infobong.com

I got a blast email this morning from UT President Larry Faulkner announcing his plans to resign. I don't know if they sent it out to all students or I got it because employed by UT as a TA and instructor, but blasting an email like this seems to be an effective way to minimize gossip and rumors in offices around campus.

In the three years I've been here, I don't think I've heard anyone say anything positive about Faulkner. My personal beef with him is his master plan that all but eliminated cycling from Speedway and indicates further curtailing of cycling around campus. It seems ridiculous for an inner-city campus like UT with it's attendant parking and traffic problems to discourage the university community from using a form of transportation which can abate those problems.

I don't know if a president at a large university like UT is ever well-liked. The cult of personality around former US Senator David Boren is probably unique to OU. But hopefully, UT's next president will be "greener," pushing a vision of campus where we have a variety of transportation options and greater diversity in its vendors, dumping corporatists like Taco Bell, Starbucks, and Sodexho. In addition I hope we get a president that gives real raises to university employees, rather than the "merit raise pool" they're offering next year.