John Hughes leaving

cython wrote: »

Press in the above post? Hardly. It was the PR office from the Bangor university.

A simple enough explanation, without dragging the authorities here through the mud, could be that he was offered and accepted the job with Bangor before resigning here (I mean he wasn't going to resign before he had a job to go to, was he?), so Bangor likely knew about the move sooner. Therefore they announce it slightly ahead of when NUIM are actually able to.

That may not be what happened, but I think it's worth considering before blaming the entire administration here for not being first with the news of the move.

My comments are on the basis of past experience, and I am reasonably sure more than a few in senior admin knew of his intentions - my assumption, no evidence. Nor was I blaming the press; Bangor's PR office (or our comms equivalent) would have accepted a request to delay announcement before breaking the news to NUIM, which he evidently chose not to do.

Resignations and PR aside, they dont need this to drag themselves through the mud....

Nision wrote: »

" In his current University in Maynooth he revitalised the use of Irish on campus, and academic meetings in Maynooth can now be conducted bilingually," said the university. "

Eh, when did this happen?

They 'can' but aren't.

There's only 8 that are officially classed as universitys, DCU ,UCD, UCC, NUIM, NUIG, UL, UD and TCD. Not sure how they do their rankings, maybe all 3rd level institutes are all thrown in together to make up the list.

clikityclak wrote: »

Joining the popular vote Mark Boyle for pres... he actually gives a sh1t about the student body, SOUND man

Awww yeaaaah I love that man!

Really is a decent, hard working man. Takes great interest in the well being of students and a real hard worker. Nawww, would love to be in any University if he were El Presidente.

I think Prof. Tom Collins is the man for the new job...charismatic, innovative, with vast experience garnered across a range of academic departments within Maynooth, and a number of years as Director of Dundalk Institute. I hope he puts his name in the hat!! Go Tom Collins!!

EyesLeft wrote: »

Don't be silly, or put another way, illustrate your statement with real world examples!

Certainly.

County Managers spring to mind immediately ... since the 10 year contracts were introduced for them, very few of them have actually served 10 years or near it in post unless they were due for retirement at the end of that contract.

The (relatively) new Kildare Co. Manager is a case in point ... he would have been 6 / 7 years in Kilkenny previously to being appointed to Kildare.

EyesLeft wrote: »

Not easy to find one, the only close one I can think of is Sarah Palin and the Governship of Alaska and I can assure you the words quitter and debacle were often used.

In Palin's case one can see why, however you are comparing apples and oranges. There is a difference between seeking election to high office for a specific term, and a contract in a University, in the public service or indeed a commercial company for a set term.

EyesLeft wrote: »

... not leave early for a comparable job while giving little enough notice that an interim has to be appointed.

While I certainly agree that it would be better if that was not the situation, and a smoother transition is both desirable and more common, the current scenario is not as unusual as you seem to think.

Nor will the University come tumbling to the ground as a result ... the President, though pivotal obviously, is only one person. Far better to have an acting President pro tem than to rush the process and not get the best person for the job in the long run.

Why isn't it a comparable job?

County Managers control in general bigger budgets and more staff; both they and University Presidents work in the "public service" widely defined; the move to restrict them to 10 year contracts would have been introduced at roughly the same time as the move to similarly restrict the duration of contracts for University Presidents.

Earlier today, you were telling us that the only "close ... real world example" you could think of was Sarah Palin ... now County Managers have less in common with University Presidents than do Governors of Alaska?!

As we have a very small number of Universities in Ireland, and the restricted contracts for most if not all of those were only introduced in 1997, it is hardly surprising that there are no comparable examples here. I have certainly heard of some in England and the US over the years, but I'm afraid I didn't file the exact details under "essential-to-know trivia" ... nor do I intend to bother my head researching the matter for the purposes of what is at best a vaguely relevant tangent to a thread on a discussion forum on the internet.

EyesLeft wrote: »

Look I used the alaska example to show how far you had to go to find an example ...

Except ... I didn't even have to go outside the county, let alone outside the country.

EyesLeft wrote: »

... country managers might serve the same satirical intent, but I don't think that's your intention.

It wasn't, and I doubt that anyone but you would even entertain the possibility that the example used might be intended to be satirical, given that it is quite pertinent.

EyesLeft wrote: »

If you want to argue against the use of the words quitter and debacle, find an example from the academy!

I'd prefer to let my less opinionated readers judge for themselves rather than wasting any more time arguing with you, and thus compound my initial error in rising to your bait in the first place.