Tuesday, February 8, 2011
This is just funny:
Have you ever seen President Farahi's Rate My Professor page? It explains why he had such difficulty getting tenure.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
We didn't believe this when we saw it!
Kean has placed the Middle States Accreditation Reports up in plain view on the Kean website! Disclosure of this document is a huge step towards informing the student body of the current situation... Of course, someone still has to tell all of you that it's available—and that someone is us.
Remember—Middle States is the organization that gives Kean 'license to teach' so to speak. If Middle States Accreditation is lost, all of us are out on our rear ends in the snow.
Everybody should check this out... it's your future after all:
Middle States Self-Study Report: This is a report written by Kean Administrators concerning the University's battle to retain accreditation. We've done an article or so about it, and now you can read it too--honestly, you will be very surprised by some of the things written in there.
Middle-States Periodic Review: This is an overview of the major changes that have taken place at Kean in the last ten years—the last two sections, IV (Summary of Major Changes and Developments) and V (Planned Initiatives), are of the greatest interest.
Remember—Middle States is the organization that gives Kean 'license to teach' so to speak. If Middle States Accreditation is lost, all of us are out on our rear ends in the snow.
Everybody should check this out... it's your future after all:
Middle States Self-Study Report: This is a report written by Kean Administrators concerning the University's battle to retain accreditation. We've done an article or so about it, and now you can read it too--honestly, you will be very surprised by some of the things written in there.
Middle-States Periodic Review: This is an overview of the major changes that have taken place at Kean in the last ten years—the last two sections, IV (Summary of Major Changes and Developments) and V (Planned Initiatives), are of the greatest interest.
Some People Have Asked Us What The Purpose Of This Blog Is...
Here's a story that might help explain just that:
Two years ago, a student (let's call him David, because he has asked to remain anonymous) transferred to Kean with the intention of majoring in Social Work. He made the switch from Raritan Valley Community College to Kean in 2008 after recieving his Associates Degree in Human Services, primarily because Kean offered him an affordable and well-regarded program.
David could have moved on to Rutgers, or a variety of other State Schools that offered better student-to-faculty ratios and a better overall reputation, but instead chose Kean because he wanted to help people. Social Work is, after all, a degree centered around helping those who are less fortunate, those who fight the uphill battle towards financial security in hopes of realizing that elusive American Dream.
Where else, other than Kean University, would a New Jersey resident go for a Social Work Degree? Ramapo College, Monmouth College, Centenary College, Seton Hall, and Richard Stockton College all offer the BSW Degree, but none of them has Kean's incredible diversity. Furthermore, part of Kean's mission is to provide Education to those who are backed up against economic barriers. So where else, really, should a student who plans to make his living by helping those who face such economic barriers go? In Dave's opinion, nowhere.
Unfortunately, once Dave was accepted to Kean and attended the transfer-student registration session, he was told by his faculty advisor to avoid pursuing the BSW because the department was in shambles and on its way out.
Because he already had one foot in the door, Dave did build a schedule that day and has continued at Kean as a Sociology Major. He still intends to help people, and may eventually find his way into a Social Work position once he graduates, but the tools he had hoped would help him achieve his goals vanished out from under him.
What surprises me the most about the whole situation is this: Why would a school, especially one that focuses so predominantly on helping those in need, abandon a well-regarded Major designed to breed undergrads who would do just that? Moreover, why would a school that plans on eliminating a field of study in such a way plan to do so without informing incoming and transfer students who expect to earn degrees?
The answer, at least in part, resides in the Middle States Report: Two words, 'Fiscal,' and 'Crisis.'
Two years ago, a student (let's call him David, because he has asked to remain anonymous) transferred to Kean with the intention of majoring in Social Work. He made the switch from Raritan Valley Community College to Kean in 2008 after recieving his Associates Degree in Human Services, primarily because Kean offered him an affordable and well-regarded program.
