A bit awkward, this coming out not as a result of USM oversight of the system members…

What's that just peeking over the trees?

But not quite.

It’s construction on the new President’s Mansion, and as you see below it is coming along swimmingly.

Never mind staff furloughs. Think of all the construction jobs we're making!

The General Assembly is set to convene in special session starting tomorrow morning, and likely will implement a mug-the-rich plan to cover all the other expanded spending priorities (none of which unfortunately seem to involve paying full employee health benefits or effecting emergency repairs on classrooms.) We’ll soon know whether budget negotiators will reach a compromise – maybe they can raise taxes and implement more furloughs. But won’t the party for campus leadership just be grand when the check arrives from Annapolis and their new facility is done?

And if they let the foliage grow just a little more, then Presidential Partiers won’t be distracted by the sight of the great unwashed when they look back in our direction, in whose name they party.

The move itself is seriously troubling, as is made clear by quotes from proponents who obviously seem strongly interested in inviting complaints. “[I]t could result in an innocent person being found guilty. But I think sexual assault is such a big issue that it’s worth the risk.”

Really?

What happened to that old liberal mantra about better ten guilty men go free than one innocent person be jailed? That’s only for acts that aren’t really inappropriate in the eyes of those in charge, and pandering to victimhood is always fashionable in the eyes of campus leadership these days, so UM hews to the party line out of Washington. That’s where policy enforcement is driven by the mindset articulated by (now former) EPA administrator Al Armendariz, who famously stated:

“It was kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years. … So, that’s our general philosophy.”

The Obama administration – and now President Loh – is thus clearly inviting women who perceive they have been wronged, rightly or wrongly, to come forth so some men, guilty by gender even if not deed, can be made an example of.

We’re glad to see this get some attention, but on this reporting the DB still fell way short. It covered nothing of the national controversy which has grown around the Obama administration’s regulatory extortion, enacting as a funding requirement the mandate which no legislator could possibly get enacted into law because it doesn’t pass constitutional muster. (The DB instead portrays this as a routine regulatory change. It is anything but!)

The DB also gives no treatment to any question of process violations to enacting this change on campus. Apparently President Loh just did it. Informed readers would like to know when there was ever a discussion with the Senate (hint: there wasn’t) and if not, then why we have a Senate in the first place. Readers might like to hear about legal analysis from General Counsel which might have helped us understand the campus legal exposure to actually using this unsupportable standard. It may sound trendy and uplifting to some now, but it will sure suck if the university loses a huge lawsuit for erring in a determination after following extra-legal procedures. Are we at risk? (Hint: we likely are.)

No, in this matter President Loh again shows he will roll for politicians faster than a $3 hooker rather than ask hard questions, stand up for standards we ostensibly believe in (as articulated in the strategic plan), and build community by engaging those who work and live on our campus. And you would never notice such things by reading the Diamondback or Faculty Voice.

Yes, there again is the write up of our allocation of millions for buying out coach contracts, build-out of elite sports-boxes at the stadium (that we can’t fill), and sacrifice of other sports programs on the altar of football. President Loh is on his way to building quite a national reputation!

Specter made an early name for himself by famously insisting that it is okay for campus officials to plagiarize documents from other campuses in our official publications. As such, his role as the point man on projects like this mean they start under a cloud of credibility issues on day one. The process revealed today only confirms the fears of skeptics who believe that integrity matters.

Well that’s comforting.

Leadership will actually be relieved if the community can focus concerns over things like the iconic traffic circle on campus, since that can be moved for comparatively little expense, and the whole time people blather about that they will not be protesting against the far greater problems we will experience from Metro’s unprecedented at-grade crossings embedded in a pedestrian-rich environment like a college campus. Wait until they lay on you that, for safety, maybe they better put up safety barriers after all, cutting the campus in half.

But no worries. Carlo will surely emerge to tell us that is an “enhancement” too. That’ll make it all better.

The author, commentator Walter Russell Mead, refers chiefly to everyone surrounding the students over their formative years, showering them lots of positive, uplifting but otherwise meaningless praise about their abilities, achievements and potential – all of which its the wall when they must compete in an objective arena where good try might not be good enough.

But that’s where we come in. At University of Maryland, you can keep living the dream! Yes, our Admissions operation is staffed entirely by people unrelated to that pesky business of creating successful outcomes, so there is no danger of bumping into a real scholar who might inadvertently leak news about the emperor’s fine clothes. (Don’t worry if you don’t understand that reference. You’re swell just the way you are!) At College Park, we accept people who lack preparation for our programs, and are careful to ensure enough well-prepared students are turned away so everyone will know how important we are.

How can this work? We’re living the dream ourselves! We’re the state’s flagship campus, and we’re spectacular.

Let’s just not look too closely at how much more than that the campus just spent on public relations consultants and expenses so that $10k could be given out. But hey, don’t we feel good this morning?

Kevin Bacon helping us overspend tax dollars to show how selfless we are, Angela Davis speaking in the dean’s lecture series in the evening of the same day … is there some kind of pattern here?

Congrats to Freeman on yet another well-deserved recognition!