The Daily Tar Heel reports that some UNC faculty members “are worried” about how they’ll be impacted by recommendations to streamline the incredible bloated bureacracy identified by the Bain & Company report.
The corporate lingo in which some suggestions are delivered is a barrier to faculty members.
At a meeting Monday, faculty balked at the term “process velocity,†saying it raised red flags that were indicative of changes they might not like.
The term describes the turnaround speed at which some operations are accomplished, but it marks an uneasiness between the academic culture of the faculty and the businesslike practice of administrators, legislators and trustees.
Faculty also worry that the broader mission of the University to create the best possible environment to learn, research and serve could be lost in a rush to cut administrative costs.
Well gee, I’m so very sorry the faculty “might not like” the responsibility that comes with the privilege of spending other people’s money. As a reminder, here’s what the Bain report found at UNC:
The report found that the campus, with an annual operating budget of about $2 billion, spends more on administrative costs than it does on academics, a balance Thorp said he’d like to flip-flop.
Supervision is 10 layers deep in some areas.
The Bain report is a great first step at bringing rationality to campus administration. But now it’s time for Chancellor Thorp to tell his “worried” faculty to grow up, ditch the ivory tower mentality, and operate in the real world from which they are not exempt.