David could have moved on to Rutgers, or a variety of other State Schools that offered better student-to-faculty ratios and a better overall reputation, but instead chose Kean because he wanted to help people. Social Work is, after all, a degree centered around helping those who are less fortunate, those who fight the uphill battle towards financial security in hopes of realizing that elusive American Dream.
Where else, other than Kean University, would a New Jersey resident go for a Social Work Degree? Ramapo College, Monmouth College, Centenary College, Seton Hall, and Richard Stockton College all offer the BSW Degree, but none of them has Kean's incredible diversity. Furthermore, part of Kean's mission is to provide Education to those who are backed up against economic barriers. So where else, really, should a student who plans to make his living by helping those who face such economic barriers go? In Dave's opinion, nowhere.
Unfortunately, once Dave was accepted to Kean and attended the transfer-student registration session, he was told by his faculty advisor to avoid pursuing the BSW because the department was in shambles and on its way out.
Because he already had one foot in the door, Dave did build a schedule that day and has continued at Kean as a Sociology Major. He still intends to help people, and may eventually find his way into a Social Work position once he graduates, but the tools he had hoped would help him achieve his goals vanished out from under him.
What surprises me the most about the whole situation is this: Why would a school, especially one that focuses so predominantly on helping those in need, abandon a well-regarded Major designed to breed undergrads who would do just that? Moreover, why would a school that plans on eliminating a field of study in such a way plan to do so without informing incoming and transfer students who expect to earn degrees?
The answer, at least in part, resides in the Middle States Report: Two words, 'Fiscal,' and 'Crisis.'
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
State of the Union Event...
(This Post has been Removed Temporarily)
Hey, everybody—It is necessary to inform you that a mistake was made in the attribution of this article. It appeared as though we reported that Dare Thompson said Dr. Farahi controls Student Org, and this MUST be clarified.
Dare did not, in fact, say that. He told us that Student Org faces friction as a department at Kean, and that it is more difficult for the Org to operate now than three years ago before the change-over took place—but he never explained the nature of this added difficulty. Considering that Dr. Farahi is the highest-ranking Administrator at Kean University, and that Dare admits to new problems with SO since becoming a department within the administration, you may understand how this mistake occurred.
I also would like to stress that, in writing that article, I did not intend to make it appear that Dare did make a comment about Dr. Farahi: In all seriousness, if I was in possession of such a quote, it would be printed in the largest font that Blogger allows, bold, italicized, and—of course—in quotations. This information was my analysis of the situation, an attempt to 'connect the dots,' if you will.
That having been said, I would like to remind you all that Dare is a "Solution-based President," and that he is "For the students." He says that he is not afraid of the Administration and that he does not care about the them because the students are his priority.
So, to Dare as well as the rest of the Kean Student Body—
Please accept our apology. This article will be reposted shortly with the appropriate changes made to it.
Hey, everybody—It is necessary to inform you that a mistake was made in the attribution of this article. It appeared as though we reported that Dare Thompson said Dr. Farahi controls Student Org, and this MUST be clarified.
Dare did not, in fact, say that. He told us that Student Org faces friction as a department at Kean, and that it is more difficult for the Org to operate now than three years ago before the change-over took place—but he never explained the nature of this added difficulty. Considering that Dr. Farahi is the highest-ranking Administrator at Kean University, and that Dare admits to new problems with SO since becoming a department within the administration, you may understand how this mistake occurred.
I also would like to stress that, in writing that article, I did not intend to make it appear that Dare did make a comment about Dr. Farahi: In all seriousness, if I was in possession of such a quote, it would be printed in the largest font that Blogger allows, bold, italicized, and—of course—in quotations. This information was my analysis of the situation, an attempt to 'connect the dots,' if you will.
That having been said, I would like to remind you all that Dare is a "Solution-based President," and that he is "For the students." He says that he is not afraid of the Administration and that he does not care about the them because the students are his priority.
