Which I happen to recognize as the logo for West Virginia University: "dub vee" being a shorter version of "WVU" or maybe just West Virginia in general.

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

that is low-key hilarious, because WVU had its curriculum absolutely gutted a few years back by the neoliberal order. total premeditated murder of a public institution. administration had been diverting millions into a rainy day slush fund which eventually caused a budget shortfall of $45 million. the slushfund had more than $45 million in it by this point, so it was all just hollywood accounting to claim a shortfall.

the board of assholes used it as a "crisis" and convened / eliminated 143 faculty positions and 28 degree programs. other degree programs had their positions reduced by a third, making their maintenance uncertain and untenable.

despite major protests and a no confidence vote of almost 800-100 by the University Assembly, the university president and his cronies rammed it through less than 1 month after announcing the cuts.

this was back in 2023. the exodus has not stopped as the faculty who weren't eliminated started taking flight. total faculty count was down nearly 40% from 2014-2024. as well as many administrators, including some who pushed the cuts. any prospective student with the option would not enroll there.

this was broke-ass west viginia's only public R1 higher education/research institution and pretty much the only option for graduate school in WV, and the star chamber got together to slit its throat proving that the shared governance model of public universities is total theater.

personally, i think it was a trial balloon for running the same operation at every state university in the US where the board of governors/trustees is politically appointed. which is most.

“When you understand the whole story,” said one faculty member, “who would stay unless they couldn’t leave?”
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/tenure/2024/09/09/year-after-cuts-wv-still-bleeding-faculty-administrators

and this of course happened under Biden. most people outside of higher ed and West Virginia didn't even notice. i used to collab with WVU staff on outreach programming in the region, and the leftist/union groups all sounded the alarm at the time. but seeing how easily it happened was one of the reasons i started seriously looking to exit the academy. the capitalists are going to gut that entire system, and the sniveling, overpaid administrators will gleefully preside over the nihilistic destruction of these institutions.

anyway, that's what i think when i see the WV logo. shit is a tombstone.

[–] StarkWolf@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

That is really a shame to hear. I used to travel to Morgantown to visit friends that went to/worked at the university, about a decade ago. We'd often hang out or grab food at the campus, or sometimes take the little rapid transit tram to get around town. It seemed like a nice school, and certainly seemed like the cornerstone of the community/area. Nothing good can exist anymore that is public serving without it being utterly destroyed by capitalists using any excuse to rip the copper out of the walls, least of all education. I fear you are probably right that this will be the fate of a lot, if not most state universities in the country. The long term effects this will have are bleak to say the least, but that kinda goes for everything at this point.

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

Who the fuck comes up with this shit? What a fucking loser lmao.