Goodbye Ferdinand!

Urizen

So, Professor Brian MacCraith gets inaugurated as our new President in the morning. Ferdinand von Prondzynski has done an excellent job. I assume I'm not alone in saying that he's been fantastic. Here's hoping that our new Prez can match, if not exceed, the standard that's been set for him.

So welcome to Brian, and a heartfelt goodbye to Ferdinand. Live long and prosper man.

Also, Ferdinand sent around a lovely email earlier, made me aww

Diarmsquid

Urizen wrote: »

So, Professor Brian MacCraith gets inaugurated as our new President in the morning. Ferdinand von Prondzynski has done an excellent job. I assume I'm not alone in saying that he's been fantastic. Here's hoping that our new Prez can match, if not exceed, the standard that's been set for him.

So welcome to Brian, and a heartfelt goodbye to Ferdinand. Live long and prosper man.

Also, Ferdinand sent around a lovely email earlier, made me aww

What exactly has he done?

I'm not trying to diss the man here, having never had any encounters with him. I'm just wondering how he has earned so much street cred.

H2G2

Diarmsquid wrote: »

What exactly has he done?

I'm not trying to diss the man here, having never had any encounters with him. I'm just wondering how he has earned so much street cred.

Very good question..

I think he got lots of student street cred from being student accessible on Facebook, beebo, being a blogger, etc. But what is his real lasting legacy I wonder?

wanderinglost

<snip>

hardybuck

Seems like a decent guy who values communication with students, but he did cost the college quite a bit of money by taking and losing high profile court cases recently.

spudz22

wanderinglost wrote: »

Interesting email that went to the staff list.

who wrote that big long spiel?

Bookworm Dublin

First, thanks for kind remarks re: music, as I was involved with that! But I have to express my disappointment with the main point of the post. Given that the ceremony took almost 2 hours in total, the majority of which was secular and surely inoffensive to any creed, was it so intolerable that a few minutes of that time was spent acknowledging the many creeds that are represented in DCU? Remember that DCU has close academic ties with Mater Dei and All Hallows - are we supposed to discreetly ignore that, as something faintly embarrassing and best kept quiet?

I don't think any assumption was made that "the voices of the combined
religions and cultures somehow encompassed the world views of us all". But they represent a significant portion of our population and the population of DCU. Allow us a voice. This is, after all, a country that claims to be tolerant and to respect free speech. Increasingly I find that, if the subject matter is religious, that toleration is often difficult to find. Like children, those with religious beliefs are expected to be seen and not heard. Or, worse, not seen and not heard.

Urizen

Diarmsquid and H2G2, the most convenient answer to your question is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Prondzynski. You'll find something to satisfy you there.

stringy

Diarmsquid wrote: »

What exactly has he done?

I'm not trying to diss the man here, having never had any encounters with him. I'm just wondering how he has earned so much street cred.

University rankings are for the most part flawed but they tell some kind of story...

DCU ranks 279th, only 4 universities aged under 30 years are in the top 300, only one of those is in Europe, yes, us, DCU - great achievement.

DCU also pulls in the most money in research grants comparative to its size in Ireland.

They're just two achievements.

From today's IT, "Ferdinand von Prondzynski, perhaps the best-known university president in the State, ..... Prof von Prondzynski’s high profile has helped the university to punch above its weight in terms of national publicity."

Well done Ferdinand, and all the best in the future.


ps as for the staff email complaining about the tiny blessing, f'ck right off. I was at the ceremony, it was no big deal (and I'm not even religious)

public_enemy

Urizen wrote: »

Diarmsquid and H2G2, the most convenient answer to your question is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Prondzynski. You'll find something to satisfy you there.

Citation needed.

adamski8

well all ill remember the guy for is giving us at graduation a 20min speech on why we should vote yes on lisbon, totally out of place. Never liked him from what I saw of him, seems up his own arse.
Prof McCraith is genuinely nice though and improve our science departments

Grudaire

I liked Ferdie, I disagreed with 90% of what he argued for, but he was a brilliant speaker, and did a very good job of leading DCU.

Daysha

Guys, do not post the contents of staff emails here. They're kept within staff circles for a reason, and letting the entire world read them on a public forum isn't one of them. Thanks.

