(this Installment revised 8.15 after original posting on 8.14)
Hello THUGGIES!
Pardon the delay in posting, but we've been up to lots of meetings with investigative authorities who read THUG and feel it's now time to use our THUG Team's evidence and tips and insights in order to hold folks responsible for "conduct unbecoming".Could be a whole lot of ill-gotten gains will be recovered as well, which would be very good news for the public universities and private individuals who were ripped off.
More on all that in future postings.
But today we have a special, short, warm-up hello and welcome back to the Fall Semesters and University Convocations.
The shift of Fieldon King Alexander from CSULB to LSU has opened a search for a President at CSULB, even as the Provost Donald Para (no stranger to these THUG pages) has been upped to Interim President for the duration of the search.
Meanwhile, CSULB and the CSU have announced that the Presidential search at CSULB will be done in secret, much as the King's search was handled at LSU (despite laws and court rulings to the contrary).
The good news is that THUG has a plan certain to change the search process at CSULB, and we will announce that with much fanfare next week, but first we thought you'd enjoy the following quote (with bold emphasis added):
"You can have a search as long as you want it or you can have a search as short as you want it. I think that it is a perfect time to get candidates on campus, to identify some candidates to get a pool of 8 to 10 people that you would like to take a look at by the end of January or February. There are a lot of good candidates out there looking, they flooded other applicant pools at other institutions and you want some of them to come here. It is very feasible that you could bring them in here in late March or April.
"I think it's important that the students get to know these people, and it's important that the administrative staff gets to hear the philosophy these candidates may have about higher education. It differs all over the United States.
"I think it is a good time to make a decision. Most of the academic years will end about May 15 or May 20, most people that make transitions will occur around that period and they will start July 1 in their new campuses around the country. I think with the right time line this Board can stick to that schedule to identify some top quality candidates and have them on campus so everyone gets to know them and have someone identified by July 1."
Ok THUGGIES, who said that?
Don't cheat by scrolling -- guess first, please!
Ready for the answer now?
That quote comes from none other than the Ersatz Highness Himself, Fieldon The King Alexander, taken verbatim from the Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of Regents of Murray State University on October 30, 2005, when the King was advising MSU on how to find a new President to replace him after he would leave for CSULB a couple of months later.
Re candidates: "I think it's important that the students get to know these people, and it's important that the administrative staff gets to hear the philosophy these candidates may have about higher education."
Hold on, hold on, just one darn second, what's that you say? Isn't this the very same Fieldon King Alexander who told the LSU Reveille newspaper earlier this year that he would not have allowed his name to be considered by the LSU Presidential Search Committee if he hadn't been guaranteed confidentiality? Isn't this the very same Man Who Would Be King who told the Reveille "the (LSU) Board's just been put in a very difficult situation of identifying people and bringing them in. If you bring them in, there's the potential for them to lose their jobs."
Yes, children, it is the very same chap who prefers a title to a name.
Why the change of heart and mind, Kingster? Only moments before applying to LSU you went up for the CSU Chancellorship and got shot down in flames, but you persevered (and sold your soul to Bobby Jindal) and wound up with a better deal. Meanwhile, you endlessly regale everyone with your belief that Presidents in public education should be paid like CEOs in private enterprise.
So, since the competition for those private sector jobs is exactly what drives up those salaries, shouldn't candidates for Public University President jobs face the same scrutiny?
Are you afraid of scrutiny, King? Not afraid to subject others to it, just afraid for yourself? (Those are rhetorical questions; we already know the answers. After all, you're the person who files false police reports and lawsuits in order to intimidate critics, even as a Federal court in Kentucky found there was sufficient evidence to proceed against you for retaliatory defamation and your school then settled the claim with a pay-out.)
THUG thinks that anyone in public life should face more scrutiny, not less. And that there should be even more oversight and review of job performance.
Whether public or private, seeking to "move on up" carries risk that is then compensated by reward for those who succeed. Is that not the American way?
Or should we tell our students that if they don't get an "A" their name will be expunged from the course records and they can take the class over with none the wiser, that only success will be recorded? No one must know if we fail! Is that what you mean to be teaching our students? Because that is the lesson of this job-search confidentiality madness.
Is that the point, King-baby, that the only thing you now personally espouse is guaranteed, riskless success? And, if so, would that be because your MSU Presidency was handed you by your father and your CSULB Presidency was handed you by your godfather the Chancellor and your LSU Presidency was handed you by a Governor who needs a perfectly slick, New Age Quisling? And then you finally get tenured without a real tenure review. Wow. You've never actually succeeded at anything other than expectation.
