Something is Rank

I've been meaning to update you on the reaction from The Old Main Propaganda Shop on Penn State plummeting from 7^th place last year to 35^th place this year in the Washington Monthly National University Ranking.

First, let's go back to 2007 when Penn State finished fifth in the ranking due to the erroneously high Pell Grant percentage used by the magazine for Penn State. Here's the reaction.

"It's something that Penn Staters should be proud of," Penn State [Bullshit Artist] Geoff Rushton said. "It uses scientific criteria that measures how universities impact the nation, and Penn State has done very well. "

Geoff had to know that the Pell Grant percentage was off by just shy of a factor of two , yet he was counseling pride on the part of Penn Staters. I'll cut him some slack since empty pride is the Penn State way and even empty pride can be used to separate gullible alumni from their money.

Now, let's compare this to the reaction this year.

"I have to say that rankings as a whole are something that we don't take too seriously," [Penn State Bullshit Artist Annemarie] Mountz said. "We don't look for ways to rise in the rankings."

Not too seriously, Annemarie? Why does Penn State maintain a Web site Where We Stand:Current Rankings?  The site,which  was updated last month,  still has the 2009 Washington Monthly ranking and not the 2010 ranking. Why is that? You and Graham  have to know that the 2009 ranking, like all of that magazine rankings before this year, is based on a too high Pell Grant percentage for  Penn State. It's a lie to leave it up.

By the way, a couple of  years ago I pointed out that Penn State slams the Princeton Review rankings as not being scientific whenever its party school ranking draws unwelcome attention to the University (Rushton's quote above is a not too subtle dig at Princeton Review), yet Penn State listed other Princeton Review rankings on the site which made the University look good. Shortly thereafter, The Old Main Propaganda Shop scrubbed the Princeton Review rankings from the site. Guess what?  Princeton Review is listed again this year. I guess they figured no one was paying attention anymore....don't even begin to think about erasing anything this time, Annemarie, I've notarized the site.

The fascinating claim by Annemarie is, "We don't look for ways to rise in the rankings."  No, of course not, Annemarie.

Dickinson School of Law (DSL) is being offered a $60-plus million new home on the Penn State campus in State College if the university's board of governors agrees to forsake Carlisle.
Board approval is the only thing that stands in the way of the proposed relocation by fall 2008.
An agreement made when the law school and the state-affiliated university were merged in 1997 says the 169-year-old school will remain in the Carlisle in perpetuity unless the governors vote to go to another site.
In a 28-page memo marked "Confidential For DSL Board Members Only" in preparation for a Nov. 21-22 board meeting, law school Dean Phil McConnaughay tells the board that the university "is prepared to assume the entire cost of a new facility without any repayment" if the law school "completes the design of a new facility within the next 12 months."
The crux of the dean's argument favoring an exodus from the borough is strongly rooted in U.S. News and World Report magazine's third-tier ranking of the school and "a languishing reputation" that caused "DSL grads" in one firm to inform McConnaughay about "their law firm's decision not to hire any longer from our law school because of our low rank."

Penn State was willing to spend $60 million to boost DSL's US News and World Report ranking and ultimately it spent an unknown amount in a legal fees and a pr campaign to abrogate the original merger agreement and to win the right to build a second campus at University Park at the cost of having to renovate the Carlisle facility. That construction cost $100 million.

What's a little fiddling with the way it reports its Pell Grant percentage to boost its Washington Monthly ranking in comparison to that?

On the Big Ten Expansion and a Toothless Faculty Senate

I'm sure by now you know that the Big Ten is expanding and Nebraska is the new kid on the block. All of the schools involved insist that the expansion isn't just about big sports money. No, they say academics were considered too when Nebraska was extended the offer to join. Michael Sanseriono at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette takes closer look at the claim that academics was part of the decision. He cites a couple of academic rankings which puts Nebraska at the bottom of the Big Ten, but that isn't really what caught my eye, you really have to take rankings with a grain of salt. The more damning thing is that there was no evidence of a consultation with the academic side when the decision was made.

I found this quote from the current chairwoman of the Penn State  University Faculty Senate particular informative, not only with respect to the decision making process in the expansion of the Big Ten, but also in the way decisions are made at Penn State in general.

Jean Landa Pytel, chairwoman of Penn State's University Faculty Senate, said the school's faculty has not been consulted about conference expansion.
"This is an athletic issue," Dr. Pytel said. "We're the academic arm. That is purely a business decision. ... We haven't been involved in the conversation, so I guess I have to have faith in the president that he knows what he's doing."

