Eva von Dassow rightly gives President Bruininks and the Board of Regents (BoRe) a well deserved tongue lashing. In the process I learned a new word.
I also thought of Jesus going (slightly) berserk in the temple because of the moneychangers. Righteous anger about what is going on at our University is certainly in order.
From YouTube I give you a video of Professor van Dassow's contribution to an open forum opportunity provided by the Regents recently.
To show you how seriously the BoRe takes these little tête-à-têtes, Chair Allen - he of the fast gavel - dismissed criticisms such as that leveled by Professor von Dassow as narrow in view.
"I think some of the criticism may come about from the changing emphasis on disciplines," Allen said. "But our world is changing and we need to keep up."
A statement such as this demonstrates a lack of understanding of higher education equivalent to that demonstrated by Governor Pawlenty's recent diatribe about the University of Minnesota as a haven for boring Econ and Spanish profs that could easily be replaced by $199 courses from iCollege.
I suggest that Professor von Dassow knows a whole lot more about changing emphasis on academic disciplines than does chair Allen, whose higher education experience appears to consist of having been head bean counter for Concordia College.
Given the lack of knowledge about academics exhibited by Pfutz, our own Chief Financial Officer, this is scary indeed.
