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Archives for November 2015

Ongoing Harreld Hire Updates

November 1, 2015 By Mark 102 Comments

A new threaded post on this topic can be found here. For previous posts about the Harreld hire, click the tag below.

12/11/15 — What the AAUP Report Means to Iowans.

12/10/15 — J. Bruce Harreld: Frequent Flyer.

12/08/15 Are you tired of playing fair and actually earning your successes in life? Then you should cut a deal with Bruce Rastetter. Updated 12/09/15.

12/07/15 — J. Bruce Harreld in his own words. 2 Videos. 2 Origin Stories.

12/03/15 — J. Bruce Harreld and Motive. Part 1. Part 2.

11/25/15 — J. Bruce Harreld: Co-conspirator. Part 1. Part 2.

11/21/15 — When a ‘vocal minority’ rallied on Friday to apologize to J. Bruce Harreld, the UI’s own Rod Lehnertz noted — perhaps unintentionally — that the vast majority of community and business leaders were not in attendance, and thus did not support the fraudulently elected Harreld.

11/20/15 — University of Iowa commenters expose the sham Iowa Board of Regents ‘transparency hearings’ for what they are. More of the sham. (Taped comments here.)

11/19/15 — A few thoughts about UI traitor Jean Robillard and the ongoing AAUP investigation.

11/18/15 — For months Jean Robillard tells a consistent lie about needing J. Bruce Harreld to save UIHC. Harreld repays Robillard by both confirming and betraying the lie on the exact same day.

11/16/15 — It’s early May, 2015, and Jean Robillard is hard at work, betraying the University of Iowa.

11/13/15 — Jean Robillard, UIHC, and the axes of power behind the carpetbagging dilettante on the University of Iowa throne.

11/12/15 — With his Harvard MBA neutered, J. Bruce Harreld gets religion on campus culture.

11/11/15 — Hiring a Harvard MBA to run a university is not thinking outside the box. It is the box.

11/11/15 — Christopher Brochu writes an open letter to J. Bruce Harreld.

11/10/15 — Click here for nagging questions about the previously undisclosed secret meeting in early June, which was arranged by Jerre Stead, and attended by J. Bruce Harreld, Regents President Bruce Rastetter, Search Chair Jean Robillard and staffer Peter Matthes.

11/09/15 — In 2012 the visionary Missouri Board of Curators bought themselves a ticking liability by hiring a president with no academic administrative experience. Today that liability blew up in their collective transformational faces. (Comment here.)

11/07/15 — The evolving J. Bruce Harreld origin story, and where it inevitably leads.

11/07/15 — Now that Iowa Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter has his man at the helm at Iowa, what can the students, faculty and staff expect? To be used as a six-figure political retirement community. Job not advertised, no search conducted — just cold hard cash.

11/06/15 — From the Gazette’s Vanessa Miller, on J. Bruce Harreld and the world of inter-collegiate athletics, which Harreld also knows nothing about:

Harreld said he’s committed to winning on the field but is more concerned with the department’s comprehensive value statement of ‘Win, Graduate and Do It Right.’

“I believe very strongly in the three-legged stool,” Harreld said. “I told Gary the winning is yours; I’m all about the integrity and the academics. I’ll do everything I can to support that.”

(My take here.)

11/06/15 — If you’re not keeping up with Nick Johnson’s repository of links and notes on the Harreld hire, you’re not keeping up. (Comment here.)

11/05/15 — J. Bruce Harreld did not submit a letter of application. (Comment here.)

11/05/15 — Vanessa Miller of the Gazette reports on J. Bruce Harreld’s new venture: co-chairing a committee on monetizing the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City corridor.

11/05/15 — Vanessa Miller of the Gazette reports on J. Bruce Harreld’s plans to give the faculty money. (A few comments here.)

11/03/15 — KWWL’s Kristin Rogers reports on J. Bruce Harreld’s reaction to the criticism he faced on his first day, and the criticism that has been growing now for over two months. (Comment here.)

11/02/15 — Excellent explanation of why the newest origin story from Harreld and Rastetter only makes their problems worse, from Bleeding Heartland. (My take here.)

11/01/15 — Comprehensive summary to-date, by Eric Kelderman.

11/01/15 — Vanessa Miller on how disinterested Harreld was until the last minute. (A few comments here.)

11/01/15 — Jeff Charis-Carlson, on a previously undisclosed meeting between Harreld, Rastetter and Robillard in early June. (My take here.)

— Mark Barrett

Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: Harreld

Sexual Assault and the Harreld Hire

November 1, 2015 By Mark 3 Comments

What is the last post on the hiring of J. Bruce Harreld to be the next president at the University of Iowa was also the first. I originally wrote this post in my head — or rather, it wrote itself — on September 5th, two days after the election. I finally typed it out over this past weekend, after two months of doing my best to understand the pathology that led to his appointment. Over that span I discovered more ugliness than I would have thought possible, most of it in human form. While this post is informed by that ugliness, and my newfound awareness has reinforced my original conviction, it is in spirit unaltered.

Prior to Harreld’s election my only thought about the retirement of Sally Mason was that I hoped the new president would make two pressing cultural issues a priority. Those issues were alcoholism and sexual assault, which are obviously intertwined.

If you’re not familiar with Iowa City it has always been a small town wrapped around a big university, and just off campus there have always been innumerable bars. But drinking is one thing, and routinely ranking among the top ‘party schools’ in the country another, and Iowa has been on those lists far too long. Likewise, while Iowa didn’t invent sexual assault, and it is a problem on campuses nationwide, without addressing the underlying causes, including alcohol use and abuse, and particularly binge drinking, it will be impossible to make lasting gains.

I cannot say that I paid close attention to Sally Mason’s tenure. I know she didn’t cause the floods that took much of her time, and I’m grateful for her efforts in helping the campus recover. What I did not know, and now appreciate, was how virulently and personally hostile the Board of Regents was to her. Between unwarranted condescension and intentional efforts to discredit her, I am surprised she lasted as long as she did. I would not have.

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Filed Under: Non Sequiturs Tagged With: Harreld