Concerned for damage to core curriculum
Having been a WVU professor emeritus for 25 years, I have had abundant contact with former students.
Many of them found work and career opportunities outside their undergraduate major. And most of those with whom I am in touch clearly benefited from the “liberal and liberating” education that WVU provided them.
I am distressed at the “downsizing” that has gone on at WVU and am concerned that the core curriculum, as well as a number of career-oriented majors, are being or have been severely crippled. My hope is that the damage stops now, before more programs are eliminated.
The state of West Virginia offers employment opportunities in abundance for WVU grads; I want West Virginia to thrive, and I want WVU to re-assume its place as a first-rate program in higher education, preparing people not only for employment, but for meaningful lives that have lasting significance and, in the process, make West Virginia an even better place to live.
Gene Bammel
Morgantown
Don’t punish faculty for administrators’ mistakes
It’s time to be blunt! The term “Academic Transformation” is just an attempt by the administration to create a positive buzzword for a bad situation.
The faculty at WVU has not been responsible for the university’s budget problem; poor decisions by the administration brought it on! Yet the administration is seeking to solve its problem by firing faculty, who have been doing their jobs with dedication to their students and in good faith, as they were hired to do. In effect, the faculty is being blamed and punished for the consequences of the bad decisions made by the administrators.
Now those who made the bad decisions are being left in place to further drive the university down. It’s time that those responsible be held accountable. They should be removed before they can do more damage. Those who made the poor decisions that have led to this fiasco are getting off scot free, and they should be the ones to suffer the consequences.
It’s time to clean house. We must insist that the bloated administration be pared down! Faculty salaries are small compared to those of the administrators, and there are too many high-paid vice presidents at WVU. Cutting down on their numbers and inflated salaries would go much further towards reducing the deficit and do much less damage to the university.
Let’s put the blame squarely on the shoulders of those responsible and make them pay the price. They are damaging the reputation of the wonderful university for which so many have dedicated their lives to making great.
William Skidmore
Morgantown
Cleanup efforts need to extend beyond downtown
It was great to see Morgantown’s City Ambassadors get credit for their work in the Sept. 10 article. But wait, there’s more.
Driving toward downtown on North Willey Street a couple months ago, I realized how bad the litter problem on the sidewalks had become. I vowed to clean up the area, mostly student housing.
Being in my early 70s, it took at least four visits, around 90 minutes each day, to remove the surface litter. Everywhere, broken bottles, beer cans, beverage cups, food containers, nitrous oxide ampules and even more on places people and pets are supposed to walk.
Then attacking the extensive accumulation of soil, weeds and even more litter along the sidewalks’ retaining walls required a shovel and big garbage bags during another seven or so 90-minute sessions. I could tell that the soil/litter piles had been years in the making.
A WVU student who lives on North Willey helped me once. Thanks, Ethan!
I only did clean up on the days I was coming to Morgantown for other purposes, so I didn’t have any regular schedule. As a result, I wasn’t able to finish before the repaving started.
Yes, litter cleanup is a big project! Pretty good real-world exercise, too, not just on gym machines.
Thankfully, the City Ambassadors do a great job downtown, but there’s far more of Morgantown to be cleaned.
Deb Miller
Reedsville
Complaining to DOH a waste of breath
There was an article in The Dominion Post on Sept. 8 that Morgantown City Council and Monongalia County Commission want a meeting with the Division of Highways concerning the condition of our roads.
I have made many calls to the DOH about our orphan road that it adopted years ago. It is a shame that I myself and my neighbors have done more work on our road cleaning ditches, cutting brush and grading. We even bought gravel for our road because the DOH can’t handle the job.
Mr. Bloom shouldn’t waste his breath talking to the DOH because it doesn’t care. If it did, it would put pressure on the governor’s office to get more people and money to fix our roads.
I sent the governor’s office a letter about U.S. 19 North to the Pennsylvania line. It needs resurfaced because we are driving our cars on patches on top of patches.
The governor’s office sent me a reply that the DOH has plans to pave the road in September. It is almost the middle of the month and there is no paving going on. Maybe they meant September 2024.
So this is why I say don’t waste your breath, because nothing is going to get done anytime soon.
Ralph Correll
Morgantown
It’s time for Sen. Tommy Tuberville to stand aside
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has been impeding military appointments since February 2023. He has placed a hold on the confirmation of military officials, including 301 generals and admirals. These holds have created a cascading effect that is harming military readiness and could leave over 650 officers in limbo by the end of the year.
Tuberville’s efforts prevent military leaders from developing strategy and policy, assessing and maintaining military readiness, discussing security cooperation issues with our allies and advising the president and Congress on military matters.
Tuberville claims his interest is to have the Pentagon rescind the policy on abortion reimbursement. This would force military personnel to travel to different states to receive treatment. Women deployed overseas would have to travel back to the states. Rape victims already struggling emotionally will have to deal with financing and arranging travel for treatment. These psychological burdens decrease the mental readiness of our military, limit their focus and have major consequences on individual and family finances.
Fifty-eight percent of Alabama voters feel he has made his point and it is time to let these promotions move forward.
Does Tuberville genuinely oppose the Pentagon’s abortion policy or does he really want to weaken our national security, curry favor with the base and obstruct the Biden administration?
He grandstands to make a name for himself and he sure has. It seems long overdue for him to stand aside and let the appointments go through, lest his continued activities be seen as aiding and abetting the enemy.
Tom Wilson
Morgantown
