University administrators allow students into a building containing exposed asbestos

When I worked at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, in spring 2022 the vice president of enrollment management moved the career center (at the time, one person, me, although that's another story) into Grossnickle Hall. As you can see from the attached pictures there were broken tiles on the floor outside my office, and an entire section that that was broken but covered by a mat. I filed a complaint with the state of NJ; inspectors visited and tested the tiles for asbestos. The tests came back positive, and only then did the acting president bring in someone to repair the tiles. So for years NJCU had students coming in and out of classes in this building, and never bothered to repair the tiles. Former president Sue Henderson was too busy taking trips to China to pay attention to what existed on her own campus, and her vice presidents didn't care about the students, so this easily fixable situation went on.

A "job" as an administrator at a university

I've often wondered what some people actually do, in their jobs. Take, for example, someone with a title a title of "vice president of marketing and strategy" at a university. When this public university declares a financial crisis and announces they are $300 million in debt, what exactly was the "strategy?" Run the school into the ground? It's like these colleges are being run by crew members of the Exxon Valdez. College administrators wax poetic about their "strategies" and "visions." If they spend all their time being "thought leaders" how does a college end up being dissolved and taken over by another university? Whenever they talk about their "strategies," "missions," and other jargon, they are just covering up the fact that they don't do jack-squat in their jobs. They never taught a class or worked in student services. Then when there's a financial crisis, they say, "these things happen in business" - even when a university isn't a business - and they pretend that the people in charge had nothing to with the crisis. They should be ashamed of themselves.

University administrators wanted to spend taxpayer money on "space consultants"

When I worked at NJCU and they were in the midst of a hundred million dollar financial crisis, the vice president of administration and finance said he was going to hire "space consultants" to advise the university on the best use of the "space" in their buildings. How bizarre. The former president put the university into hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, and her vice presidents and board of trustees let it happen without saying anything, and then they're going to spend money to have someone else tell them how to best use the "space" on their own campus? Phew. This after they were begging the state of New Jersey to give them more of taxpayers' money to bail them out of the financial crisis. All the people who run this colleges with their PhD's, and they can't figure out themselves how to best utilize the buildings on their own campus?

College Administrators have B.S. jobs

Funny how when colleges and universities hire professors and staff the folks in charge of the hiring want candidates with degrees, credentials, experience, intangibles...the list goes one. Yet, these college administrator jobs don't require any real expertise in a certain area, and are often filled by the friend of another administrator, or for some sort of political or social reason. Like a Dean of the College of Professional Studies. at a university. That's a job you could have landed without any relevant experience or skills. Then when there's a financial emergency you could be involved in personnel decisions like layoffs of professors and staff, without any real knowledge of the situation. Basically you can be involved in ruining an organization and treating people like disposable objects without being qualified to make those decisions. You don't even have to be man enough to tell employees to their faces about the layoffs and why they're being done; just have HR send an email after hours.. Then a year later you can quit the job and move on. You get paid a lot of money to do nothing, other than mess up the lives of people who actually make a career out of helping students. But hey, that's the life of a college administrator.

Today's college students don't know what they're missing...

Today's college students don't know what they're missing. When I was in college there were organizations that anyone could join. Organizations like class one concerts, the college life union board, the Montclarion student newspaper, the yearbook, the literary magazine, the radio station. You didn't have to be a theater major to join Players, the acting organization. These were the types of groups that brought people together. There wouldn't be much for me to join if I was in college today. It seems like there's only special interest groups, and clubs that focus on religion, race, ethnic backgrounds, and other unique topics. I just wouldn't have been interested in being part of a Christian Fellowship, Muslim Student Association, or Jewish Student Union. There's nothing wrong with having those groups; I just don't know why they are the focus. Those are the types of organizations that separate people, not bring them together. Oh well. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

** FREE TIPS FOR ORGANIZATIONS CONDUCTING LAYOFFS ***

** FREE TIPS FOR ORGANIZATIONS CONDUCTING LAYOFFS *** If you have a fancy title like "Acting President," "Vice President of Marketing & Strategy," "Vice President of Administration & Finance" or "Chief of Staff & University Counsel," before sending a layoff notice by email, be a man and tell employees to their faces what you are doing and why. Don't be a coward. This is also for women who have titles like "Acting Provost," and "Associate Vice President for Human Resources." To hide behind an email is cowardly. You call yourselves "leaders" - try behaving like one. Also, you might want to tell the directors of your offices if you're laying off their staff, instead of letting the affected employees tell them after the fact. If you have a title like Associate Vice President of Human Resources you should know better. If you're a Provost and overseeing that area, to not tell directors what you're doing, I guess that's just laziness.

