The Vagaries of University Bureaucracy (re: TLE)

[42]

A copy to the Daily Universe would be good. I agree with Ookla, there should be more letters.

Since the English Dept. almost got rid of the entire editing program before it was saved by the Linguistics Dept., I really have felt that the English Dept. administration  does not have good priorities for its students.

[EUOL]

I talked to Sally today.  She and I are going to go meet with the English chair, Greg Clark, in the near future.  (If at all possible.)

She said that UVSC really wasn't a good option, in her opinion--even not considering Eric's objections.

Has anyone yet mentioned the honors department?  They could be a place to take this.

Oh, and Ookla, I think that the TLE staff has done well with this.  They only found out themselves a couple of weeks ago, and Mr. M. may have had a point in keeping it quiet for a short time, thereby letting the TLE people argue and perhaps change the department's mind quietly, letting the department save face before letting this thing explode.  

[Jelly_Belly]

Where's the Quantum Duck? We never did get a firm resolution to that issue--he's gone from Quark, but does TLE still use him? There be trouble if they don't.

Yes, the Quantum Duck is still alive and well at TLE.

[Shrain]

I talked to Sally today.  She and I are going to go meet with the English chair, Greg Clark, in the near future. 

Ex-cellent! He's a bit of a Gloomy Gus, though, just to give you the heads up if you've never dealt with him before. (Case in point: I remember telling him I'd be missing class to present a paper that was accepted at an international ALA Jewish American Lit symposium and he shrugged and said, "Well, do what you have to do." And that was it; no kudos or anything. Weird. He's just like that.)

Has anyone yet mentioned the honors department?  They could be a place to take this.

/me palms her forehead.

The Honors Dept--of course! Why didn't I think of them. Hmm. Anyway, I think that's the best idea yet for moving to a different dept at BYU.

[Skar]

I think philosophy would be slightly better than Honors because every english professor I ever took a class from, aside from Cleon Skousen, really wanted in their heart of hearts to be a philosophy professor.  Switching to the philosophy department would be a knife in the eye to all those sanctimonious jerks.

[42]

I would try the philosophy dept. first myself.

The honors dept. sometimes becomes very controlling of its projects.

[Shrain]

Switching to the philosophy department would be a knife in the eye to all those sanctimonious jerks.

oooh. Eye gouging. Yes, please!

Edit: If what 42 (and Skar) says is true, I guess the Philosophy department might be better, but why not approach *both* at the same time? It's not like we're sending out simultaneous submissions or something. I don't think it would be unprofessional, but rather, strategically smart. Approaching both might not only show how serious TLE is about this but also make them more eager to take TLE on. Or maybe not.... Thoughts?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I don't think a "bidding war" would ensue, but I see no reason to stop at one office and then the other immediately, even if they're thinking about it. Pursue it!

[JenaRey]

I wanted to toss in offers of help for anything that can be farmed out and will happily put in donations and get the word out to more exTLE staff that I've kept track of.

Has thought been given to fundraisers?  I'm betting we could get a lot of donations.

~J

[Mister M]

Has anyone yet mentioned the honors department?  They could be a place to take this.

*smacks forehead* I didn't even think of them, and I'm graduating with honors.

Hmm...there's an official luncheon tomorrow. I wonder if that would be a good place to gauge their opinion...

[Nessa]

TLE could get donations, but BYU is finicky about that kind of thing. TLE must tread lightly for funding. I still suggest an endowment for TLE, whether it sticks with BYU or not, because it means perpetual funding. Usually you have to get on a waiting list and perform all sorts of bureaucratic circus tricks to get BYU to cooperate with outside funding. Forunately, we have the ninja monkeys on our side. Or at least several persistent exTLEers. I'm looking into it.

[Shrain]

Ah. Sounds like perfect timing to me, Mr. M!

[Skar]

I remember the honors program.  My one objection would be if they wanted only honors students on the TLE staff once it was theirs.  If I remember the Honors crowd correctly it was made up, in the majority, by the same kind of people who think all fiction is a waste of time and/or think the only "good" fiction is approved "literary" fiction.  That would put kind of a damper on participation by the people who actually like SF&F.

Perhaps that demographic has changed?

[Fellfrosch]

I was going to suggest the honors department, but then I remembered that I disliked almost everything about the BYU honors department. They have very obtuse ideas about how to run things, and I very much doubt you'd get the kind of autonomy that TLE thrives on. It's worth a shot, though--it's better than dying.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Oh, and Ookla, I think that the TLE staff has done well with this.  They only found out themselves a couple of weeks ago, and Mr. M. may have had a point in keeping it quiet for a short time, thereby letting the TLE people argue and perhaps change the department's mind quietly, letting the department save face before letting this thing explode.  

I'm sorry, I wasn't quite clear on the timeline. It still seems like they're going from Plan A to Plans C-G and skipping Plan B. While Plan B is still a viable option, it would make more sense to me to focus on it--the other plans can still be developed as contingencies, but it seems like they're being focused on...at least from what I've read in this thread.