Huddleston Speaks on USNH State Funding Cuts

"We now have in New Hampshire the dubious distinction of having experienced the largest single cut to a public higher education system in the history of America, period. And there's not even anybody close to what we absorbed this year," said UNH President Huddleston in his recent interview with the Portsmouth Herald.

I am a US History major and I can tell you that this is not a historical achievement we should be proud of. In the interview, which was on the state budget cuts for USNH, President Huddleston provided startling facts and he let his emotions show.

The article continued by saying how the Senate "got lobbied really hard by private sector institutions and was persuaded to give funds Lynch intended for the USNH to private schools like Dartmouth College, Colby-Sawyer College and Southern New Hampshire University."

Really?! Really?!?!

So, if I'm reading that right (and since I go to a public state school I may not be edumaketed enough to interpret that quote) the New Hampshire Legislature cut funding to the PUBLIC schools and gave those funds to the PRIVATE schools. Oh yeah, because that makes sense. Does the New Hampshire state government understand what the difference is between "public" and "private"? This is a great, and local, example of how the government is being influenced by the private business sector all while hurting the general public. I don't mean to get so political, but this actually happened. Let me repeat that and really think about it for a moment: Private schools received state funding do to "pressure" from the private sector, while the public state schools received the largest cut to public education in the history of the country. If this doesn't prove how influential lobbyists can be towards legislators, I don't know what can.

If this interests you at all, especially if you are a UNH student or New Hampshire resident you should  read the entire article I linked to above. UNH really had no choice but to raise tuition this year. When you lose that much funding there isn't a choice. UNH froze salaries (when professors want more money), they had layoffs (Dear Senate, you cost more NH residents their jobs by cutting UNH funding, how'd you not see that coming?) and cut other expenses. The next few years or more could be very tough financially for UNH and our state is only making things worse.

This picture I took back in January says it all. First with a cheap goal in the Riverstone Cup and now with state funding, Huddleston and UNH get screwed by officials while Dartmouth benefits. 

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Huddleston's Twitter Hiatus

UNH President Mark Huddleston has been a force to be reckoned with since he joined twitter. He has used the social media network to spread news, talk about his personal life, post creepy pictures of Philip Seymour Hoffman sleeping on a train, and have epic twitter-wars and battles (twars? Twattles?) with his impostor Prez Huddleston. But the real Mark Huddleston has been on a Twitter hiatus since April 24th, over a week without one single HuddleTweet.

Wednesday morning I reached out to readers to see what you think President Huddleston might have been up to during this time away. I didn't get the responses I hoped and some weren't really that good, but here is list of my own and the best user submitted ideas to try and find the one true answer to this question. Where is Huddleston and why isn't he tweeting his every action?

• He is coordinating an attack against the Maine Black Bear, Bananas #OperationRivalryOver 
• Flying his plane around the world
• Killing Osama bin Laden
• Flew the helicopter during the Osama raid
• No one knows, air traffic lost contact as he flew through the Bermuda Triangle
• Wire tapping AAUP emails and phone calls
• Trying to bribe officials in Concord, which was counteractive because he was using UNH's money
• Huddled up in the corner of his T-Hall office because he lost complete confidence in himself
• Lost total confidence in is tweeting ability 
• He was at the Royal Wedding, consoling the British over their loss of money due to the high expenses the wedding cost the public. He's very familiar with having to explain poor spending habits.
• Finding ways to increase our tuition without letting us know
• Overseeing architectural  plans to renovate Ham-Smith and Nesmith (just kidding!)
• Preparing to announce that he will be Donald Trump's running mate
• Working on his own Wikipedia page 
• And his own imposter Prez Huddleston said: "I've been eating a lot of comfort food. That A-A-f'ing-U-P things wasn't good for the ol' self esteem."

