Daily Archives: March 9, 2009

UVM’s Fogel dancing a dance and not walking the talk…

UVM and its President Daniel Mark Fogel are all over today’s press.  WCAX just announced that UVM is in line for federal stimulus funds, which if granted may be able to stop the next round of layoffs scheduled for April.  

However, at the same time, AP launched a frontal attack regarding the number of UVM administrators and their high-powered salaries.

Fogel himself put out an email [in its entirety below the fold] to all UVM faculty and staff claiming that he is responsible for the new positive changes.  I’m not buying it.  I know faculty that has been laid off, and I remember Fogel’s earlier statement that he would not consider any salary cut in order to retain faculty.  Now AP is showing just how bloated UVM’s administration really is, and our federal tax dollars will go to UVM to support that bloat while regular underpaid professors remain laid off.  Add in the Ben Stein fiasco and UVM’s image is certainly taking hits along with the newly unemployed faculty.  No one is denying that the economy is in trouble, but in a state like Vermont that means that we all must pull together as a community rather than paying big bucks to only a few, or in this case, many in the recently created upper echelons.

According to AP,

The faculty union has accused the school of having too many vice presidents, jumping from 3 in 2002 to 22 in 2008.

AP: 28 of 36 University of Vermont administrators earn more than $150,000 yearly

The University of Vermont is being criticized for the number and salaries of administrators as the school makes millions of dollars in budget cuts.

According to information obtained by The Associated Press, 28 of the 36 administrators earn $150,000 or more. Of four vacant positions, at least two had salaries exceeding that amount.

The administration’s budget for top administrators rose to $6.6 million for fiscal year 2007-2008 compared to $4.7 million for fiscal year 2002-2003.

The faculty union has accused the school of having too many vice presidents, jumping from 3 in 2002 to 22 in 2008.

UVM President Daniel Fogel says the amount hasn’t changed but some titles have. And he says salaries generally are below comparable institutions.

Fogel email to UVM faculty and staff:    

March 9, 2009

To the University of Vermont Community:

           Throughout last fall and this winter, I have sought input from all corners of campus on the challenges before UVM, particularly from governance leaders. At the UVM Board of Trustees meetings in early February-where I heard very important statements from student, staff, and faculty governance leaders and from faculty members at large-it became clear I needed to intensify my attempts to listen as well as to communicate our current situation and challenges. Realizing that I had to seek out even more actively the thoughts of our campus community, I embarked on a listening tour that has taken me to many meetings with the leadership of campus governance groups and to college and school faculty meetings (four college/school meetings to date, with more to come) as well as numerous one-on-one conversations with members of the campus community. I am writing to give you a brief report on some of the thoughts occasioned by-and some of the topics covered in-that listening tour, focusing on the areas of greatest concern and on the steps we are taking to address them.

           The ongoing budget reconciliation process looms over all discussions as the decline in the national economy deepens. We must balance revenues and expenditures, though we are drawing on up to $19.6 million in institutional reserves this year and next to lessen the extent and slow the pace of the cuts required to do so. We are working closely with the deans and with the Faculty Senate and other governance groups to ensure that everyone has all information required to understand and assess the measures that are under way and what they mean for academic quality. To ensure that academic quality is not compromised, and within budget constraints, we are open to making adjustments responsive to this collaborative process of assessment and analysis, including changes in the allocation of budget cuts and in the methodology for calculating student-faculty ratios. We have agreed with Faculty Senate leadership that the long-term academic-impact analysis will be conducted by a task force including members of two Senate committees (Financial and Physical Planning and Curricular Affairs) and representatives of administration. Measures preparatory to that work are under way, even as we continue to assess whether we will need to move to phase 2 budget reductions in April.

           We share the view that the size and cost of senior administration should be held to the most moderate levels compatible with the continuing success of UVM as a competitive national university for the benefit of Vermont. We have in progress a benchmarking study comparing UVM to relevant peers for both metrics-size and cost of senior administration-and we will share the results of that study widely in short order so that the community can assess the findings. We are committed to taking appropriate measures in response to those findings.

We also intend to address the issues of executive compensation that have occupied so much recent community discourse. Today the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees approved my recommendation, developed in consultation with senior Board leadership, that performance bonuses and other non-base elements of administrative pay will no longer be used at UVM except to honor existing contracts or, going forward, except when reviewed by the Board, and then only with full public disclosure and only when demonstrably required to be market-competitive in the context of higher education. In line with our commitment to full disclosure, we will publish later this week a schedule of all non-base elements of administrative pay that will apply in the 2010 fiscal year.

