U of O Watch mission, in the words of Foucault...

"One knows … that the university and in a general way, all teaching systems, which appear simply to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class in power; and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class. … It seems to me that the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticise the workings of institutions, which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticise and attack them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them." -- Foucault, debating Chomsky, 1971.

U of O Watch mission, in the words of Socrates...

"An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all." -- Socrates

video of president allan rock at work

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

U of O crashes under Rock


U of O tumbles in world university rankings

Published on: September 15, 2015
“As a result, our ranking has changed significantly,” Charette said. “We are disappointed by this change, as it does not properly reflect our strengths and excellence.”

But Simona Bizzozero, a spokeswoman for QS — whose annual rankings are considered among the three most influential in the world — said only about 30 per cent of the University of Ottawa’s decline was attributable to the new approach while the rest “reflects a genuine deterioration in some indicators.”

President Allan Rock re-invented the school using his own people from outside rather than value the inside people, and has generally taken a confrontational approach with all the staff and student unions, rather than trying to include and work together.

The Rock approach has deeply eroded the university. A fish rots from the head down.

The last two VP-Academics have left. Professors are expected to jump onto Rock's bandwagon of globalization schemes, or be ignored. The Medical Neurology Department has been told that it could be closed by the College of Physicians. The professors' union has often noted unjustified increases in executive salaries. The school is being sued for millions because Rock dismissed the entire Gee-Gees hockey team without regard for the lives of the athletes, over criminal charges that involved two players. And when controversies have hit, Rock has systematically hidden behind someone or some committee, not hesitating to throw whoever under the bus (a VP-Academic, a coach, an entire hockey team...), and often made a point of being out of town. Now the francophone associations are calling for the creation of a real francophone university in Ontario. ...

Meanwhile Rock has a hand in a new family business of growing medical marijuana.

The damage will take some time to repair. The politician who was called "ethically challenged" by the Ottawa Citizen in 2003, before being shipped off to the UN and then landing on the steps of Tabaret Hall, moves on to greater things in 2016.

"[Rock's] behaviour since the Irving affair became public has revealed him to be ethically challenged. […] it took Rock days to apologize. And he only grudgingly did so after Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw rose in the Commons and offered an unqualified apology for accepting a ride on the Irving corporate jet three years ago. She also announced she was reimbursing the family for the flight."
Ottawa Citizen, November 8, 2003, page 1.

No comments: