Rice Makes RSU State of University Address –or– I’m Sharon Kern, Who Are You, and What Are You Doing Here?
By Tyson Wynn | August 8, 2008 | Print This Post
RSU President Dr. Larry Rice today made his State of the University address. I was in attendance, though not warmly greeted.
Let’s say it this way: I’m 6′4″ tall and even the fake weight on my driver’s license is probably twice most normal men’s. I can’t really blend into a crowd; I don’t try. Additionally, my understanding was that the State of the University presentation was a public event. So, I went.
At just before 9 a.m., I walked into the Will Rogers Auditorium through the front entrance and took a center-section seat near the front of the auditorium. I hadn’t been there long when I was approached by my old friend Sharon Kern (you may remember her from my account of trying to serve legal papers on several RSU staff members (Kern is mentioned on pages 35ff on the PDF)). In her usual warm, friendly way, she walks up and says, “I’m Sharon Kern. Who are you?” with her hallmark passive-aggressive flair. I told her who I was, and she asked what I was doing there. I responded that I believed it was a public event. She informed me that it was for faculty and staff. I asked her if she was asking me to leave. Apparently, her authority ends with accosting members of the community at public gatherings because she said she’d have to go ask about that and let me know. She went and reported on me to the administrators and they huddled. It took them a while, but they must have decided I posed a threat somewhat less than the typical, rabid secretary because the presentation, replete with Brent Ortolani’s spellbinding circa 1997 PowerPoint slides (he even used the “Crawl In” text effect), finally started (about 20 minutes late) without any further contact.
I don’t have much to say about the report. It was the typical “how great we’re doing” presentation. In the “Challenges” section, there was no mention of the huge issues the university is facing with its federal grant programs. And, out of respect for Dr. Rice, I chose not to pose the question during the question and answer period. I hold out hope that he will answer those questions and make the needed changes at RSU.
For your listening pleasure, I provide an audio copy of the presentation on the WynnCast Blog. Too bad I hadn’t had time to get my recorder out when Sharon came to say hi.
Topics: Claremore, Fellman, Joe Wiley, Larry Rice, Media, News, Oklahoma, RSU, Sharon Kern, University of Oklahoma, WynnCasts | No Comments »
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Joe Wiley Lawsuit Update - 7/28/2008
By Tyson Wynn | July 28, 2008 | Print This Post
I’ve been busy with other things and unable to update the progress of the wrongful termination lawsuit brought by Marilyn Goff against Rogers State University (Former) President Joe Wiley, Sheree Hukill, and the O.U. Regents with the regularity I would have liked.
To get up to speed, you can read my previous posts regarding the lawsuit.
- RSU/FHU President Joe Wiley Sued for Wrongful Termination (Again!)
- Joe Wiley Lawsuit Update
- Court Documents for Goff v. Hukill, Wiley, et. al.
- Judge: Wiley’s Previous Evasion of Service Not Pertinent in Current Case
Since I last reported on the case, there have been a few things happen and a few documents filed. For the list of and PDF access to the documents filed, visit my Goff v. Wiley page (it has now been updated to reflect the date of filing for each document).
Now for the news: There was a settlement conference between the parties that did not go very well, according to WynnBlog sources. What I can say is that there has not yet been a settlement reached according to court filings.
In other news, the RSU crowd has moved the court to stay the proceedings until O.U. attorney Steve Ashmore can return from Iraq, where he is serving with the military. His return is estimated by O.U. to be November 2008. Goff opposes this delay and has filed a motion to that effect. O.U. moved to strike this motion because it was filed three days late. Goff opposes striking the motion, and has filed a motion to that effect, stating that he was late filing because his office was flooded. The judge denied O.U.’s motion to strike. He as not yet ruled on whether the case should be stayed until Mr. Ashmore returns.
That’s about it for now. I’ll post periodic updates.