           Also of great interest to the community in the course of my listening tour have been the administrative transitions currently under way. I recognize, as does the Board of Trustees, that a strong leadership team is an essential foundation of confidence and institutional success. I am pleased to report that I have already received excellent nominations for the Interim Provost appointment. I expect to make that appointment next month following appropriate consultation. There will be a national search for a permanent Provost on a timetable to be determined in consultation with the Board and the campus community. We expect to complete in a matter of weeks searches for three deanships, with superb internal candidates in Agriculture and Life Sciences and in the Rubenstein School now in the final stages of the interview process and with campus visits just completed in a promising external search for Business Administration; the process of appointing a search committee for the deanship of Nursing and Health Sciences is also now in motion. I could not be more pleased that Richard Cate has accepted an appointment as Vice President for Finance and Administration and that Kathleen Kelleher has agreed to serve as Interim Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations. The search for a Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School is also approaching its final stages and is on track to be completed as originally scheduled. In view of what I now know about all of these processes and positions, I want to assure the community of my confidence that vigorous and timely search processes will put in place leadership at all levels as capable and as committed to the success of our academic enterprise as any UVM has ever enjoyed.



           I am very sensitive to the concerns I have heard about the timing of discussions of possible academic restructuring. Increasingly, I have found myself in agreement with those who feel that this is the wrong time to expedite, let alone to execute, even the best ideas for restructuring when we need to focus together on stabilizing the institution, protecting and consolidating the gains we have made in recent years, and building to and conserving our strengths and competitive advantages. We welcome the good thinking that we believe will come out of the working group chaired by Professor Robert Taylor in areas like the desirability of developing a core curriculum and a superior first-year experience for UVM undergraduates. Insofar as that thinking produces recommendations for consideration by the academic community, I say to you once again that they will be considered only through normal governance channels to which I am fully committed, notably the Faculty Senate, with ample time for reflection and deliberation, and with absolutely no agenda for retrenchment of programs or faculty.

           As to the controversy over this year’s Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient, I deeply regret the mistakes I made that created so much controversy and unease. I remain confident that UVM is open to the full range of opinion within the realm of ideas and of policy-as witness Mr. Stein’s very successful Kalkin Lecture at UVM a year ago-and it is clear that we need a collaborative process to generate and review candidates appropriate to the nature of the celebration that Commencement represents. Today, I brought forward-and the Board’s Executive Committee approved-a new process, developed in consultation with trustees, under which the recommendation to the Board on the choice of Commencement speaker will be made by the Honorary Degree Work Group. The new procedure also amends the membership of the Work Group to include the Staff Council President (joining already strong representation from students, the Faculty Senate, and alumni), provides that one of the Trustees on the Work Group will be an additional student member of the group, and requires a transparent and collaborative process for solicitation of honorary degree candidates and commencement speaker nominations.

           I have great confidence in the extraordinary faculty, staff, students, and alumni of our University. I believe that, by working together as a community, we will find that our current challenges are manageable. In these extraordinary times, it is only by working together that we can ensure that UVM will come through the economic storm a stronger, better institution, and I call on the University community to be a partner in this effort. Finally, I offer my sincere thanks to all of those who have given me their best thinking in the course of my listening tour, and my assurance that I will continue to listen.

                                                                                       Sincerely yours,                                                          

                                                                                       Daniel Mark Fogel        

Entergy CEO disses nuclear as ENVY’s Decommissiong Fund Faces More Losses

(According to Ed, Entergy CEO J. Wayne Leonard sees COAL as the energy answer.  And, the further loss in ENVY Decommissioning Funds announced today as well as the end of federal funding for Yucca Mountain, may mean Vermonters are sitting on toxic nuclear waste for at least 1,000 years. – promoted by Maggie Gundersen)

J. Wayne Leonard, the exorbitantly overpaid CEO of the Entergy companies, went to the MIT Energy Conference.

And Leonard said, “The market has already picked the winning technology: coal.”

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-s…

So stop playing games with Vermont, agree to shut down Vermont Yankee in 2012 and clean it up and go home.



Please.

——————-

Update by Maggie Gundersen

While Leonard was off at MIT lauding coal, ENVY’s decommissioning fund dropped even lower according to figures released today.  This is down from the September 2007 figure of $440,003,672 that I criticized in my white paper on decommissioning in November 2007.  


March 31, 2008             $427,406,446

June 20, 2008                $414,412,426

September 30, 2008       $397,035,937

October 30, 2008           $364,426,383

November 30, 2008       $360,673,692

December 31, 2008        $372,012,078

January 31, 2009           $361,489,579

February 28, 2009          $347,291,410

ENVY tried to take me to task.  Not only has my data proven correct, but my original estimate that it would take at least $1 Billion to dismantle and clean-up Vermont Yankee is holding true.  

Imagine during these tough economic times being assessed $1,000 for every man, woman and child in order to clean up this mess…  take a good look at which legislators did not want to protect Vermont’s taxpayers last year and instead voted to protect this bloated corporate behemoth which pays its CEO more than $29 Million per year in total compensation.  Wow that’s almost half of Vermont’s entire rainy day fund.  No wonder he doesn’t see our demands for decommissioning money as anything important.

Now today, Yucca Mountain is no more.  [See the Discover Magazine Blog below the fold.] Vermont Yankee’s spent nuclear fuel may belong to Vermonters for at least 1,000 years!  