One final thing on Huddleston, if you go to his UNH page, there is a link to "download a high resolution image of Mark Huddleston." It's only a little creepy. I might print it out and keep it on me and have him autograph it if I ever bump into him around campus. Seriously, what is the point of that picture? Do they think students are going to print it out and put it on their desk? Seems weird to me.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Update:
President Huddleston has broken his twitter silence to me! Twice! He wrote:

@UNHblog Sorry. Stuck in Royal Wedding after-parties. Back in time though to accept new PTP offer to match up to $100K in 2011 class gifts.

@UNHblog Also just accepted today nice gift of $100K for UNH library from Barnes & Noble.

Not too shabby President Huddleston. You get a pass on this one.

UNH Students too Passive

A few weeks ago I wrote about the lack of student activism and participation around campus. UNH students, and many other college campuses, are pretty passive nowadays when it comes to holding rallies and protests. Obviously this was not always the case, such as the protests that were held in the mid 1960s and into the 1970s over the United States actions in Vietnam.

It is a little surprising that campuses remain so quiet now, even with the very similar wars going on in the Middle East. Most professors would agree that students do not seem to care about class material or real-world issues, and even President Huddleston has taken notice.

As we all know by now, President Huddleston gave a speech to the New Hampshire State Finance Committee that raised some eyebrows around campus, particularly with the AAUP, who held a "no-confidence" vote on Huddleston's actions. However, I am not here to critique President Huddleston or the AAUP for either of their actions.

I want to draw light on the particular quote by Huddleston that caught the AAUP's attention. Huddleston said:

"We still too frequently convey information in 50-minute lectures delivered by a ‘sage on the stage' to largely passive recipients in the audience three times a week for 15 weeks a term — as if that schedule were Biblically decreed and as if that were the way that ‘digital natives' actually learn today. Worse, we remain wedded to a credentialing regimen of courses and majors and degrees that mainly reflect ‘seat time,' rather than what students actually learn or need to learn."

The part that first grabbed my attention was the "largely passive recipients in the audience" line. You can say that again.

UNH is full of students who really do not care about many classes and real-world issues. Both of these problems have really simple solutions, but the changes need to be made from the top of the university system.

The entire General Education and Discovery program needs to be changed. I understand that it is important for students to have a well-rounded education, but students are too often stuck in meaningless Gen Eds that are simply GPA boosters. What good does that do? Other than boost your GPA of course. Germs? Making Babies? Intro to Music? I'm glad I know that washing my hands is healthy, condoms prevent STDs and babies, and that I can name which one of Beethoven's symphonies is being played in just 15 seconds.

Watch out Donald Trump, here comes The New Hampshirite, future entrepreneur of the century. I'm going to be as healthy as an ox and musically sophisticated, that is a one-two punch to make millions off of. If UNH loses funding there are going to be even more 250 seat brainless lectures, because classes like those are cheaper to run.

The second problem I mentioned above, UNH students not seeming to take an interest in world news and events, can also be improved. This became blatantly apparent Sunday night following the news of Osama bin Laden's death. Universities across the country including Penn State, West Virginia and even UMass had students pouring into the streets in celebration. I made my way downtown and UNH was dead quiet – a virtual ghost town.

One of the reasons that students of the 60s and 70s were so active was because the schools allowed them to and even encouraged it in a way. Many universities would hold what were called "teach-in" discussions and debates for up to three days every semester.

During these teach-ins, classes would be replaced by debates and workshops dedicated to discussing the Vietnam War and other national events in a respectful and civil manner. What is really more important, learning about something you can probably look up in about three minutes online or examining and discussing real world events that are currently impacting your life in more ways than you know?

Vietnam protesters were called "bad Americans" for not supporting the government despite the fact that it is our responsibility and right to critique the government. I do not think protesters are "bad Americans" at all, but I do think that you can be a "bad American" if you do not take the time to learn and discuss what is really happening in the world.

Then the question arises, should we as a people be morally responsible for letting it happen? If you're not being taught or discussing world events in class, then educate yourself.

Stay classy, not UMassy

Thoughts on Huddleston

I just want to start this off by apologizing for my light posting as of late. These past two weeks have probably been my busiest time at UNH and it sucks because there has been some juicy stuff on campus recently, and I'm not talking about the dude I just saw dressed up in a full Ghost Buster costume.