Ranking the Head Coaches in Minnesota Vikings history

How do they rank, from best to worst? 1) Bud Grant – 1967-1983, 1985 - An easy choice for the top spot, Grant served the most games as the Vikings’ head coach, from 1967-1983 and in 1985. His 1994 Hall of Fame induction was long overdue; he deserved to be enshrined within two years of his retirement in 1986. Grant’s regular season record was 158-96-5; his winning percentage of .622 ranks 13th all-time among NFL head coaches, ahead of Joe Gibbs, Hank Stram, and Mike Ditka. Grant’s teams won the NFC Central Division 11 times in his 18 years. He once stated, “Offense sells tickets but defense wins ballgames,” and his defenses were often ranked first in the league from 1968-1977, giving up the least points and yardage of any team. Grant’s 10-12 post-season record isn’t great, and the obvious blemish on his credentials is the Vikes’ four Super Bowl losses. Joe Kapp, quarterback of the 1969 team, stated that Grant didn’t have the team well-prepared to face the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV. There was also the release of Alan Page in 1978, with Page going on to have three more outstanding years with the Bears. Grant did benefit from some of former general manager Jim Finks’ excellent draft choices (outstanding players such as Carl Eller, Ron Yary, and Chuck Foreman, among others). Still, Grant pulled it all together and the team won games, often dominating their opponents. Successful players loved playing for Bud. 2) Kevin O’Connell – 2022 – present – With a 43-25 regular season record in four seasons, O’Connell’s .632 winning percentage places him first among all ten of the head coaches in Vikings history. He has done a decent job with the players he’s been given, and the team has been competitive in most games. He’s designed some innovative plays on offense, and the players seem to appreciate his positive attitude. Selected as the 2024 AP & PFWA NFL Coach of the Year, it looks like he will be the Vikings head coach for the foreseeable future, so we’ll see what happens. Having starters in the lineup every week instead of having play backups because of injuries would help things. 3) Mike Zimmer - 2014 - 2021 - In eight years at the helm Zimmer had a 72-56-1 record for a .562 winning percentage. He did a decent job with what he had, showed that he is a good judge of talent, and put players in situations where they can succeed (unlike Dennis Green and Brad Childress, among others). A former defensive coordinator, his schemes and gameplans worked well for the most part. In 2017 Minnesota’s defense ranked first in the NFL, allowing the fewest points and the least amount of yards. He never found an offensive coordinator that he was happy with, and did not seem to like to delegate authority to his assistant coaches, both of which which hindered the team’s success. He was also stuck with a general manager in Rick Spielman who didn’t draft the best players. 4) Jerry Burns – 1986 - 1991 - Grant’s longtime offensive coordinator, sometimes credited with creating the “West Coast offense,” Burns’ record of 52-43 and .547 winning percentage land him in the fourth spot. Burns worked from 1986-1991, with a 3-3 post-season record. The 1987 team destroyed the Saints and 49’ers in the playoffs before Darrin Nelson’s dropped pass in the NFC championship game against the Redskins ended the Vikes’ season. That was as close to the Super Bowl as the Vikes and been in ten years, and as close as they would get for another eleven. The 1988 team dominated during the season with 9 players being selected to the Pro Bowl, before losing to the 49’ers in the playoffs. Burns was sometimes criticized for being hands-off, not wearing a head-set and delegating too much authority to his assistant coaches, like offensive coordinator Bob Schnelker – but come on Burnsie, even I knew when the offense lined up a certain way that there was going to be a “shotgun draw” running play. (Ironically Schnelker, while a player, scored the Vikings first touchdown on a pass from Fran Tarkenton in 1961). Unfortunately Burns was also stuck with the results of owner/general manager Mike Lynn’s ridiculous Herschel Walker trade, and also should have been named head coach when Grant first retired in 1983 (another dumb move by Lynn, who instead named Les Steckel head coach). Most Vikings liked playing for Burnsie, and his teams’ success can’t be ignored. 5) Dennis Green – 1992 - 2001 - Most fans, even his critics, would place Green behind Grant in the number two slot on this list. His 97-62 regular season record, a .610 winning percentage, is certainly impressive. His first season in 1992 saw the Vikings improve to an 11-5 record, which is definitely an accomplishment, considering the shambles the team had been in at the end of 1991. I started to dislike Dennis in 1993 when he dumped offensive coordinator Jack Burns and made his pal Brian Billick coordinator. As the years went on Green surrounded himself with his cronies as assistant coaches, a couple of which were roundly criticized by players as unqualified (see defensive backs coach Richard Solomon). While his teams were playoff contenders every year, Green could hardly be considered a smart judge of talent. Even though he bragged about his “projects” they never amounted to much (offensive lineman Bernard Daffney, defensive end James Harris, among others) and this whole “coach’em up” concept is something I think can be silly and also annoys me about coaches in general. Who knows why, but Green didn’t get along with All-Pro guard Randall McDaniel, which is another thing I don’t get about coaches who never played professionally. If the guy is a great player…what’s your problem? Green dumped quarterbacks Rich Gannon and Brad Johnson, who both went on to have outstanding careers and won Super Bowls with Oakland and Tampa Bay, respectively. Instead Green chose to go with journeyman Sean Salisbury, washed up Jim McMahon, and choker Randall Cunningham as his quarterbacks at various points. (There’s no way Cunningham was going to repeat his 1998 performance in 1999). His drafting of defensive end Demetrius Underwood in the first round in 1999 was absurd, and not being aware of the late Korey Stringer’s physical condition in training camp in 2001 is inexcusable. While he didn’t miss the kick or make any of the stupid plays that cost the Vikings the NFC championship game against the Falcons after the 1998 season, “taking a knee” with the league’s best offense on the field with time left on the clock before halftime is unbelievable. Losing that game…all these years later, it’s still too much to think about. 