RU Faculty oppose Amy Towers nomination to BOG :
- Thread starter Abro1975
- Start date
RU faculty is a joke. I love the quote from the prof about she's not qualified. Shows how little he knows about how boards operate.
Every school does this. She has been a great supporter and isn't even an alum. I'd say bring her on!
Every school does this. She has been a great supporter and isn't even an alum. I'd say bring her on!
The school is a joke and they just love tripping themselves up.
I'm not sure there are any Governor appointees to the BOG who have higher-education experience. (And I'm not sure the faculty would consider any experience relevant unless it was faculty experience.)
Given the choice of someone who has an interest in Rutgers vs someone who is just taking a political patronage position, I'd rather have someone who is interested in the University.
Certainly there could be a concern that someone who has donated a lot of money to the football program could be interested in only football at the expense of the rest of the university. But given her experience (as indicated in the article), I would not expect her to be unidimensional in her interests.
Given the choice of someone who has an interest in Rutgers vs someone who is just taking a political patronage position, I'd rather have someone who is interested in the University.
Certainly there could be a concern that someone who has donated a lot of money to the football program could be interested in only football at the expense of the rest of the university. But given her experience (as indicated in the article), I would not expect her to be unidimensional in her interests.
Im going to catch heat for what im about to say but here goes. Im 44 years old and my brother, sister and wife all graduated from RU. I went there for two years myself. I've vehemently argued the merits of the school academically and athletically for close to 3 decades. Sadly, i found myself pulling a complete 180 the last few years. Its not any one individual like Flood, Herman, Ash, Barchi or the BOG....its everyone. I find myself not only agreeing with the schools detractors but piling on as well from time to time. I apologize if this comes off as harsh to the schools many respected alumni but the school is a punch line and i won't send my kids there with so many other options available.
Is she interested in the University as a whole, or just the football team? That is a fair question.
And there is this from the story:
"Among their wide-ranging donations, the Towers family gave $50,000 to the state Democratic Committee in 2017."
"Towers, 49, was previously married to hedge fund billionaire Larry Robbins."
So, what does she bring to the Board of Governors in terms of experience?
Everyone, huh? Overgeneralize much?
Please elaborate why you feel this way about the following faculty members:
Joseph R. Bertino
Helen M. Berman
Janne Lindqvist
Ronke Olabisi
George Tsilomelekis
Lev Borisov
Feng Luo
Stephen Miller
Chenjerai Kumanyika
Cheryl A. Wall
Martin L. Yarmush
Jochen Hellbeck
Gabriel Kotliar
Jeff Kahn
Alex Kontorovich
Natasa Sesum
Natan Andrei
AaronManish
Chhowalla Mazzeo
The self-loathing of our alums never ceases to amaze.
You won't send your kids there because RU is a punch line for sports? Aren't students there for an education?
The Rutgers faculty would rather have a Penn State booster on the BOG.
Nothing is the honest answer. I speak often to neighbor 2 houses down the street. She a professor in the arts department. The BOG are educators not business leaders or in her case a political, individual who has wealth.
JMO
From the article: her experience running a multi-billion dollar financial institution and managing philanthropic and humanitarian aid programs across the globe
She also sits on the Rutgers Board of Overseers.
I don't know anything about her, so maybe her experience is being overblown. But since the faculty objection is lack of higher ed experience, not lack of overall experience, without further research I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.
But there are business leaders such as Greg Brown. And lawyers, and nobody likes lawyers. But I tend to agree with you.
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bravo to RU Faculty ! She has no experience or credentials to serve in that role
On the other hand, it's an open question as to whether it is desirable to have a politically aligned person and major donor to a party (regardless of which party) on the BOG. Do we want the Governor stacking the board with political cronies? This complaint has been raised about Hobbs' appointment.
That's pretty harsh don't ya think? Jeff put up alot of money to help the students athletes have better facilities and help RU football improve towards B1G type standards... and that's your response? What's that saying about the coffee pot calling a kettle something?
did the RU faculty bitch when Gregg Brown was placed on the BOG?
I wonder if the Towers(dont like their political connections) made a contribution to a RU faculty scholarship or gift to faculty pet project,if they would still object?