Discover Magazine Blog – today 3-9-2009

http://blogs.discovermagazine….

Yucca Mountain Ruled Out for Storing Nuke Waste. Now What?

Yucca Mountain tunnelIn a blow to the nuclear power industry, the budget released by President Obama last week eliminates most funding for Yucca Mountain, the Nevada site that for decades has been proposed for the permanent burial of radioactive nuclear waste.

The decision will likely be an expensive one, considering how much money the federal government might end up owing the utility industry, and how much-up to $10.4 billion-has already been spent and will have been wasted on the search for a nuclear waste repository since 1983.  The courts have already awarded the companies about $1 billion, because the government signed contracts obligating it to begin taking the waste in 1998, but seems unlikely to do so for years. The nuclear industry says it may demand the return of the $22 billion that it has paid to the Energy Department to establish a repository, but that the government has not yet spent [The New York Times].

The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act called for the establishment of a permanent, high-level nuclear waste repository. Eight proposed sites were narrowed to three, then to one. Over the strong objections of Nevada’s congressional delegation – and controversy over flawed studies – Congress voted in 1987 to approve Yucca Mountain as the sole candidate for a permanent nuclear waste repository. In 2002, President Bush designated Yucca Mountain as the site, and in June 2008, the Department of Energy submitted its license application [Christian Science Monitor].

There has been fierce opposition to the Yucca Mountain site throughout the decades. In Congress, the battle has been led by Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who celebrates the new decision: “President Obama recognizes that the proposed dump threatens the health and safety of Nevadans and millions of Americans. His commitment to stop this terrible project could not be clearer” [Washington Post]. For now, Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that the nearly 60,000 tons of waste in the form of used reactor fuel can remain at nuclear power plants while a new, comprehensive plan is developed. It was the most definitive signal yet that the government’s attempt to address the commercial nuclear waste problem is veering in a new direction [Star Tribune].

The decision fulfills a campaign promise made by Obama, but offers no hint of what his administration plans to do instead with the country’s existing nuclear waste, or with the approximately 2,000 tons generated each year by nuclear power plants. The Yucca site was designed specifically to handle spent fuel rods from the nation’s 103 nuclear generators…. Keeping the waste at temporary sites is an option in the short term, but experts in the field say it will not serve as a long-term answer for the problem of radioactive waste, which will need to be kept safely stored for at least 1,000 years. Others have advocated reprocessing much of the spent fuel, as is being done in France, but this too is fraught with problems, according to some experts [Washington Post].

Food for thought …

A new study in mice sheds light on the insulin resistance that can come from diets loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener found in most sodas and many other processed foods.

(Missing Link Between Fructose, Insulin Resistance Found, Science Daily, 03/09/09)

But not to worry corn syrup producers, the same study holds out hope for you …

The report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism also suggests a way to prevent those ill effects.

Isn’t that great? We can spend our hard earned money consuming products that will make us ill thus making it reasonable for us to spend money on a life’s worth of doctor/hospital visits … and then we can spend money on paying for the medicine developed to save us from the ill effects of the product we purchased that sent us to the medical care system for a lifetime of treatment.

Or … we can save our money and purchase wholesome foods … but who the hell am I kidding?

Elsewhere in the corn syrup debate … Is High Fructose Corn Syrup Turning Us Into Mad Hatters?, Huffington Post, 01/27/09. A rather mercurial report and well worth the read.

Elsewhere in the healthy foods debate … responding to a question in January, ’05, then Health and Human Services Secretary and one time Ohio Governor Tommy Thompson was asked by Stephanie Woods of Nightly Business Report “And should there be some limits on the advertising to children, particularly of very sugary cereals like candy for breakfast?” His response? The pertinent part: “In regards to advertising, we have a Constitution that prohibits the limit of speech, and we in this Administration believe very strongly that people should have the opportunity to advertise. And we’re not going to in any way curtail the right to express people’s opinions. But we think we have to do a better job, more aggressively, you know, to tell the other side.FDA transcript here.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just end corporate “personhood” and tell these creatures of government’s making they are not allowed to mislead the public about their products?

Anyway … don’t worry about eating high fructose corn syrup thus ending up with a life’s worth of medical treatment … because there is some high priced pill coming your way. And besides, the guvmint is going to do a better job of telling “the other side”, right?

80’s Open Thread

I’m going to write something seriously depressing and non-political (admin privilege). So an open thread seems appropriate for another place to put any more site-appropriate comments.

In the meantime, here’s an example of why Facebook is so damn dangerous.

and in other news . . .



Equal Marriage Rights —
The House and Senate Judiciary Committees will hold a joint meeting at the State House next Wednesday, March the 18th, beginning at 6:00 p.m.  More info – HERE – and details to follow.

Please come to Montpelier and show your support for Senate Bill 115 when the two Committees take public comments on equal marriage rights.