6) Mike Tice – 2001 - 2005 - Tice did a decent job with the players he had, posting a 32-33 record and .492 winning percentage with a 1-1 playoff record that included a huge win against the Packers in 2004. Although he did make some questionable decisions in terms of player personnel, he probably would have gotten better with experience if he had stayed on the job. While maybe he wasn’t the right fit for the Vikings at the time, Tice seemed to be open with the media, and also reminded fans to “enjoy the season.” He seemed pretty organized and I thought he’d make a good head coach somewhere, even though former Vikes punter Mitch Berger reportedly referred to him as a “meathead” and he was implicated in a ticket scalping scam that cost him a $100,000 fine. 7) Brad Childress – 2006 - 2010 - Most fans might place Childress fourth on this list, after Grant, Green, and Zimmer. To me he doesn’t deserve to be ranked any higher, only lower. His 39-35 record and .527 winning percentage is misleading. The only reason the Vikings won a lot of games in 2009 is because Brett Favre had a great season. I knew the Vikes were in trouble when a few weeks after Childress was hired in 2006 I read in an interview that he’d rather draft a quarterback from a smaller school, “knock the edges off, and then in a few years you’ve got something.” Good grief. These coaches and their projects. It’s ridiculous. Childress was not a keen judge of talent; a lot of the players he had a hand in drafting or signing were not very good. Just look at the mess the team is in at the end of the 2011 season. He referred to the offense he designed as a “kick-ass offense” but it was usually more like the Vikings kicking themselves in the ass. I should probably blame the Wilfs, the owners who hired Childress in the first place. They brought him in to “clean things up and restore order” after the Love Boat scandal and other shenanigans going on the clubhouse, but in the end there was more turmoil and chaos with Childress in charge (see the Randy Moss trade/release and loss of a draft pick). In an interview former quarterback Gus Frerotte stated that Childress absolutely refused to allow his quarterbacks to call an audible at the line of scrimmage; Frerotte noted that now, as a high school coach, he even lets his quarterbacks call audibles. The thing that bothers me a lot though is the 12th man on the field fiasco at the end of the NFC championship game against the Saints after the 2009 season. Yes, the coaches don’t miss the blocks and tackles, fumble the ball, throw the interceptions, or miss calls like the referees do. But the penalty for having 12 men on the field…12 men on the field? That was just too much. How could that happen? Not to mention, you’ve got 23 assistant coaches helping you…and there’s 12 guys on the field? That is still unreal to me. To Childress’ credit, he did take responsibility for that disaster at a press conference in the days following the game. Oh well. So close to going to the Super Bowl, and yet another missed opportunity. In retrospect, the Wilfs could have went after Sean Payton or Mike McCarthy – both of whom became head coaches in 2006 as well and later went on to win Super Bowls with the Saints and Packers, respectively. Nice. 8) Norm Van Brocklin – 1961- 1966 - The first Vikings coach, his 29-51-4 record and .363 winning percentage don’t impress. Didn’t seem to be much of a judge of talent. Especially since he had a good quarterback in Fran Tarkenton but didn’t utilize him in the right way, or maybe just refused to. I’m assuming Van Brocklin’s in the Hall of Fame based on his career as a NFL quarterback in the 1950’s. Can’t be for anything he did with the Vikings, since he did nothing. 9) Leslie Frazier – 2010 - 2013 - It doesn’t seem like Frazier was in charge for three and a half seasons; it also feels like his 22-31-1 won-loss record and .398 winning percentage should have been better. Unfortunately he came into a chaotic situation, had little talent on the roster, and had a number of key players get injured during each season. Frazier seemed to delegate too much authority to coordinators who were conservative play callers. 10) Les Steckel – 1984 - probably the only worse season than 2011 in the Vikings history is 1984. Steckel’s old-school coaching methods turned off players from the start. Yelling like a marine drill sergeant didn’t work with professional football players. Players were worn out before midseason from all the hitting in training camp and practices. Steckel also made many questionable player personnel decisions, starting guys who wouldn’t have made other teams’ rosters. His 3-13 record included the Vikings being completely blown out on the field in some games. Les gained some measure of redemption in an odd way the following year in 1985. After being fired as the Vikings head man he became receivers coach for the New England Patriots – and went with them to Super Bowl XX. Seems like everyone gets a chance to go to the Super Bowl, except for the Vikings