Topics: Joe Wiley, Legal, News, Oklahoma, RSU, University of Oklahoma | 38 Comments »
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Crossing the Finish Line
By Tyson Wynn | July 22, 2008 | Print This Post
I previously shared with WynnBlog readers about the situation with a rogue school board member at my high school alma mater. The short version is that a group of concerned citizens decided to deal with the matter rather than to ignore it. They formed an unincorporated group and have been working to hold the school board member accountable for his actions.
The only way to deal with an errant school board member in Oklahoma is to petition the district court for a grand jury to investigate. This is an extreme burden in small school districts, in that grand juries are county-wide. In the instant situation, my hometown of Welch, OK, has a total population of approximately 500 persons. The last school board election saw 274 persons cast votes for a school board member. The minimum number of signatures necessary to impanel a grand jury is 500. So, what you have is a small school district with a board member behaving badly that, to deal with the issue, must get the equivalent of the entire population of the town (and almost twice the number of persons who voted in the last school board election) to sign a petition to have the bad behavior addressed. It’s lunacy to require so much from a small community. Most recalls require only a percentage of the last vote for that specific entity, which is a much lower bar. In this case, if the school board recall bill authored by Representatives Toure and Hamilton had passed in 2003, it would require a petition signed by 25% of the number of persons voting in the last school board election, or 69 persons in this case, to set a recall election of just Welch school district voters. The grand jury petition requirement is 7 times that number! That’s a high bar indeed. In the Welch case, 69 signatures were gathered in less than a week if my memory serves. However, the grand jury does ensure that it’s not a popularity contest. The grand jury can subpoena witnesses and look at the evidence and reach an informed conclusion about Mr. McCord’s fitness for office.
All the above notwithstanding, the citizens of Welch have worked their rears off and traveled the county asking fair-minded citizens to sign the petition. The group, WE CARE (Welch Citizens United for Responsible Education), announced earlier today that it now has in excess of the 500 signatures necessary. WE CARE has given the board member’s attorney notice that they have the signatures and intend to file them with the court if he has not resigned by 4:00 p.m. tomorrow. We shall see what transpires.
The larger lesson here is that Oklahoma MUST reform school board accountability. Waiting up to five years to vote a bad board member out of office is simply not feasible; asking a small school district to gather more signatures than it has citizens is an undue burden. Oklahoma school board members should be subject to recall or impeachment. I will be addressing this in the future.
Topics: Legal, News, Oklahoma, Politics, Welch | No Comments »
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My Hero Graces Brad Paisley’s Latest Music Video
By Tyson Wynn | July 4, 2008 | Print This Post
Andy Griffith helps Brad Paisley out.
Topics: Andy Griffith, Country, Music, Video | 2 Comments »
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A Nation’s Strength
By Tyson Wynn | July 4, 2008 | Print This Post
On this Independence Day 2008, I share with you “A Nation’s Strength” by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly…
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.
Topics: Independence Day | No Comments »
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Independence Day WynnCast!
By Tyson Wynn | July 4, 2008 | Print This Post
Gather the kiddies around the Dell and turn the speakers way up loud, Tyson and Jeane made a new WynnCast! Click the logo to visit the WynnCast Blog and give it a listen. We promise it’s better than a sharp stick in the eye. Burma shave.
Topics: WynnCasts | No Comments »
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U.S. Dept. of Ed. Discovers Serious Problems with RSU’s Grant Programs
By Tyson Wynn | June 30, 2008 | Print This Post
Information has been whispered for some time now. What we knew was that officials from the U.S. Dept. of Education (DOE) visited Rogers State University in Claremore in February 2008 to conduct an on-site review of RSU’s federal grant programs, which receive over $8.3 million in federal funds. On-site review personnel interviewed more than 30 individuals at RSU in its investigation.
