receive support.

What the administration won't say out loud is that this amounts to a 30% tuition hike for incoming freshman. Is that fair?

Machen to take questions from students about tuition hikes

From the Gainesville Sun:

University of Florida President Bernie Machen plans to talk about tuition with the Student Senate tonight. Machen has long held that UF's low tuition rates hamper the university's ability to become a world-class, top-10 public institution. He plans to field questions from students. To accommodate the president, the Student Senate meeting will be held tonight in the Reitz Auditorium at 7 p.m. A regular Student Senate meeting will follow. "It's important for students to attend this presentation because Bernie will be presenting ideas that will affect all students," Josh Weiss said. "Topics as broad as tuition really require the input of a variety of students. So, the more students who show up, the better." Among a hefty load of bills, senators also plan to talk about spotty Cingular Wireless service impacting students on campus. "This is a real issue for students who only have cell phones at school," said Jordan Loh, who authored the resolution. "This is to show corporate that there is an issue that needs to be addressed." Students who have encountered problems with Cingular should contact the provider, Loh said. Cingular representatives could not be reached for comment Monday. The Student Senate also plans to review funding requests for UF's Team Florida Paintball, Theatre Strike Force and Heal the World. -Kim Fulscher

Tipping Point

From Alligator.org:

Chaos! Civil war! It's department against department, faction against faction - and no, we're not talking about Iraq. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is on the brink of a full-blown academic pissing match that threatens to soak everyone at UF. Bring an umbrella.

It all started in September, when UF unveiled its five-year plan to get CLAS out of debt. Budgets were cut, programs slashed and department heads targeted for removal. Now students and faculty are in an uproar and, predictably, the administration is scrambling to cover its own ass.

CLAS Dean Neil Sullivan says the five-year plan is "on hold," but no one - not Student Government, not the Faculty Senate, not UF President Bernie Machen - has proposed an alternative. And with good reason. Unless CLAS' budget expands, there are no good solutions to this problem.

Even worse, it seems the cupboards are bare, meaning any new money has to come from tuition hikes. But if Machen has his way - if he convinces the Legislature to let UF set its own rates - there's no telling where CLAS will end up on the administration's list of spending priorities.

That could change today. At 7 p.m., Machen will present a proposal for "academic enhancement" in the Reitz Union Auditorium. If he promises to spend the lion's share of any new revenues on CLAS, students might finally have a reason to hear him out. If he doesn't, whatever trust remains between the administration and UF will shrink even further.

CLAS is the university's biggest college. It provides more than half of UF's credit hours. And for at least three years, it's been overspending its budgets - all with Machen's tacit approval. He even let the debt accumulate for two years before hiring a provost. To claim now that it's not his responsibility isn't just irresponsible. It's downright sneaky.

Welcome!

The inaugural post is here. I wanted to create a site for people to post their thoughts, feelings, etc about a guy who grows less and less appealing as his tenure continues. Enjoy the site and submit suggestions, rumors and grumblings as you see fit.