this reminded me of something that was in the press yesterday:
7) Series of Woes Mar Iraq Project Hailed as Model James Glanz New York Times July 28, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28basra.html BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 27 — The United States is dropping Bechtel, the American construction giant, from a project to build a high-tech children's hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after the project fell nearly a year behind schedule and exceeded its expected cost by as much as 150 percent. ... David Snider, a spokesman for the United States Agency for International Development, the State Department agency in charge of the project, said that technically, Bechtel's contract was not being terminated because the contract did not actually require the company to complete the hospital. "They are under a 'term contract,' which means their job is over when their money ends," Mr. Snider said. So despite not finishing the hospital, he said, "they did complete the contract." ... ...nice work if you can get it...
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:36:42 -0700 From: Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: making universities more like business MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Conservatives have long demanded that academia adopt common business practices to improve education. I'm happy to report that public universities California have gone a long way in that respect. Here is an excellent report from the San Francisco Chronicle. Jim Doyle. 2006. The money trail: How former top CSU administrators brought home big bucks with special assignments. Monday, July 17, <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/17/MNGI5K07DM1.DTL&hw=gerth&sn=001&sc=1000> Seven former California State University executives were each offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to work on special projects for the chancellor's office following their retirement from top administrative positions. In most of these assignments, there was no requirement for a final work product or written report. "I didn't need to tell the (Board of Trustees) about the assignments. I have the responsibility to give those assignments," said Chancellor Charles B. Reed, the university system's top executive. "I shared a copy of (private correspondence) with the chair of the board."