The WynnBlog is now in possession of a copy of the DOE’s preliminary report that was sent to RSU President Joe Wiley and President-Designate Larry Rice, March 19, 2008. This is the report that precipitated the rapid departures of Sheree Hukill (co-defendant with Joe Wiley and the O.U. Regents in a wrongful termination lawsuit by Marilyn McClain Goff) and Penny Pricer. RSU had an opportunity to respond, and as I understand it, DOE will issue a final report at some point. I will provide both RSU’s response and DOE’s final report as soon as I can. As for now, here is the DOE’s preliminary report.
Friends, it’s not pretty. It appears that all the worst things that many of us have heard about RSU are, in fact, true. The DOE report notes:
Ed Pacchetti, Deputy Director, Office of Postsecondary Education Program Oversight Staff and Jeffrey Lunardi, Program Analyst, Office of Postsecondary Education Program Oversight Staff, conducted an on-site review of the Rogers State University (RSU) Federal TRIO grant programs from February 25-29. 2008. The review took place on the campus of Rogers Siale University in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Mr. Pacchetti and Mr. Lunardi interviewed a total of 36 employees and students from the Rogers State University Administration, the RSU TRIO program administration, four current TRIO grant programs, and one former program. In addition to conducting these interviews, Mr. Pacchetti and Mr. Lunardi reviewed student, programmatic, and fiscal records from all five of the TRIO grant programs under review. Fiscal records were requested and reviewed from September I, 2006 through December 31, 2007.
***
…the TRIO Department is also marked by incredibly high personnel turnover, multiple internal reorganizations, and what many TRIO staff members consider to be a generally intimidating work environment. lnterviews and program files suggest that these negative characteristics have hampered student services and led to cost misallocations over the past year.
Forty different people have worked in the RSU TRIO Department (the Department) since the beginning of 2006. Nineteen of these 40 employees (47.5%) have either retired. left the program, or had their employment terminated. In addition to this substantial rate of employee turnover, the TRIO Department utilized four different organintional structures during the same time period. It should be noted that due to inconsistent documentation, it is difficult to ascertain exactly when these changes occurred and how they affected the organization and student service delivery. (emphasis added)
The report also includes details about:
- RSU’s organizational and personnel changes to the grant programs without the DOE’s notification or consent (including a complex timeline chart detailing all the staff changes)
- the fact that Penny Pricer was unqualified for the position she held and her hiring process was frought with conflicts of interest
- Penny Pricer’s salary not being in compliance with university policy, including details about whether university officials were forthright about the issue
- misallocated payroll funds (with more charts)
- misallocated training and staff development funds
- Upward Bound activities not even being conducted in the Fall semester of 2007: “There is no documentation to suggest that any Upward Bound students received tutoring, counseling, or mentoring from August of 2007 until January 8, 2008.” (includes another handy chart)
In conclusion, the report states:
Project Directors do not have direct control over their project budgets. which is cause for great concern. In a meeting with tbe Executive Director [Sheree Hukill] on Friday, February 29, she made it clear that she has control over all final purchase and budgetary decisions Additionally, none of the Project Directors could provide an estimate of how much money was In theIr budget at the time of their interviews. This represents a lack of sufficient managerial control by the TRIO Project Directors over the federal funds that they utilize.
Turnover has been so rapid during the last two years that even the Executive Director has trouble maintaining an up-to-date chart of employees and their positions, as evidenced by the inconsistent documentation provided to the Program Oversight Staff and the incorrect organizational leadership information submitted to TRIO Program Officer Crystal Wheeler during the week of our on-site review. An example of the frequent changes in organizational leadership is Ms. Penny Pricer. Since her start date on February 12, 2007, approximately 13 months ago, she has held the position of Project Director for four different TRIO programs at one time or another, including being the Director of the Educational Talent Search Program on two separate occasions.