MonaghanPenguin

adamski8 wrote: »

well all ill remember the guy for is giving us at graduation a 20min speech on why we should vote yes on lisbon, totally out of place. Never liked him from what I saw of him, seems up his own arse.
Prof McCraith is genuinely nice though and improve our science departments

That wasn't Ferdinand that was David Byrne DCU's chancellor.

Bluetonic

Daysha wrote: »

Guys, do not post the contents of staff emails here. They're kept within staff circles for a reason, and letting the entire world read them on a public forum isn't one of them. Thanks.

It's in the public domain now, quoted at least if not in full content.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/dcu-staff-embroiled-in-mail-dispute-over-prayer-for-president-2263319.html

Cy_Revenant

Bluetonic wrote: »

It's in the public domain now, quoted at least if not in full content.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/dcu-staff-embroiled-in-mail-dispute-over-prayer-for-president-2263319.html

Starting an article with a lower case letter, quality editing there.

Bluetonic

Cy_Revenant wrote: »

Starting an article with a lower case letter, quality editing there.

In fairness it's the Independent, they probably spent most of the time spelling academic.

Fiftysix

Jesus, it was clearly a slow day for news....

adamski8

MonaghanPenguin wrote: »

That wasn't Ferdinand that was David Byrne DCU's chancellor.

I disagree, I dont recall ever seeing that david guy

monument

Fiftysix wrote: »

Jesus, it was clearly a slow day for news....

Making a non-religious event overly religious in a publicly-funded university is not acceptable to many people. Clearly some DCU staff have this view too.

And, as for slow news day -- it's Sunday, it was not written today.

Fiftysix

it was still put in, hence making it a slow day......

stringy

monument wrote: »

Making a non-religious event overly religious in a publicly-funded university is not acceptable to many people. Clearly some DCU staff have this view too.

And, as for slow news day -- it's Sunday, it was not written today.

were you there?!

it wasn't overly religious at all, it wasn't even very religious, it was more of a short non-descript blessing.

this whole thing has been completely blown out of proportion!

monument

Fiftysix wrote: »

it was still put in, hence making it a slow day......

Please do explain why you think the article is not newsworthy.

stringy wrote: »

were you there?!

it wasn't overly religious at all, it wasn't even very religious, it was more of a short non-descript blessing.

this whole thing has been completely blown out of proportion!

First off, I most likely would use the phrase "overly religious" differently then you. My position is that religion has no place in these type of events -- if the religious people want to go away after these events, that's up to them, but to have religious elements in the centre of this type of an event is not on.

No, I wasn't there, but it seems that some members of staff disagree with you -- by their description of the event, I would have agreed with them.

A blessing, even if nondescript, still makes it religious. As Sheehan points to, as quoted in the article, it is missing the point to make an assumption that to be inclusive of religions solves anything.

adamski8

Also I heard from people that attended that it wasnt just a "blessing", the audience was asked to participate in the religious BS by having to say something similiar to "lord be with you" like the psalms at church. Thats not on at all. Maybe someone can tell me what exactly was said as I wasnt there.

I dont see why so many think its a non story, it clearly is a big deal to some and i think its this sort of attitude why even today the church has such an influence on secular society.

I'm very glad I didnt attend and have to listen to that and I know of another staff memebe that attended who isnt irish and they were shocked to see religion being part of a university ceremony.

It is a complete embarrasement and I think the fact most people seem to think it isn't a big deal is even more embarrasing.

Cy_Revenant

You're easily embarrassed.

adamski8

adamski8 wrote: »

Also I heard from people that attended that it wasnt just a "blessing", the audience was asked to participate in the religious BS by having to say something similiar to "lord be with you" like the psalms at church. Thats not on at all. Maybe someone can tell me what exactly was said as I wasnt there.

I dont see why so many think its a non story, it clearly is a big deal to some and i think its this sort of attitude why even today the church has such an influence on secular society.

I'm very glad I didnt attend and have to listen to that and I know of another staff memebe that attended who isnt irish and they were shocked to see religion being part of a university ceremony.

It is a complete embarrasement and I think the fact most people seem to think it isn't a big deal is even more embarrasing.

<mod>Deleted.:rolleyes:</mod>

sasser

It was "Blessed Be God". I would love to know who thought it was appropriate. All quiet from the new president, no response re staff emails sent around.