Let's see. Shortly after Graham arrived he merged Hershey Medical Centre with Gessinger Health Care. That merger had to be dissolved in about a year. At the same time, he merged with Dickinson School of Law and praised the strength of DSL. Five years latter he decided that the DSL was in terrible shape and he had to abrogate the merger agreement and move the law school from Carlisle to University Park to fix the problem. A big fight ensued. Then there is the Village at Penn State. A retirement community that Graham decided to build. It recently defaulted on it bonds.

Faith is an amazing thing isn't it? But who exactly is it that provides a check on Graham?

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Nebraska, Big Ten expansion, Spanier

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DSL Dean on the Move?

Here's some Penn State news I haven't seen reported locally.

Kansas University has announced the first of three finalists for its provost position.

Philip J. McConnaughay is the Donald J. Farage Professor of Law and dean of the Dickinson School of Law at Pennsylvania State University.

He will make a short presentation to students, faculty, staff and the public at 4 p.m. Monday at the Bruckmiller and McGee rooms in the Adams Alumni Center. A question-and-answer session will follow. The program will be available via a live Web stream on the provost’s Web site.

For the record, McConnaughay was a key  figure in Graham's power play to move the Dickinson School Law from Carlisle to University Park in violation of the merger agreement between Penn State  and the Dickinson School of Law which required the school to stay in Carlisle in perpetuity. 

The history of that merger on the Penn State Web site is cleansed of any reference to original agreement, but you can still learn about the battle of Carlisle and the type of leadership displayed by  Graham  by perusing the archives of the Carlisle Sentinel. 

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Dickinson School of Law, merger agreement, McConnaughay, Kansas University

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Friday Katz Blogging*

They dedicated the Lewis Katz Building, the new home of Dickinson School of Law on the University Park campus, this afternoon. This was the culmination of drawn out dirty fight by Graham that began when he maneuvered to   renege  on the original merger agreement with the  Dickinson  School of Law, which required  DSL to remain in Carlisle in perpetuity.  The fight placed on public display Graham's arrogant and underhanded nature.

The details of this episode, which predate this blog,  are too complex to summarize here. If you are unfamiliar with it a good place to learn more is the online archives of the Carlisle Sentinel. On the other hand, if you are familiar with the details of the fight, try to contain your  laughter as you read what Graham had to say today on the occasion of the building's dedication.

"I am proud to be part of this noble endeavor," Spanier said

* My apologies to Kevin Drum for the bad pun.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Dickinson School of Law, Spanier, Lewis Katz Building

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The Power That is Left of Centre

Witness the power that is  Left of Centre.

When I learned last week that Kenn Starr would be speaking last night at Penn State, I suggested a protest would be in order over his work on California's anti-gay-marriage Proposition 8. Well, last night there was a protest over his support of that work.

OK, I have no idea if the protesters needed me to inspire them into action, but it's good to see that people were willing to brave the cold let Kenn know they disagree with him. 

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Dickinson School of Law, Kenn Starr, Proposition 8

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Torquemada Talks

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Something Doesn't Add Up.

I mentioned earlier this week that Penn State had recently borrowed $170 million dollars. According to Bloomberg the money was to be used for the law school building and a new student health center, but the total for the new law school building is $60 million and the new health center is budgeted at $26 million. For those you who can add that's $86 million. Where is the University using the other $84 million?

For the record, here is the financial breakdown on the law school construction from the Carlisle Sentinel.

The final project budget for the Carlisle building project will break down as follows: Penn State contributes $10 million; private donors, including Katz, Montague and others, contribute $15 million; and the state contributes $25 million in matching funds.

Anything leftover from Katz’s and Montague’s gifts will go to the law school’s endowment, officials said.

Penn State is spending $60 million on the building in State College.

One possibility is that the University not only borrowed for construction of the new law school building at University Park, but also borrowed for the renovation to Trickett Hall in Carlisle. The total cost of construction at University Park and Carlisle is $110 million. Again, pull out those calculators. This adds up to $136 million which leaves $34 million unaccounted for.

If the latter is the case, then the University will repay $40 million of the debt, which is the cost of the Trickett Hall renovations minus the $10 million the University is kicking in for those renovations, from private donations and state monies. The remainder would be paid back from tuition dollars.

