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Where we go from here

 
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wckirby



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

PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:22 pm    Post subject: Where we go from here Reply with quote

Dr. Cowen's talk today was downright insulting. I don't like damned yankees (no offense to the good northerners) talking down to me.

It was incredibly obvious that the meeting wasn't a Q&A session. It was his opportunity to convince us to give up. I can also tell that he's getting desperate. He's losing control. The more emphatic he gets, the less of a grip he has.

One other thing was incredibly obvious. He doesn't get it. Period. He doesn't get engineering and he doesn't get New Orleans. My comment about him understanding New Orleans like Michael Brown understands emergency management was the truth. Because he doesn't get it, I don't think there is any need to show up to any meetings he may have in the future.

Here's where I think we should go from here:

* Lead by example. Volunteer in the community. The contrast between the student involvement in Save Tulane Engineering and all the beer cups on Broadway is stark. Let's keep it up.

* Keep it up with the media. The administration keep treating the media like crooks, so when they get misquoted and stuff, they have nobody to blame but themselves. Also, each time I give an interview, I get a card with contact information from the reporter.

* Organize informational packets to debunk myths about engineering and explain our cause in detail. We back everything up with sources, numbers, and authority. Hand them out to all our media contacts and various interested parties (like David Filo).

* Dedicate your senior projects to New Orleans. Instead of working on the concrete canoe or the Mini-Baja, work on something practical for the city of New Orleans. Those projects will serve as a giant middle finger to the administration. When the national science media comes down, let's let them know about the cuts.

* Finish the paperwork for the 501(c)(3). After talking with David today, it's my understanding that we're just waiting on him to meet with a lawyer to sign a few papers and then the packet will go in the mail.


That's all I can think of now. Post more suggestions if you have them.
_________________
Clay Kirby
11th generation New Orleanian
4th generation Tulanian
Mechanical Engineering Class of '06
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Lee Hoffman



Joined: 16 Dec 2005
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two ideas:

One, you need to keep going to the meetings. First off to make sure that Cowen knows you're not going away and secondly to make sure that you know what lies are being spread (so you can defeat them).

Second, has anybody started canvassing the members of the University Senate to see what they think about all of this. My recollection is dim, however, I do believe that the University Senate will have to weigh in and approve all of this before it can become as "final" as Cowen is portraying it to be. Seems to me, the argument before the University Senate goes something along the lines of: 1) we thought there was going to be a huge financial exigency; 2) the numbers, however, are better than expected since more students returned and admission applications are up; so 3) if this is now no longer a question of finances, but one of strategic direction, let's give it a serious length of time and be deliberate in what we want our strategic direction to be, rather than emergency responses to catastrophes.

Doesn't that work on some level?
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