If putting her on BOG means she will push to keep Ash as coach,then I do see their objections!
You could say this about almost every school. Higher education is totally broken and can't sustain itself economically. We are finally seeing a push back about costs and it's going to have a huge effect going forward. Lots of schools will fold or be forced to consolidate, imo. This will take some time but the signs are all there .
That's pretty typical of a couple of posters here. We'll soon see the AshError posters chiming in. The article also mentions how Jeff Towers gave $1M to raise Flood's salary, and then he was going to be hired in a recruiting role.
Jeff Towers seems to be all in to trying to help Rutgers succeed as a B1G football team, and that is admirable. Whether it merits a family appointment to the BOG is a completely separate question.
In other posts, we have people saying everyone and the faculty at Rutgers are a joke. But this is the world we live in. Rather than debating the merits of both sides of an issue, "arguments" devolve into name-calling and denigrating others. Sad!
We need more Amy Towers on the BOG..the rest of the country that gives a shot about sports have several Amy Towers only at Rutgers do we argue against athletic supporters
That anyone on this board has an issue with her on the BOG shows some dont have the will to ever want to truly succeed in athletics
That anyone on this board has an issue with her on the BOG shows some dont have the will to ever want to truly succeed in athletics
Excluding faculty representatives, who can't vote, that doesn't appear to be true at all.
https://governingboards.rutgers.edu/board-governors/board-governors-membership-photos-bios
That's a different question. The fact is the Governor gets to appoint members to the BOG, so they are political appointees. In almost every state, the state university board is exclusively or close to exclusively political appointees. At least at Rutgers, the political appointees are only one-half plus one. The remainder of the BOG is selected by the Board of Trustees.
Members of the BOG serve on various committees such as, Investment, Audit, HR, Finance, Building & Grounds, etc. The skills required to run a very large university are similar to the skills required of board members of any corporation. Hardslide21 wrote earlier - " The BOG are educators not business leaders or in her case a political, individual who has wealth". Educators are the last people I would appoint to the BOG of any university.
Yale University has a typical Board composition that is mostly made up of business leaders, lawyers, and other professionals. Princeton's Board has a similar composition. Take look at the bios of the members of the Yale Board;
https://www.yale.edu/board-trustees/current-trustees
Yale University has a typical Board composition that is mostly made up of business leaders, lawyers, and other professionals. Princeton's Board has a similar composition. Take look at the bios of the members of the Yale Board;
https://www.yale.edu/board-trustees/current-trustees
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jreinsdorf--anyone who agrees with your statement has an odd grudge against RU--you and posters who like your post seem to have hidden anti RU agendas especially since you're not just attacking RU sports but the school in general --"punch line ", my ass, when you say this about the school as a whole--you are wrong, uninformed, prejudiced ,petty and others who agree with you are obviously not fans of our school--how did RU "slight " you guys------and for the academic elites who don't want her on the board, you just made the point why she should be appointed
And what was Kate Sweeney's experience running a University before she got on the board? Being an Alumnus? Or was it being a financial advisor with an emphasis on individuals experiencing sudden wealth such as winning the lottery or selling a business.
Face it the faculty would only be happy when every single one of the BOG members was a faculty member so they could vote themselves all raises. Then they'll bitch that there's not enough seats for them all to fit their fat ass's on.
I’m sure the objection is due to her athletic interest. If she donated a bunch to academics, she would be qualified.
are you saying Kate Sweeney ,who pushed Julie Hermann as AD and then issued the famous "'we did it"" quote was a political appointment and not qualified?
LOL.
I’m just wondering why you are still here? We’ll welcome you back when sports get better. Btw, I don’t hire people based on their college teams.
The way you change culture is by bringing in people like Towers. I’ll acknowldge she doesn’t have the pedigree of traditional educators, etc, to be on the BOG. But, she could become a force within the BOG to push the school to support the athletic department that way many of us believe it should. I’m ok trading off one position on the BOG from a traditional academic appointment to someone who understands the value in having successful athletics.
If you don’t support Towers you’re basically saying that you’re ok with no change ever being made.
If you don’t support Towers you’re basically saying that you’re ok with no change ever being made.
If the faculty did some research, they would realize that Amy Towers could do more to elevate Rutgers than almost anyone else.