We believe that the RSU TRIO programs will be more effective, provide better services, and help larger numbers of eligible students under different leadership. This belief, combined with the misallocation of Federal funds, substantial employee turnover and reorganization, low employee morale, an environment of fear for many current RSU TRIO employees, and the seven findings detailed in this report, leads the Program Oversight Staff to recommend that Rogers State University thoroughly examine the current leadership of its TRIO programs and take all necessary actions to rectify the current situation. Rogers State University has already lost their Upward Bound Math and Science Program under the current leadership and services for the remaining TRIO Programs have suffered. Quality leadership will be critical to the future success of the RSU TRIO programs and the students that they serve. (emphasis added)
The WynnBlog has contacted RSU’s spokesperson for comment, but as of this post, we have received no reply. We will add RSU’s response if and when we receive it.
Topics: Claremore, Joe Wiley, News, Oklahoma, Open Records, RSU, University of Oklahoma | No Comments »
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July 1 Named RSU Academic Freedom Day
By Tyson Wynn | June 30, 2008 | Print This Post
The WynnBlog is proud to announce that it has dubbed July 1, 2008, “RSU Academic Freedom Day.” July 1 marks Dr. Larry Rice’s first official day as president of Rogers State. Chairman Joe Wiley will officially be off the payroll and off the grounds (not to mention out of state). Maybe, just maybe, with some hard work and dedication by Dr. Rice, RSU can undergo a needed and radical transformation of atmosphere.
As a state university, RSU should protect and defend students’ (all students’) rights of free speech, free exercise of religion, and basic fairness. There are many who would argue that those things have not been the hallmark of the Wiley Cartel Administration.
I reassert my hope that Dr. Rice, who I have heard repeatedly is a good man, will make positive changes in the way RSU operates. One bit of advice I would give Dr. Rice (all you RSU readers who visit my blog–yes, I know you visit–can pass this along): be as open and transparent as possible. There is a well-established, though possibly not-spoken, policy within the RSU system that everything’s a secret. No one can talk to people out of their departments. Sharing information is bad. Big brother is watching. Disagreement is not appreciated, welcomed, or allowed. All the animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. Individual after individual has filed wrongful termination suits against the university. Ad nauseam.
The time for change is now. Dr. Rice, I have the greatest in hopes for you and your administration. However, as you begin to clean up messes, the best thing you can do is to be open and public with what you have found. Tell the community what you have discovered that is wrong and what you are doing to fix it. Make up where you can. Rebuilt broken relationships and the community’s trust. It’s time, once and for all, to kill that 800-pound gorilla in the room.
Now that Dr. Rice has the full reigns, we’ll be watching with the greatest of expectations.
Happy RSU Academic Freedom Day!
Topics: 1st Amendment, Claremore, Joe Wiley, News, Oklahoma, Politics, RSU, Tywone Parks, University of Oklahoma | 4 Comments »
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The Truth about Big Oil
By Tyson Wynn | June 14, 2008 | Print This Post
In a post on The American Thinker blog, Todd Keister shares some quite enlightening insights about Big Oil, which liberals and the media are inducing us to hate.
He writes:
Without the hard work and ingenuity of the men and women who work for the energy companies, we would be living in the 17th century - no electricity, running water, cars, trucks, airplanes, ships, factories, waterproof clothing, soda bottles, safety glass, sterile food and medical containers, air conditioners, televisions, microwave ovens, X-Boxes, I-Pods, or any of the millions of other products made using power generated from the burning of fossil fuels.
You would have to grow your own food, or ride your donkey to a nearby market, where there would be no refrigerators or electric lights. You’d have to kill and clean your own meat and cook it over an open fire. You’d have to chop down the trees for your home, and provide your own light by making candles from the fat of animals. Every single thing in your modern life is utterly and completely dependent upon a steady supply of oil. Without it, the entire Western world would collapse completely in a matter of weeks; tens of millions would perish from starvation, exposure, and disease.