As most of you have probably heard by now the AAUP held a "No confidence" vote on President Huddleston. 202 out of the 420 faculty members who were eligible to vote casted their ballots. There were 129 votes of "no confidence" and 72 votes of "confidence." I am really split over this entire thing. Part of me says, look UNH is about to lose a heck of a lot of money from the little state funding we get, the entire business school fundraiser was a complete and miserable fiasco and this school has absolutely terrible spending habits... all under the watch of President Marky Mark, who was hired with the intentions that he is great at raising money. Usually I tend to side with the faculty, I have has some unbelievably great professors here who changed my life. Others kind of sucked, but on the whole UNH has some great professors.

So, then I look at what the AAUP was complaining about in President Huddleston's speech to the New Hampshire state finance committee.

He said:
"We still too frequently convey information in 50-minute lectures delivered by a ‘sage on the stage' to largely passive recipients in the audience three times a week for 15 weeks a term — as if that schedule were Biblically decreed and as if that were the way that ‘digital natives' actually learn today. Worse, we remain wedded to a credentialing regimen of courses and majors and degrees that mainly reflect ‘seat time,' rather than what students actually learn or need to learn."


I'm not gonna lie, I agree with Huddleston on this. Sure, it probably could have been said better, and it doesn't reflect UNH in the best light, but the he has a pretty decent point. Although, it should be included that because of the moneymaking scheme UNH calls "J-Term" the spring semester is a week shorter.

However, I think the majority of the administration is to blame on for this, which probably includes Huddleston.

"Largely passive recipients in the audience."
(Read: Lazy students who don't give a shit).

 Ha! You can say that again, maybe if our classes, professors and yes, even the administration were more interactive and allowing for more personal freedoms and choices within the registration process students would take more interest in their classes. I don't know about you, but I don't see how I'm ever going to need to be able to name which Beethoven symphony I'm listening to after just 15 seconds. Sorry, but Music 401 was probably the biggest waste of time and money in the history of my short life and student career. But put me in a class where we're discussing the causes and effects of the problems in Libya and I'll be completely tuned in. Others may not be, but I will, because I want to be there. There are classes that I go to everyday that I look forward to them because they are in my field of interest, bullshit gen eds will put anyone to sleep and changing those requirements is the first step in improving student interest.

I mean, I appreciate that I got an "A" and a GPA boost from taking Germs 101, but I already knew that washing your hands or wearing a condom is a good idea. GPA boosters are nice and all, but we aren't learning anything useful, which translates to a waste of time and money. I have a lot more to say on this issue of Huddleston and how it ties to a lot more that is wrong with UNH and the college system as a whole, so I think it might save it and spend some time putting it together for my next TNH column.

Have a nice weekend, party on out there and enjoy the weather!

PS: Friend of the blog "John That" has his new EP streaming here. Check it out! He'll also be at The Knot tonight at 9:30 and I'm planning on being in the crowd. Stop by for some good tunes and I'll buy you a drink buy me a beer.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Riverstone Recap

So last night I went out to Manchester to watch the annual Riverstone Cup between UNH and Dartmouth. In short, Dartmouth outplayed, hustled and skated UNH and got the 5-4 upset win. UNH looked slow, sloppy and with a few questionable calls lost the game. With just over a minute left in the 3rd period Dartmouth scored what would be the winning goal on what appeared to be a shot deflected in by a high stick. Apparently everyone saw it except the referees and the Verizon isn't equipped with proper replay review cameras and video. The goal was good and there was nothing that could be done about it. Of course all of UNH, their fans and especially Coach Umile were livid, probably the angriest I've ever seen him. Yelling at the refs after the play, during the following timeout and well after the game ended. In all honesty, whether the goal was good or not, UNH shouldn't have been in a situation against Dartmouth were a late goal could have cost them the game. UNH got out played by a lesser team and, I hate to say this because it is so cliche, but Dartmouth looked like they wanted it more...