Exactly how is the University is using its recently borrowed money? I'll continue to dig and see what I can find. In the mean time, should any of my readers have any idea of what's going on here, let everyone know in comments.

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Penn State Big Borrower

Via Inside Higher Ed comes news from Bloomberg that Penn State has recently floated a $170 million bond issue to finance the construction of the Dickinson Law School building at University Park-groundbreaking is tomorrow-and a new student health center. According to Inside Higher Ed, Penn State was amongst the top three university borrowers last week. The other two are the University of California and University of Colorado.

Remember, when the University borrows for capitol projects it uses tuition dollars to repay the loans.

Note:This is a significantly edited version of my original post along with a new title. I edited it because I became uncertain of a claim made in it after I posted it. I tried to find evidence to back it up but couldn't. Hence I made the changes.

Pennsylvania Needs More Sunshine. DSL a Case Study.

On Sunday the Carlisle Sentinel published an editorial in favor of liberalizing Pennsylvania's sunshine laws.

Pennsylvania's laws governing open meetings and open records leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, if you ask for information and an official body refuses to cooperate, the burden is on the citizen to prove he or she has a right to the information.

That's completely the opposite of the law in most other states. Resolving such a dispute usually requires a trip to court in the company of attorneys experienced in this area of law. That's an expensive and unlikely proposition for an individual citizen - and that situation encourages some officials to brush off all such requests.

I am in full agreement with this and I also think that this example offered by the Sentinel perfectly illustrates the need.

As Sentinel readers are aware, the fate of a local Dickinson School of Law campus hung in the balance as the Penn State University Board of Trustees, meeting as quietly as it could, attempted to move the entire school to University Park in violation of a purchase agreement requiring the university to keep the law school in Carlisle “in perpetuity.”

It was a combination of judicious leaks from inside the institution and a series of court actions that headed off what might have been an institutional sneak-away of a kind not seen since the Baltimore Colts tiptoed off to Indianapolis two decades ago.

What I found most interesting about this passage is that the editorial board pulled its punch. Rather than singling out Spanier as the thief that tried to steal DSL, it shifts the blame to a faceless Board of Trustees. If you followed the Sentinel's coverage of the fight to keep DSL in Carlisle you know that it didn't hesitate at the time to single out Spanier. See this op-ed for example.

What has changed is that Penn State has agreed to keep an "equal" campus of DSL in Carlisle in exchange for one in University Park. While plans move ahead on the construction of the University Park campus using borrowed money, fund raising for the Carlisle renovations have stalled. Hence Carlisle is at this point still somewhat uncertain that Spanier will keep his word. Spanier has a notoriously thin skin and has, in the past, signaled one thing about DSL and turned around and done something else. I think the Sentinel pulled its punch because they feared retribution from Spanier if he was named as the thief.

By the way, I highly recommend the Sentinel's coverage of the DSL death match to anyone who wants insight into the ways of Spanier, Erikson, and Courtney. You can search their archives here. The story broke in 2003 and was resolved in 2005.

Damage Control

Yesterday the CDT ran a story on Penn State eliminating the free legal consultant for students. Today Penn State begins its damage control over this move.

The recent cut of Penn State's legal consultant position may be replaced by resources from Penn State Dickinson School of Law, which transferred to University Park this semester, Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said.

One should not take away from this that the legal consultant was eliminated because there were plans afoot to replace the paid position with resources from Dickinson School of Law. This was clearly a hurried response.

Philip McConnaughay, dean of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law, said the school plans to explore the possibility of establishing a variety of law clinics at University Park, including a clinic to meet student needs. He indicated that he would attempt to discuss the matter with Vicky Triponey, vice president of student affairs. [..]

McConnaughay said though he has minimal knowledge of the cases Texidor handled, he thinks the idea of the law school assuming the responsibility for such a large body of work is "impractical," but did offer enthusiasm about the possibility of the law school operating in a similar capacity.

"There could be a direct connection between what we do and what this service traditionally provided," he said.

Let us review. The DSL has not even explored the possibility yet of replacing the legal consultant. The Dean of the school has not discussed the matter, as of yet, with Student Affairs. Finally, the Dean has very little knowledge about what the legal council did and doubts that the school can actually pick up the work load.

My guess is that McConnaughay was told late yesterday that DSL was about to be used in a pr campaign to counter any bad publicity generated by the elimination of the consultant position. And this is what you get on short notice.