***
Perhaps you agree with Hillary Clinton, who said that there is “…no basis for the huge profits…” of the oil companies because they are “…not inventing anything.” While you’re nodding your head in agreement, sitting in your comfortable house, warmed, cooled, clothed, entertained, and fed by the burning and remanufacturing of petroleum, take a moment to think what it takes to invent a method to extract crude oil from five thousand feet below the floor of the North Sea, which itself is more than two miles under stormy, frigid water, bring it to the US, turn it into gasoline, and deliver it to your corner convenience store. How much does it cost? How can it even be done?
And what of the high price of oil?
Oil prices are determined the same way stock prices are; by supply and demand, and the information available about future market conditions. Exxon-Mobil, British Petroleum, Chevron, and the rest only produce and sometimes refine the oil, the price is set on the open commodities market where traders, ranging from individual investors to brokerage firms, buy and sell contracts on barrels of oil at particular prices. When the supply decreases or demand increases, the prices rise and the oil companies consequently make more money. They do not control the supply or the demand - they simply produce the product.
But aren’t they making “obscene” profits?
Having your government steal the profits of the oil companies is not going to make the price of gasoline fall. What do you think Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain are going to do with their plunder? Give it back to you to offset your gasoline costs? Reduce your taxes by the amount they steal from the energy companies? Use it to find new sources of oil? Of course not. The money will go to the general fund that congress will squander as they always have and always will. In the meantime, the government will continue to rake in billions of dollars in taxes from you for every gallon of gas you buy. If the federal and state governments would stop taking their unfair profits from oil, the price of gasoline would drop forty cents per gallon today. Ms. Clinton has said that the profits of the oil companies should have a “baseline” over which the government would take the rest. Before you endorse the idea of government confiscation of what John McCain calls “obscene profits”, remember that if they can set a ceiling on how much money a corporation is allowed to make, then they can one day set a limit on how much you are permitted to make.
So who’s to blame?
Blame for the high cost of gasoline and diesel lies squarely with the United States Congress and the legislatures of the several states. Congress has denied the energy companies access to the hundreds of billions of barrels of oil available right here in America - off the coast of California, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and elsewhere. Their environmental regulations have prevented the construction of even a single new refinery in this nation for three decades, and have made the construction of nuclear power plants virtually impossible. Thus they have vastly reduced oil supplies, choked off the supply of refined gasoline, and prevented nuclear power from alleviating the demand for fuel oil.
State government regulations require refineries to produce more than a dozen different types of gasoline for various regions of the country - raising costs and meaning that a shortage in one area cannot be compensated for by shipping gas from another state. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require refineries to produce “Reformulated Gasoline” that contains either Ethanol or the highly carcinogenic MTBE. These regulations forced the refining industry to spend more than $44 billion between 1989 and 1998 to comply with congress. Thousands of other crushing regulations on the production, refining, transportation, and storage of oil and gas impose tremendous burdens and increase the cost of fuel.
He concludes:
So the next time you feel like blaming the oil companies for the price of gas, why don’t you call your congressman instead; or go out and try to produce some oil yourself - if you can’t, I suggest that you get down on your knees and thank God for the brilliant minds of oil company engineers, geologists, chemists, and executives who - in spite of the US Congress - have the creativity and courage to provide the energy that keeps all of us alive and enjoying our modern way of life.
Topics: Barack Obama, Oil, Politics | No Comments »
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Scalia Dissents
By Tyson Wynn | June 12, 2008 | Print This Post
The big news today is that the Supreme Court has issued a 5-4 decision bestowing habeas corpus rights on enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The liberal wing of the court has struck down many precedents and shifted more power from the Executive and Legislative branches to the Federal Judiciary.
The best way to get a feel for the errors made in a decision by the liberal half of the court is the read Scalia’s dissent. It proves helpful today, too. You can read it here (scroll way down, begins on page 110). For now, I give you just his conclusion:
The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today. I dissent.
Topics: Iraq, Politics, Supreme Court, Terrorism | 7 Comments »
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