** JOB OPENING ** - UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT IN NEW JERSEY

JOB OPENING ** University President ** REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS / SKILLS: None PREFERRED ACADEMIC BACKGROUND: - PhD in Higher Education Administration or other related useless field of study. - JD, with no experience in college teaching or college student services. PREFERED QUALIFICATIONS / SKILLS: - Ability to mismanage budgets. - Proficient in wasting the public's tax money. - Ability to conceive grandiose ideas that have no chance of success. - Proficient in not following agreements in legal contracts. - Skilled in creating new high paying jobs in the campus administration that are not needed and are of no benefit to students, such as Vice President of Global Initiatives, Vice President of Advancement, & Vice President of Enrollment Management. - Strong interest in developing relationships for no valid reason with communist countries such as China and Cuba. - Available to travel to China and spend taxpayer money for no valid reason. - Skilled in writing, utilizing big words in press releases to cover up the fact that you are not doing jack-squat. - Willingness to put students' health at risk by not repairing exposed asbestos tiles in a building, and later covering up knowledge of asbestos. - Proficient in giving Ted-Talk type speeches that in reality communicate nothing. - Belief that jobs that directly assist students such as career services are unnecessary. - Demonstration of strong leadership by showing complete lack of empathy and compassion for professional staff employees. - Ability to treat employees like they are nothing more than dog poop that you are scraping off the bottom of your shoe. - Strong cowardice skills, such as hiding behind emails to notify employees of job layoffs. - Previous job title of Vice President of Marketing & Strategy, Chief of Staff, or a similar unnecessary B.S. position preferred. ** AI generated resumes and cover letters expected. No need to have your own thoughts.