Miscellany: 2/13/10

University of Alabama-Huntsville Tragedy

For the second time in less than a year, I have a peripheral connection to a faculty murder case. (Last year I wrote about murder-suicide principal, George Zinkhan, whom was the professor in my UH MBA marketing course years before his moving to the University of Georgia.) The connection I have in this case is not with the suspect, Dr. Amy Bishop, but with the school: I went on a campus visit (an academic job interview) to Alabama-Huntsville in the spring of 1988. I absolutely loved the university and would have accepted a timely offer. However, my second campus visit school, UTEP, which was in the final stages of applying for business school accreditation, wanted my vita (resume) on file and rushed a competitive offer, which I accepted in good faith, one of the worst decisions I've ever made. (I didn't regret moving back to my home state of Texas, but the UTEP experience was so toxic that I made an unsuccessful campus visit to a Louisiana college my first semester in El Paso.) There have been many times I've thought back to my Huntsville visit: "woulda coulda shoulda". It's a wonderful college, and I truly feel for the victims and their families.

The story seems to revolve around the issue of tenure. (As a matter of principle, I do not believe in tenure and consider it an anachronism which should be abolished. Of course, some might argue that's sour grapes since I was never offered tenure, but in my judgment  talented people don't need tenure...)  That theme of tenure is beyond the scope of my post, but I consider the traditional defense of academic freedom untenable. In fact, my academic freedom was violated at Illinois State University by senior professors in my subject area, which was confirmed by an investigating subcommittee after I left the university on a nonrenewable one-year visiting position appointment. And heaven knows what would have happened if I had ever voiced my political opinions given progressives' intolerance... Tenure typically means a job for life (there are some exceptions, like an academic program is dropped or the faculty member engages in certain disreputable behavior, e.g., plagiarism or fraud).

The news reports imply that Amy Bishop, whom earned her PhD from Harvard, had set up a biology research program but (for unspecified reasons) did not win tenure, and she felt the university was moving forward on her research program without her. It's not clear from what I've seen what the motives for the murders were, e.g., if the victims had been instrumental in the tenure decision or had taken over her lab. 

This is a horrible tragedy, not just for the victims and their families, but for a very talented woman whom threw away her own promising future in an emotional, wrong decision. All of us in life face injustices during life and make decisions to move on; I have little doubt about Amy Bishop's impressive professional accomplishments and her ability to make a fresh start; I am very sad when I see talented scientists and engineers, whom are the bedrock of our knowledge-based economy, make tragic mistakes and waste their future. I've lost jobs under unjust circumstances, but the bottom line was, I've never wanted to continue working for an employer or client where my contributions weren't valued or where I was not treated in a civil, professional manner. 

The Republican Presidential 2012 Race: Polls to Date


The latest Gallup Poll, which shows Obama with only a 2% edge over a generic GOP opponent, shows a tossup race for the GOP nod. The "poll of polls" below is selective (I've seen numerous other polls, including Clarus last August (Romney 30, Huckabee 22, Palin 18), Rasmussen last October (Huckabee 29, Romney 24, Palin 18), etc.)

What's clear is that Sarah Palin is the most polarizing figure in the Republican group, with both the highest favorable and unfavorable ratings. What I take from her occasional poll "wins" is that the polls usually show a large number of undecideds, and given Ms. Palin's massive publicity advantage over other challengers (e.g., Mitt Romney has only made sporadic public appearances since his withdrawal two years ago, most recently a low-key appearance at the Scott Brown victory celebration), it's fairly clear the undecided's are, in fact, decided on Palin; in most polls, she seems to have a ceiling of about 20% support.

The ratings volatility of Huckabee, whom has swung from 30 points in some polls to 3 points in the latest Gallup poll, is puzzling. I consider him at this point to be Romney's biggest challenger (among the 3 major candidates): I see Romney particularly strong in the West, Rust Belt, and Northeast/Middle-Atlantic, with Huckabee strong in the Midwest through the South. I expect both candidates to emphasize their bipartisan credentials and their change candidate status; I expect Huckabee to emphasize competent government and tax reform; I think Romney will focus on more of a pro-business growth agenda and reversing government scope creep (including the growing imbalance of power between the federal government and the states), with its moral hazard effect. I also expect Romney to have learned some lessons from his first campaign and expect him to run a more positive campaign, and concerns about the authenticity of certain changes in political positions (e.g., abortion) will be less of a factor. I do not think that cultural issues (which favor Huckabee and Palin) will be a major issue during the next election, other than perhaps in the Southeast; I expect more of a focus on pragmatic (vs. ideological) change and fiscal discipline.

Mitt Romney has some notable advantages (e.g., his business experience at Bain Capital and a brilliant job managing the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games)--and a potential vulnerability: the advantage is that (except for Huckabee and Pawlenty), he has experience governing blue state Massachusetts, and he has significant experience in the private sector. A key vulnerability will be health care reform and his involvement in the Massachusetts legislation mandating coverage, particularly given the state's hugely expensive mandates, not to mention cost overruns, wait times, etc.; Romney counters by pointing out his role in preserving private sector solutions vs. government-run, its bipartisan nature and innovative financing structure (e.g., alternatively using subsidies for free hospital care to make income-eligible private coverage more affordable), and the need for national legislation to vest the patient in cost containment.

Pollster	Date	Romney	Huckabee	Palin	Pawlenty
AVERAGE		19.4%	17.7%	18.2%	2.4%
Gallup	2/1-3/10	14	3	11	1
Daily Kos	1/20-31/10	11	7	16	3
Washington Post Poll	11/19-23/09	9	10	17	1
CNN	10/16-18/09	21	32	25	5
Clarus Research Group	8/14-18/09	30	22	18	-
Marist College	8/3-6/09	21	19	20	1
FOX News	7/21-22/09	22	21	17	1
ABC News	7/15-18/09	21	26	19	4
Gallup Poll	7/10-12/09	26	19	21	3

Courtesy of Pollingnumbers.com

Musical Interlude: Country/Southern Rock


Linda Ronstadt, "You're No Good"



Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama"



Allman Brothers Band, "Ramblin' Man"