Our Readers Speak Out About Juliet's $25,000 "Goodbye" Dinner and Severance Package Offered Tenured UTB Professors

From the editor:  Frequently, pointed information and observations made in blog comments exceed what's written in the blog articles.  We've assembled a handful of recent reader contributions that fit that description.

First, this observation about the severance package offered tenured UTB professors in anticipation of the new UT-RGV:

"Look at this fabulous choice offered the tenured faculty of BOTH universities in today's Herald:

"In a(sic) e-mail to UTPA faculty, President Robert Nelsen writes “The “Voluntary Separation Incentive Program” will offer “current full-time, benefits-eligible, tenured faculty who meet certain criteria” one-half of their nine-month salary in exchange for voluntarily leaving their positions on May 31, 2015.
The program could appeal to faculty members who’d like to avoid going through the hiring process for UT-RGV."

In other words, take the chump change or risk the likelihood that you will not make it through the "hiring process". What might be the criteria for the new hiring process? Take a wild guess....

And, "The buyouts are a way to maintain costs and streamline budget and personnel expenditures, according to information supplied to UTB faculty members." Translation, not many of you will be hired so you better take the money or gamble against a stacked deck.

Just another booby prize left by "La Cacique"

Here's another:

"OK sport's fans here it is straight from the horse's mouth: "Artibise said by getting the tenured faculty to voluntarily retire, the university opens the institution to hire at lower salaries so there’s real revenue and cost benefit. Artibise said the VSIP will also give the new university the flexibility to build programs by hiring new faculty."

By the way this is from a "new" article today in the Herald. The previous one I quoted has "disappeared". But, this is even better. Lower salaries, yes, better faculty, what do you think? Stupid me, I thought people were paid higher salaries because they are more productive and experienced. It looks like from the quote above that money is what talks. Better to have new inexperienced faculty that are cheap and get rid of the "old" expensive ones. If this is effective, why hire a PhD at all and just hire people with a Masters at a much lower salary. Or, why would you want a Nobel Prize winner on your faculty when you can get some 28 year old with a Master's to do the job. Makes sense to me. It's the bottom line, stupid."

Now, some comments on the $25,000 for a table of 10 dinner honoring the UT Regents, Chancellor Cigarroa and Juliet Garcia:

"Honoring Leadership and Vision"? I guess this is correct if you define leadership as being a top flight political hack and vision as looking out for your own aggrandizement. Here is a woman who ended up with a salary over $300,000 and untold other benefits at the poorest university in the United States that has only about 6,000 FTE students.

The area’s (Corpus Christi) premier institution of higher learning enrolls more than 10,000 students and is part of The Texas A&M University System. Presidential salary: $265,000

Read and weep: http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/government-employee-salaries/titles/president/3286/"

Another:

"Wow, what a function for the poorest city in Texas. I wouldn't pay 25 cents to attend. Obviously this price prevents almost anyone in Brownsville from attending or participating. We can expect Juliet's local friends to attend (Rusteburg from the money laundering IBC bank, Carlos Marin, Tony Martinez).....but what will be interesting will be the number of local taxing entities that use tax dollars to buy a table at this event. Will Eduardo Campriano use our tax dollars to buy a table for the Port. Will P.U.B. use our tax dollars to buy a table. Even a table for UTB would be using tax dollars. Will the Kardenas Klan use their ill-gotten wealth to buy a table....probably. This function is likely where the video we have been hearing about on the life of Juliet will be presented. The connection of Cigarroa and Garcia for such an event seems to support the possibility that some see Juliet as the next Chancellor of UT. Perhaps this connection is the cause of Dr. Nelson resigning from UT-PA to go back to teaching. The political powers are exerting their powers and playing their games of corruption and favoritism."

Yet, another:

Knowing Brownsville politics the way we do and knowing that voters don't just accept corruption.....they demand corruption; Ernie Hernandez could be the next mayor and Julieta is surely using "other people's money" and the Kardenas Klan to influence her next position on the public tit.