Save Tulane Engineering Forum Index Save Tulane Engineering
The Weblog of Tulane Students and Alumni Concerned about Engineering’s Future at Tulane University
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Meeting with Engineering Board on 2/10

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Save Tulane Engineering Forum Index -> Tulane Students, Faculty, Alumni
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
wckirby



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 355
Location: New Orleans

PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:41 pm    Post subject: Meeting with Engineering Board on 2/10 Reply with quote

There was a meeting today between the engineering board and Cowen and Altiero. I talked with a friend and here's some early information on how it went.

The meeting was very long and started very early. Cowen came at 8 or 9 and spoke for an hour. He knew a lot of Board members were thinking of pulling their endowments, so he had a speech prepared to convince them not to. He miscalculated how pissed they are and tried to lie to them. They interrupted his speech and called him on his B.S. Hopefully, I'll learn exactly what he said soon. I wonder if Cowen would be stupid enough to say something like the "you're not going to remember your major in 20 years" comment he said to the students. All Cowen ended up doing was pissing off even more alumni. Because of Tulane's history of screwing around with restricted endowments (a la Newcomb over the years), all of the alumni have included major restrictions in all their donations. Cowen might be looking at tens of millions of dollars in pulled donations.

After that, others were slated to speak, including Altiero. After that, they is supposed to be some discussion and some reslution. We'll see how that last part went, but I'm told they were planning on tearing Altiero to shreds for going along with the Administration's B.S.

One other random thing I recently learned: Cowen had nothing to do with the David Filo donation. Altiero and the EE/CS professors primed him for a long time and then when Filo agreed to donate the money, Cowen swooped in and took all the credit (like the politician he is).

Hopefully I'll have more soon.
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
wckirby



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 355
Location: New Orleans

PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Info is trickling in.

Cowen was asked a bunch of pointed questions and he dodged all of them. He was asked 3 times, "Are you committed to engineering at Tulane?' and he dodged the question 3 times.

Only half of the people stayed around for the afternoon part. Most people decided the meeting was bullshit and left early. I seriously doubt there's going to be any alumni support of the School of Science and Engineering because of today's meeting.

Altiero had a plan of wearing everyone out (the meeting was from 7 or 8 until the late afternoon) and then doing a little song and dance about how he's going to try to rebuild the school and all. He claims he turned down an offer at Purdue. Some, like Larry Wink, bought it. Some didn't. Many are still committed to pulling their money.

There was a lot of discussion in the afternoon about the Tulane Engineering Legacy Foundation. Somehow Altiero got his hands on the articles of incorporation and he and Wink went after the founders of TELF. Called some of them out by name.

All and all, the meeting didn't go well. Cowen did his usual duck and weave and escaped alive. He was only there for an hour, anyway. The morning was pretty good, but in the afternoon, Altiero just wore people out. The meeting just went on and on.

Altiero did make some comments related to the tenured faculty. I'll get a better sense soon. I think there was a tape...
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06


Last edited by wckirby on Thu Feb 16, 2006 12:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
mollyzogirl



Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 93
Location: New Orleans

PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:54 pm    Post subject: supporters Reply with quote

Do we know which people stood by us, and which ones switched over to cowen/altieros sides?

It would be great if we could thank them, let them know we're not giving up either, and invite them to stop by the rally on tuesday.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
wckirby



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 355
Location: New Orleans

PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More info:

The copy of the articles that Altiero and Wink had was an early version. I wonder how he got a copy of them? Those articles contain several proposals that aren't in the final articles that will be incorporated. So, even those who spoke out against the TELF might become future members. TELF will have a lot of members soon because of impending resignations.

There's a lot of engineers that want to take their ball and go to UNO and I don't blame them. They're frustrated. They were originally going to have an emergency meeting in December and make a public statement, but Altiero and Cowen covinced them not to. They were promised a chance to have their questions answered and (as they now know) that hasn't happened. They are very frustrated with Cowen and Altiero.

They need good engineers and if Tulane's not going to produce them, they'll go to someone who will (UNO). UNO is expanding it's engineering program and is looking for money from Tulane engineeering graduates. Cowen and Altiero are on the verge of delivering it with a silver bow on it.

I'd like to comment that UNO and Loyola are successfully exploiting all the opportunities that Katrina has presented. UNO and Loyola are getting lots of national coverage now (look at the CNN article). UNO, even though they took FAR more damage than Tulane, is EXPANDING it's engineering program. Loyola, due to it's Catholic roots, is doing far more with community service. At the Outreach program, Loyola sent over almost as many students as Tulane, even though they are a far smaller university. I've heard that Loyola is even considering ADDING engineering.

Tulane is blowing it. I've read an early version of Tulane's service-learning requirement and I'd like to point out that Tulane students will spend more time filling out paperwork to meet the requirements than they will doing community service. Tulane, despite having the largest endowment and taking relatively (to UNO) light damage, is going to be the worst off in a few years. How pathetic would it be if UNO and Loyola were ranked higher than Tulane in 10 years?

In the very near future, the engineering advisory board and all other engineering alumni organizations will diluted with science people. How are you going to bring back engineering when half of the people aren't from the engineering camp?

There's one final thing I'd like to say to all the engineering alumni. I've discovered one of the greatest things about being an engineer: the people. Every engineering alumn I've met with have been extremely honest, straightforward, no-bullshit guys and I like that. Not one politician among them. I can't think of a better place I'd raher work than in an area filled with straightforward, no-bullshit guys and gals.
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
wckirby



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 355
Location: New Orleans

PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What I said earlier is coming true.

I've already got word that there has been one official resignation from the advisory board with more to come soon. It's going to be interesting to see how many resign in disgust, but a few have committed to stick around to make sure engineering always has a seat at the table (a move I agree with).

The pulling donations thing is starting to happen. I know of one donor who personally met with Cowen and told him he's pulling his (multi-million dollar) endowment.

What I said about Larry Wink becoming a future member of TELF is looking like it will come true. He blasted TELF because he saw an early copy of the articles of incorporation. Now, he's changed his tune and is very supportive of TELF and will probably join us at the press conference.


It's all starting to materialize.
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
wwalkeri



Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 136

PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So what does all this mean for the future of Engineering at Tulane?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
wckirby



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 355
Location: New Orleans

PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Number of resignations to this point: 9.
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Save Tulane Engineering Forum Index -> Tulane Students, Faculty, Alumni All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group