Look at her humanitarian achievements including funding for the Mercury Fund for Emergency Response for assistance in early stages of disasters and humanitarian crisis. She received the UNICEF Audrey Hepburn award for work in Niger, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Darfur, Somalia, and Zimbabewe. She donate a couple of million dollars to Teach for America and a million dollars to provide assistance to children in Zimbabwe. She has been on the Board of Human Rights Watch, The US Fund for UNICEF, KIPP Academy, Mana Nutrition. Her support of humanitarian causes far exceeds her support for Rutgers.
Yes, she supports Rutgers Athletes. As a Wisconsin graduate, she understands the value of college athletes and how it elevates the entire University.
I urge everyone to write to your legislators to support Amy Towers. If we want Rutgers to be a truly elite University in all areas, we need her knowledge and support. This is an opportunity to make Rutgers great!
Look at her humanitarian achievements including funding for the Mercury Fund for Emergency Response for assistance in early stages of disasters and humanitarian crisis. She received the UNICEF Audrey Hepburn award for work in Niger, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Darfur, Somalia, and Zimbabewe. She donate a couple of million dollars to Teach for America and a million dollars to provide assistance to children in Zimbabwe. She has been on the Board of Human Rights Watch, The US Fund for UNICEF, KIPP Academy, Mana Nutrition. Her support of humanitarian causes far exceeds her support for Rutgers.
Yes, she supports Rutgers Athletes. As a Wisconsin graduate, she understands the value of college athletes and how it elevates the entire University.
I urge everyone to write to your legislators to support Amy Towers. If we want Rutgers to be a truly elite University in all areas, we need her knowledge and support. This is an opportunity to make Rutgers great!
looks like the biggest disqualifying factor for the professorship is the word "football". If she wasn't a booster and had those qualifications they would be all lining up to welcome her in. Now you can argue whether they are right or not as to not wanting someone tied to the FB program but people here along with the educators who are saying she isn't qualified are deluding themselves as to the real reason why people are lining up against her.
So I'll ask the real question which is up for debate. Is it good to have a major FB booster on the BOG?
So I'll ask the real question which is up for debate. Is it good to have a major FB booster on the BOG?
So donate millions of dollars to improve facilities, build a program, and attract better recruits makes people morons? We need more morons around here.
I was not a fan of Jeff Towers being so all in on Flood but apparently he has seen the light on Ash.
The BOG and most BOGs have political appointed business leaders like Greg Brown.
Unfortunately I think the faculty likes to hear themselves speak sometimes. She seems like a good choice.
The BOG and most BOGs have political appointed business leaders like Greg Brown.
Unfortunately I think the faculty likes to hear themselves speak sometimes. She seems like a good choice.
What about Zoffinger? PSU booster, political appointee.. and d-bag extraordinaire. Was there any faculty opposition for folks like him?
Look at Amy Towers' wiki
She is a proven investor in Rutgers sports at a minimum. Shows positive interest toward Rutgers. At a minimum this support means less support needed by University dollars.
Has a finance and banking and philanthropy background.. I don't get it the opposition. Does the faculty just want their own kind on the BOG? There is no faculty or students on the BOG now... they have their input to the BOG through different means. And as faculty they might know their subject and know how to teach it (one can hope).. but what do they know about running a multi-billion dollar organization?
Get a philanthropist with access to the community of billionaires onto the Rutgers BOG? Oh no.. what a terrible idea! Clearly this appointment could be a way to increase Rutgers ability to fund-raise... add expertise there. And its a Murphy appointment.. taking a politically appointed position and giving it to someone with a proven interest in Rutgers success.
I don't get the opposition. If anything, this opposition proves the faculty should have zero say as to who sits on the BOG.
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I’d be interested to know what schools are good enough for your kids? My guess is that outside of some other major state universities and some elite Harvard type schools, most likely nearly all the schools you come up with would LOVE to be Rutgers.
I like when my BOG people support the school and programs of the actual school they are BOG members and not the other way around.
As an alumnus with 10 other close relatives who are alumni, I want Amy Towers on the BOG. And more like minded people also. With all due respect, professors, we are alumni and boosters to this school we have a greater say in it's direction than you do.