So, to Dare as well as the rest of the Kean Student Body—
Please accept our apology. This article will be reposted shortly with the appropriate changes made to it.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Senator Lesniak will be at Kean this evening for the screening of the President's State of the Union address! Even better, he'll be taking part in a Q&A!
Let's not waste this opportunity to ask some really interesting questions—the least it'll do is make him sweat.
Let's not waste this opportunity to ask some really interesting questions—the least it'll do is make him sweat.
State of the Union Address Viewing Party
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Doors open at 7 p.m. - University Center Game Room
On Tuesday, January 25, 2011, all Kean University students are invited to the University Center Game Room for a State of the Union Address Viewing Party hosted by New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano.
For more information, please contact the University Center Information Desk at 908-737-5222.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Welcome Back, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Welcome back, everybody, to the Spring 2011 semester at Kean University.
We hope that you all had an enjoyable break from frantic, late-night paper-writing and exam-cramming: We certainly did.
What we did not take a break from, however, is our pursuit to enhance the students' voice here at Kean—and we are proud to unveil the next bend in the path that TBK has been cutting through the bureaucratic brush that has overgrown our campus. That's right: now that we've gotten your attention (Over 1700 page views in the last two months of the fall semester, and plenty of emails, comments and questions), we aim to put it to good use.
Being college students in New Jersey, I know you are all familiar with Rutgers University in New Brunswick. What you may not know is that over the last couple years, Rutgers students have gone viral in an attempt to influence administrative decisions. They founded a group called the Rutgers Student Union to both unify their massive student body and project a solid, unwavering, message of their dissatisfaction with the way their school functioned.
Once the Student Union was well-grounded, it became a breeding ground for Student Government candidates. After the most-recent elections, Student Union members control the entire Student Government at Rutgers, and the Union has become an honest-to-god forum for the student body to interact with that government. It is a step in the direction of the very first democracies, much like the Athenian City-State in Ancient Greece, where everyone has a voice and everyone is heard (or, at least, read on the internet).
Check out their Facebook Page: (Rutgers Student Union | Facebook)
If something like this could work at the largest state-school in NJ, why not here at Kean?
Remember, everybody, we're not crazy or maniacal, or even vengeful. We're students, just like you, who are shoveling our way through the snow towards graduation one class at a time. All we want is a chance to speak up and, just maybe, make a difference.
We hope that you all had an enjoyable break from frantic, late-night paper-writing and exam-cramming: We certainly did.
What we did not take a break from, however, is our pursuit to enhance the students' voice here at Kean—and we are proud to unveil the next bend in the path that TBK has been cutting through the bureaucratic brush that has overgrown our campus. That's right: now that we've gotten your attention (Over 1700 page views in the last two months of the fall semester, and plenty of emails, comments and questions), we aim to put it to good use.
Being college students in New Jersey, I know you are all familiar with Rutgers University in New Brunswick. What you may not know is that over the last couple years, Rutgers students have gone viral in an attempt to influence administrative decisions. They founded a group called the Rutgers Student Union to both unify their massive student body and project a solid, unwavering, message of their dissatisfaction with the way their school functioned.
Once the Student Union was well-grounded, it became a breeding ground for Student Government candidates. After the most-recent elections, Student Union members control the entire Student Government at Rutgers, and the Union has become an honest-to-god forum for the student body to interact with that government. It is a step in the direction of the very first democracies, much like the Athenian City-State in Ancient Greece, where everyone has a voice and everyone is heard (or, at least, read on the internet).
Check out their Facebook Page: (Rutgers Student Union | Facebook)
If something like this could work at the largest state-school in NJ, why not here at Kean?
Therefore, we would like to introduce you to the Kean University Student Union:
Remember, everybody, we're not crazy or maniacal, or even vengeful. We're students, just like you, who are shoveling our way through the snow towards graduation one class at a time. All we want is a chance to speak up and, just maybe, make a difference.
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