I write this as an individual who has never felt the need to display “school pride.” I’ve never been compelled to get involved in politics of any kind. In all frankness, I usually don’t care.
In any “hot” political situation, I’ve always found there to be two equally frustrating groups: the resistance to change, who stubbornly cling to their power and control as a way to maintain the status quo; and the “movers and shakers,” who are so desperate to chime in with something monumental that they practically look for reasons to move and shake.
In regard to the infamous “open forum” at Radford University, true believers, I’d say there’s plenty to move and shake about.
The open forum was intended to address Radford University’s budget fiasco. I attended because I sympathize with the complaints of my peers and instructors. I wanted to assess the situation myself. I’ve heard a lot of negative things about RU’s current administration. I wanted to see how President Penny Kyle and co. assuaged student and faculty concerns.
Well, they didn’t assuage anything. Instead, they a-sausage-ed it. By that I mean that RU’s current fiscal and programming woes were partially thawed, undercooked ‘til greasy, and served to students and faculty with an unclean spatula. And by that, I mean that Kyle threw her weight around and spoke with the temerity of a jailhouse warden and wasted everyone’s time.
What transpired that dreary Thursday afternoon disgusted me and continues to disgust me. What was advertised as an “open forum” was realized as a gargantuan cop out. Students and faculty attended the open forum to get straight answers on RU’s budget cuts. Kyle and her cronies apparently thought to use the occasion to spread RU PR. When the forum’s attendees proved unhappy with this arrangement, Kyle lost her cool, Bruce Banner style.
In a sentence, the dialog presented at the forum was the equivalent of a steaming pile of you-know-what. The following is my interpretive account of the debacle:
QUESTION: How can RU justify the newly created Vice Provost position, whose salary is the equivalent of eight adjunct professors, given the current economic crisis?
KYLE: Howzabout I phone a friend for this one! HAHAHAHA! [Passes microphone to PROVOST/CRONIE]
PROVOST: We sent out postcards to 800 hundred prospective students. We want to get the word out on our wonderful liberal arts program. We want to expand this great university. We want to reach the horizon, rub the horizon’s belly, and tell it sweet nothings until we’re showered with lollipops and promise!
AUDIENCE MEMBER: But you didn’t answer the question!
KYLE: [doing her best impression of a professional wrestler] Listen, damn it! You don’t run this show. I run this show. Do you know who I am?! I’m Penny Kyle. I ran the STATE LOTTERY. You don’t want to cross me, you miscreants!
S.A.L.A. MEMBER: We don’t work for you, you work for—
KYLE: —LALALAALAAA! I’m not listening! Meeting adjourned!
OK, so I embellished—but not as much as you’d think. Questions were answered in hollow non sequiturs. To a question about the need for a Vice Provost, the actual response was that postcards are being sent out to woo new students.
Is this how professionals are supposed to conduct themselves? Looks like it. I’m going to give it a try, I think. If our Provost does it, then it must be smart, right? Next time a professor asks me why I haven’t turned in a paper proposal, I’m going to respond with, “You mean you haven’t gotten my postcard yet?” Brilliant! What a thinker, that Provost of ours. He’ll be the subject of a snarky column someday.
Of all of the blunders that Kyle made, the worst was, in my eyes, the unrestrained apathy that she transmitted throughout the forum. There wasn’t a modicum of genuine sympathy expressed for the loss of jobs or programs. Kyle looked down at the attending faculty and students like we were a flock of groveling cockroaches. I hate to say it was a class thing, but—yeah, it was a class thing.
When Kyle commented that she too has had to scale back due to the economic crisis, chuckles erupted from the audience—mine included. Kyle just got a raise. I imagine she owns a yacht. (Rich white people always own yachts.) For Kyle to liken herself to people who struggle to make ends meet was ludicrous, and not to mention dumb. The annoyance that swept across her face when we laughed was perhaps worse than the comment itself. It wasn’t a look of “Whoops,” but a look that spoke, “Impudent swine!”
As a result of the open forum, I think Kyle may have inadvertently birthed a PR nightmare. Kyle is now on record saying that she controlled the dialog in what was supposed to be an open forum. She’s chastised students. She’s expressed no concern for faculty fears. Kyle’s relationship with students and faculty was rocky before, but given her conduct at the forum, I’d say she’s earned the adjective “reviled.”
Just to make myself clear: RU’s budget crisis does have to be addressed, and yes, that may mean the sacrifice of programs and faculty. Is that really necessary? Besides my not understanding how it’s fair to hire new administration and provide raises for the existing regime, I don’t know enough about that to provide an answer. That’s the practical side, and I’m bereft of the hard facts.
What’s impractical is how this crisis is being handled—and the answer to that, as attendees to the asphyxiated forum can attest, is poorly. Kyle is a talking head that can’t talk. All budget, program, and staffing issues aside, the open forum presented Kyle as a pompous snob with no regard for those in her charge.
Answering tough questions is what leaders do. Answer this one for me, prez: What were you thinking?
