ANGRY
Okay. I have never actually said which school I went to as an undergraduate, but I'm going to tell you that it was Birmingham-Southern, because they are pretty much dead to me now. My friend David on Twitter--well, one of my two friends David on Twitter--mentioned an email that BSC sent out, announcing some grade-A fuckery. I don't think they have my current address, because I didn't get it, or else they somehow sensed that it would make my head explode. But now David's forwarded it to me, so this is all straight from the school's mouth. You can read it here, if you scroll down.
Let me rewind a little for you here. Birmingham-Southern is--was--a wonderful little liberal arts school with great fine and performing arts programs and a really good basketball team. It had a small creative writing program that, when I was there, was trying to get more funding and do the best it could. I was in a couple of different editorial positions on the literary magazine while I was there. And one of the primary reasons I went to this school was because it did not have a football team. I had gone to a high school that was very focused on football, and quite honestly, I wanted to go to a school where someone would give a shit about arts and academics. I'm perfectly happy for people to go to football schools, but that's not where I wanted to go, and there are very few places in Alabama that aren't football schools. This was one of them.
WELL NOT ANYMORE, THAT IS. Shortly after I left, Dr. Neal Berte--the school's beloved president of many years--retired. And then this David Pollick person became the new president, and then This David Pollick Person took it upon himself to acquire us a football team and A STADIUM, and if that was someone else's call, tell me, so I can blow them up with the power of my mind instead. And now, NOW, the arts and academics are getting cut. BEHOLD:
A total of 29 faculty members were given notice that their positions would be eliminated within the next two years. Many of the faculty members cut today were tenured, but tenured and tenure-track faculty members will be given one-year contracts for the upcoming school year.
Altogether five majors were cut from the college’s offerings. Those majors included accounting, computer science, dance, French and German.
One non-tenured faculty member was cut from the math department and three non-tenured faculty were cut from the English department.
One of those, by the way, was a friend of mine. It also looks like one of my favorite professors may get cut next year. For the record, I was a double French/Spanish major, by which I mean FUCK YOU. Seriously, FUCK YOU.
Back to the article:
The cuts follow the discovery of deep and long-term financial problems at the college. In recent weeks, BSC faculty members have privately expressed frustration with the administration’s lack of transparency. In particular, faculty and staff were upset that when they had voiced concerns earlier in the fiscal year, they had been falsely assured the college’s financial condition was in good standing.
For the last several years, BSC has undertaken a series of expensive capital projects, including new dormitories, athletic fields and a welcome center. Few, if any, members of the campus community realized that the college was hemorrhaging cash at the same time these projects were underway.
I just--I would like to continue ranting and quoting fuckwittery at you, but I have a migraine now. I just. I can't. What. This school was a rescue for people, people who didn't fit in at schools that are all about sports (which, around here, is most of them). This school was a place to prove to people that there was, in fact, room in the world for them. And now that place is being taken away. Because God knows we don't have ENOUGH FOOTBALL TEAMS IN ALABAMA.
As a final note, please enjoy the BSC President David Pollick Must Go Facebook group.
Let me rewind a little for you here. Birmingham-Southern is--was--a wonderful little liberal arts school with great fine and performing arts programs and a really good basketball team. It had a small creative writing program that, when I was there, was trying to get more funding and do the best it could. I was in a couple of different editorial positions on the literary magazine while I was there. And one of the primary reasons I went to this school was because it did not have a football team. I had gone to a high school that was very focused on football, and quite honestly, I wanted to go to a school where someone would give a shit about arts and academics. I'm perfectly happy for people to go to football schools, but that's not where I wanted to go, and there are very few places in Alabama that aren't football schools. This was one of them.
WELL NOT ANYMORE, THAT IS. Shortly after I left, Dr. Neal Berte--the school's beloved president of many years--retired. And then this David Pollick person became the new president, and then This David Pollick Person took it upon himself to acquire us a football team and A STADIUM, and if that was someone else's call, tell me, so I can blow them up with the power of my mind instead. And now, NOW, the arts and academics are getting cut. BEHOLD:
A total of 29 faculty members were given notice that their positions would be eliminated within the next two years. Many of the faculty members cut today were tenured, but tenured and tenure-track faculty members will be given one-year contracts for the upcoming school year.
Altogether five majors were cut from the college’s offerings. Those majors included accounting, computer science, dance, French and German.
One non-tenured faculty member was cut from the math department and three non-tenured faculty were cut from the English department.
One of those, by the way, was a friend of mine. It also looks like one of my favorite professors may get cut next year. For the record, I was a double French/Spanish major, by which I mean FUCK YOU. Seriously, FUCK YOU.
Back to the article:
The cuts follow the discovery of deep and long-term financial problems at the college. In recent weeks, BSC faculty members have privately expressed frustration with the administration’s lack of transparency. In particular, faculty and staff were upset that when they had voiced concerns earlier in the fiscal year, they had been falsely assured the college’s financial condition was in good standing.
For the last several years, BSC has undertaken a series of expensive capital projects, including new dormitories, athletic fields and a welcome center. Few, if any, members of the campus community realized that the college was hemorrhaging cash at the same time these projects were underway.
I just--I would like to continue ranting and quoting fuckwittery at you, but I have a migraine now. I just. I can't. What. This school was a rescue for people, people who didn't fit in at schools that are all about sports (which, around here, is most of them). This school was a place to prove to people that there was, in fact, room in the world for them. And now that place is being taken away. Because God knows we don't have ENOUGH FOOTBALL TEAMS IN ALABAMA.
As a final note, please enjoy the BSC President David Pollick Must Go Facebook group.