Why you believe in that entitlement -- an entitlement completely untethered from actual accomplishment -- is a matter between you and your family, and should not be our problem. But clearly you know no other way because you've had no other experience.
So the real question is not why you hold your current philosophy, it's how did you ever hold otherwise? Were Martians speaking through you at the MSU BOR meeting? Were you drunk? Were you just plain lying? Seriously -- who was that man who momentarily said something that actually made sense? Clearly not Fieldon I Am The King Alexander. Thank The Good Lord you've now completely recanted and the Earth can spin on its axis of misplaced Alexander ego once again.
THUG brings you these thoughts today.
And tomorrow is another day.
Please stay tuned. We'll be talking about (and showing you!) some documents CSULB recently gave to THUG. In them, some false declarations about a very big donation, signed and sworn to by The King Who Must Not Be Named.
Dear Readers, please check back with THUG every few days, as we endeavor to publish shorter Installments more frequently and more responsively to other press and to reader comments and information.
Sleep. Conjecture. Research. Post questions and comments below, or e-mail us at info@thugthebook.com.
It is not just that only the truth will set us free, it's that no matter how fast you run, in the end you cannot hide.
And for some, this will be the end.
THUG The Book Is designed so you can read the Installments in any order you want.
Installment Eleven - If A Para Falls In The Forest, Does Anyone Care?
Installment Ten - Cookin' The Books Alexander Style
Installment Nine - The Riddle of The Stinks
Installment Ten - Cookin' The Books Alexander Style
Installment Nine - The Riddle of The Stinks
THUG The Book and all the foregoing material is
copyrighted for all purposes in all media
-- all rights reserved by Brian Alan Lane -- 2022
All original documents have been maintained and are available by justified written request to: Michael J. Olecki, Esq. -- Grodsky and Olecki -- 2001 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 210, Santa Monica CA 90403
Please comment and interact.
I love the new orange cover, Brian. Reminds me of those orange prison jumpsuits.
ReplyDeleteAre the alleged crimes serious enough to earn prison time? So far all I've seen is evidence of things that might seem horrid to some academics, related to the Oxford Round Table and vanity publication vita filler, but are of little concern to the general public. A lot of academics would take the stand and testify this sort of stuff is simply business as usual at LSU. The only serious matter seems to be possible back taxes and penalties owed, which could be negotiated down to a fraction of actual. Or is there more to all of this?
ReplyDeleteExcellent question, and the fact that I am not allowed to answer it at this time should tell you that it's basically like asking if Bernie Madoff was just a lousy investment advisor. Yes, there is more to this than anyone in their right mind could ever imagine. If you pitched it to Hollywood, they'd tell you no one would believe it. Of course, when you prove it's true, it confirms that the truth of human beings is indeed stranger, wilder, and more fascinating than fiction. In the end, this isn't about the substance of academia at all; academia merely provided an unfettered venue from which these bad folks did myriad bad things. Your reasoning gives us the perfect explanation: no one takes academia seriously, it's just a little world unto itself where petty people do petty things. Therefore, what better place to use as your home for committing real world crimes? Once you tell yourself that the bad guys here have the same mentality as street thugs knocking over mini-marts, imagine that mentality in the academic environment and you'll see they are stealing candy from fearful babies. Oh yes, there is more to all this.
DeleteThere are definitely some folks in this yarn who you will soon see wearing ill-fitting orange, chained at the ankles, and picking up litter on the side of the highway.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNEW INSTALLMENT THUG 9 is in final stages of lay-out! Lots of docs. And, quite honestly, if the revelations and admissions in THUG 9 aren't enough to shake up the LSU Board, then they deserve every legal consequence that's going to rain down on them. I mean, fine, be political, just don't be stupid. In light of new docs sent us by readers a few hours ago, we are taking a few extra hours to post, so expect to see THUG 9 "live" later this afternoon! (Might be sooner, but giving ourselves room for tech glitches -- as you know, we try to insure that our posted docs link for best resolution viewing.) Stay tuned -- THUG 9 is today!!!
ReplyDeleteWE ARE ABOUT TWO HOURS AWAY FROM TOUCHDOWN FOR THUG 9, THE GAME CHANGER! Final final final tech issues and testing re document lay-out. Please bear with us. We have been pushing the tech envelope of Blogger's capacities, and we thank Blogger and Google for their evolving support. Tick tock. Stay tuned! Pour a stiff one at dinner and read THUG 9.
ReplyDeleteNo. 9 was good, but sorry -- No. 8 wasn't worth publishing. All you've got here is enough for a few paragraphs of sidebar in a full installment. Good to see you back at it after such a long layoff though. I frickin' love this stuff.
ReplyDelete