Charles Smith is an alumnus of and is currently enrolled as a graduate student at Radford University.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Steve // Mar 28, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Wow. Charles, that was beautiful. You even got the SALA member quote. I do not feel this was at all in any shape or form inaccurate, rather it’s closer to the truth and an overall expression of how everyone feels. Thank you. Again, thank you!
2 Leslie F. Miller // Mar 28, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I’m a former adjunct faculty member in Baltimore. I chose slavery for 17 years, teaching the number of courses that would have made me a part-time professor (a full-time prof at many institutions) had I been plucked from the adjunct pool to a tenure track. Since the moment I started teaching in 1990, budget cuts were the excuse for everything, including lavish new hires. Our new president wasted tens of thousands of dollars on flowers and hideous Christmas cards and junk while adjuncts were cut and departments’ budgets were frozen.
I would like to have seen Kyle squirm. I hear your “interpretive account”; I’d love to know exactly what she said and what was said back. Sometimes those comments speak louder than your self-referenced “snarky column.” Maybe your next column on this topic could allow her words to hang her.
Since I’m out of academia, I can’t say for sure that it’s the same crisis it’s been for the past 19 years, but this is certainly the first time the economy has made all the lies seem plausible. If only they could stop squandering so we’d know it’s true.
3 Brilliant // Mar 28, 2009 at 12:47 pm
This is, quite simply put, brilliant. Sadly enough, what really transpired in the forum and what Charles described as his “interpretive account” are pretty much one and the same. To PWK, all of us in the campus community are beneath her. Which is funny since she is the most unprofessional, unsophisticated person I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting.
4 Lisa // Mar 28, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Very well said!! Having a liberal arts college education means teaching students how to write well. What will students from the class of 2009 and up be writing? With no liberal arts at RU in the future, it will be interesting to see.
5 Grumbling at RU // Mar 28, 2009 at 3:11 pm
It’s true that the liberal arts are clearly being made into a second-class citizen at RU. But everyone should remember that it’s not just the liberal arts. It’s the sciences and social sciences as well. Threatened/defunct programs and departments include Geology, Geography, Anthropology, Physics, Chemistry, Sociology, Mathematics, the list goes on.
Any discipline that can’t produce a facile list of career outcomes is in danger at RU. Those devoted to traditional, broad-thinking scholarship and research are in trouble.
6 AnimeFan // Mar 28, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Charles, you are amazing! I think you gave everyone a great view of this situation. Like you, I usually don’t get involved in issues like this or care much for so-called “school spirit” but what I DO have an issue with are those in a position of power thinking they’ve someone got the golden key to the outhouse that allows them to show utter contempt and disregard for those that don’t follow them to the outhouse to wipe their oh so sainted asses. RU has done a GREAT job of rebuilding it’s reputation since the infamous “party school” days, and it’s sad to see all that hard work being undone by someone who NEVER, in my opinion, should’ve been given the job in the first place. Great article!!!
7 River Rat // Mar 29, 2009 at 9:13 am
Just the right amount of snarl and humor, the latter necessary for survival about now, the former sadly lacking among all us, students and faculty alike, as PK has come to RU to “turn this ship around.” She stood before us and announced that the number of weeks in the semester would change and there was little outrage. Encouraged, “that was easy,” she’s embarked upon other transformations. Why? Who knows, but the only guiding vision seems a paternalistic one, an “I know better than you” attitude, because I said so, and I hold the mic.
Class is part of it, you’re right. She called the former director of University Relations one day and asked how we could change the mascot, the highlander (she got as far as the colors), not good enough for her, born and raised in Galax. But she made out, went to William and Mary and UVA and CSX, thrived among polite society in Richmond, and so has now graced the hoi polloi, the great unwashed, with her presence, to bring us out of the dark ages and into the “university of the future,” whatever the hell that is.
I was no great fan of Dr. Covington but at least he and Bea made an effort to meet me, shake my hand welcome me to the family and community. They at least understood that there was a community here. They at least seemed to acknowledge that I would make a contribution. President Kyle? When she stand on that stage, looks right through us. Now they’ll reprise this performance again next Thursday?
Seems some kind of Rubicon was crossed the other day and no new “forum” will help. I have no faith that she’ll give honest answers, no will the Provost. Since she’s from Galax, she should know, or would know if she took Appalachian Studies Courses, that the city was almost under water once as the result of a hydroelectric dam on the New. But the people in that area, mountain people, highlanders, rose up, said they didn’t want their river damned, that they didn’t need the “help” of this project thank you very much, disguised as it was for their own good. They wanted the New River . . . like it is! Radford University . . . like it was. Before President Penelope Kyle.
8 Harley Diva // Mar 30, 2009 at 11:46 am
Right on!
