| It is time people started to ask serious questions about why UMass is so mismanaged. My H and I are former employees of the university; we have been gone for a number of years and don't follow the shenanigans too closely, but it seems the problems are worsening. We arrived there as outsiders, not from the northeast or the east coast university world. What we discovered is that UMass is full of administrators and professors who would rather be in Boston or even New Haven. They have accepted positions in Amherst because it allows them to be in relatively close proximity to the coast. Many of them end up spending much of their time and a heck of a lot of psychic energy NOT in Amherst.
In many cases, the paper qualifications of the faculty are superior to those of other mid-ranked public universities; lots of Ivy PhDs, some MIT PhDs, etc. Often these are people who just don't want to leave the east, but they have no actual emotional investment in making Big Public U work. It is pathetic how many live very far from campus. They leave on Friday for the Cape, and are not particularly accessible to students. They don't get involved in fixing the overwhelming problems because, frankly, they don't really care.
Angry about what is happening? You bet. When we finally couldn't take the attitude anymore, we left. Like a lot of others.
Amherst is a great place. The area is wonderful. Many of the undergraduates are very good students, and some go on to great things. I've gone on and on in the past about not using the phrase ZOO Mass because it is so disrespectful to the serious students who are trying to ignore the nonsense, but perhaps the further decline leaves everyone no choice but to be disrespectful.
What a shame. But guess what? No one in power in Boston cares. They are all alums of the private universities and colleges. |