9 Concerned Grad Student // Mar 30, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Very well-said, my good fellow. It is incredible to me, though, that our esteemed colleagues (can I call RU students that?) and “Visitors Board Members”, which I believe is a PC way of saying “RU Illuminati”, would be surprised that Ms. Kyle would conduct herself in such a manner. Let’s consider the situation:
1. She has a JD (law degree);
2. She ran the VA State Lottery;
3. She is an AA (Affirmative Action) figure-head;
4. She has a good amount of business experience.
OK, boys and girls, what is missing from this list that we would expect to be there in an individual, man or woman, who has been chosen to run a degree-granting institution? How about a history — even a short history — in Education? How about even as a Sunday School Teacher? How in the name of all that is holy could the infamous “Board of Visitors”, or whoever does the hiring, choose an individual to run an institution of higher learning knowing that said individual has no experience teaching? Oh, but she’s a woman, right? I have no problem with the fact she is a woman. I only have a problem with the fact she is uneducated in the area of expertise for which she has been hired.
How about this suggestion: I would love to see Dr. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, former Dean of The Honors College at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, and former Provost of Radford University, return to RU as the Dean of the College. I really believe that he was let go because he was “too good” at what he did, and possibly butted heads with the big prez. This is speculation, and my opinion, because I wasn’t in the office for the conversations. Obviously, she has some control issues. I actually sat next to Dr. Griffith at an awards banquet while he was still the provost, and he was undoubtedly one of the most articulate, intelligent, and polite education professionals I’ve ever met. He and his wife were great, and I found it so interesting that he was not above having a level conversation with an undergrad. And he spoke to me as an equal. I was impressed by his humanity. As I watched Penelope’s opinion of Dr. Griffith change from, and I quote directly from Penelope’s mouth in an article, that Dr. Griffith was “an acclaimed scholar who” brought “significant talents to our already strong community of teachers and scholars.” She went on to say “I am confident that his leadership will strengthen our position within Virginia’s higher education community”, and finally, “this is a truly historic day for Radford-for our students, our faculty, our staff, and our alumni.” All well and good, until the provost began to raise the educational bar at RU, instituting some new rules and regulations in order to see the level of education at Radford raised to a more acceptable standard, and then the opinion Penny held of the man who had brought about a “truly historic day” at Radford University changed dramatically. After a few months, Penny said Dr. Griffith was “not the kind of provost she wanted” and that “the two of them don’t communicate well.” Dr. Griffith’s lawyer was quoted as saying: “My sense of it is that what she did with Ivelaw is she killed the messenger,…. He came with some information about the job she was doing and tried to alert her to things, and she felt, I think, that he was criticizing her.” So Penny, in all her adorned college president glory, asked Dr. Griffith for his resignation. And of course, being a man of principle and personal confidence, Dr. Griffith refused to give it to her, since his contract lasted until the next June. So he received a reassignment. No more hanging out in the president’s office with the big dogs, Ivelaw. Now you have to hang out with the lowly professors and adjuncts. So, they didn’t communicate well. And he gave some criticism. I believe the only reason they didn’t communicate well is because he gave her criticism. You would think that a seasoned professional would be able to take some criticism, but instead, we have a spoiled debutante that can’t take criticism from someone who not only has more education than she does, but also more experience in the job she’s supposed to be doing. That’s why she asked for his resignation. She new if he stayed around long enough, he would end up being the college president instead of her. Little insecure there, Penny? Little trouble accepting the fact that there will always be someone who can do the job better? Unfortunately, Ma’am, that’s how it is for everyone. There’s always somebody who can do the job better than you. There’s always someone with more knowledge than you.
And, consequently, being able to maturely accept and learn from criticism, especially when it comes from someone who is more educated and experienced than yourself, is one of the most recognizable signs of a leader. Not a great leader, mind you. Just a leader. A great leader can accept criticism from even those who are socially and economically beneath them with grace and humility. That is a sign of greatness.
Judging from the open forum, Penny Kyle was never meant to be a leader. Not a great leader, mind you. But not a leader at all.
I’ve always said, politicians only do two things well, and that’s campaign and politic. They do not make good functional leaders who are expected to actually accomplish anything, as in, a college president. They are just make good figureheads.
10 Frances // Apr 2, 2009 at 10:05 am
Right on! Historically speaking for an institution of higher learning to be a university it has to meet 4 criteria: a major in Classics (Latin and Greek), a major in mathematics, and a major in philosophy. Radfor no longer has a classics department because the professor who taught that material has retired and has not been replaced. So Radford is well on the way to remaking itself into WHAT? A business college or technical school?
Ms Kyle is beyond arrogant. How can she possibly justify her more than half a million compensation package (salary and benefits), the hiring of a provost and state that there is no money in the budget to give professors and staff a mere 2% cost of living raise?!
11 Roudy Red // Apr 2, 2009 at 8:45 pm
What can I say that all of you haven’t written? Kyle and RJ KIRK have it backwards. They think they understand how the world of education works. They have no clue–one a lawyer, the other an off-date drugs salesman. These people have no idea what motivates students to come to a school like Radford nor any idea of what motivates the RU faculty to want to advance the goals of their students. Education is not the development of a trade,; it is the process that one goes through to be able to first choose tyhen successfully pursue and grow in a profession.
12 Rebekah Lewis // Apr 3, 2009 at 8:34 am
Wonderful article! Well-articulated and to the point. Thank you for expressing what so many of us were feeling that day.
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