Anyways, I was sitting in the last row of the lower bowl and had some pretty good seats, but for the second and third period I was invited to sit in a family friend's company suite. The New Hampshirite has connections... so what do I see when I move up there?

This:

(click photo to enlarge)

My phone has a lousy camera, but that is President Huddleston with his own personalized UNH jersey. (insert your own joke about him sitting by himself, this was during an intermission after a bunch of people got up.) I got to sit in a suite when he was down with everybody else. He was also "selected" for the trivia question and correctly answered that Paul Thompson has three career hat tricks. Thats right Huddleston, you tweet creepy pictures of Philip Seymour Hoffman and I post a picture of you. New Hampshirite 1 Huddleston 0.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Plans Taking Shape...

It's been a pretty busy week over here at Nonsensical Headquarters. Final papers, research and finals preparation aside, yesterday we had a twitter confirmation from President Huddleston that there will be a bus from Durham to NYC starting in January or February and today we had a UNH professor tell her class to "Stay classy, not UMassy." Ahh yes, my evil plan to take over UNH is finally starting to take shape. Just wait. Before you know it UNH will be under my command.

Excellent.

Anyways, if you are at all interested in President Huddleston's Twitter account (following him is worth making an account) check out this post on TNH Executive Editor Thomas Gounley's personal blog. Mr. Gounley and I are both huge fans of Huddleton's Twitter, but Tom proved this morning he really is the ultimate Huddle-Tweet analyzer.

I'm keeping this short because I need to get some work done so I can enjoy my first Thirsty Thursday in a while... and I really want to get drunk as soon as possible.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Huddle-Tweets: That's Marvelous

Recently UNH President Mark Huddleston has stepped up his Tweeting game in big ways. But yesterday afternoon he outdid himself. Apparently President Huddleston is either looking to be hired by TMZ or he is just a really good paparazzo and we never knew it. Check out his latest gem:

via @MarkHuddleston: On the Acela from NY: sitting across from Philip Seymour Hoffman #TwitPic

With the following photo linked:

If you don't know who Philip Seymour Hoffman is, he played one of my all-time favorite small roles as "Brandt" in "The Big Lebowski." His line "That's Marvelous" in the following scene gets me every time:

Not all of Hoffman's roles are so comedic, for example he also won an Oscar for "Best Actor" for his role in the 2006 movie "Capote." He has appeared or starred in other great films such as "Punch-Drunk Love," "Magnolia," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Doubt," "Synecdoche, New York," and "Almost Famous" among many others. And who could forget his role as the always entertaining "Dusty" in the action film "Twister." He's no lightweight when it comes to acting and he is one of my all-time favorites. 

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Priorities 101 with UNH President Huddleston

UNH is going through some pretty hectic times right now. With the faculty threatening to strike and to boycott summer classes tensions are high on campus. Especially for students who planned to use summer classes to graduate early. The administration and the professors have been bickering back and forth for a while without much progress being made. That being said, it is good to see that UNH President Mark Huddleston is working hard to find a solution. Just take a look at some of his recent tweets:

• "Gotta love February in FL" - 8:05 PM Feb 23rd
• "Rained out in golf. Movie marathon instead: Shutter Island and Invictus. Thumbs up to both, though glad Invictus 2nd. Needed the lift." - about 19 hours ago
• "Tried golf again this morning . . . but defeated by wind and cold temps. iHOP proved a good alternative." - 7 hours ago

Oh, about that... Who does he think he is, George Bush? Taking vacations whenever work is too stressful. At least he is enjoying himself in Florida while everyone on campus is scrambling to figure what the fuck is going on. I've been scratching my head about this and I came to the conclusion, with the help of some of his so entertaining tweets, that his family took a vacation because his kids had their February vacation. But is it really appropriate for the President of a university to take a vacation when the professors of that university are on the verge of a possible strike?

Did Luke Skywalker take a vacation when the Jedi's had to blow up the deathstar? Did Batman take a vacation when the Joker put those bombs on the boats? Did Frodo take a vacation when the ring needed to be destroyed? Did he? Seriously, did he? I never saw the third movie.

Stay classy, not UMassy.
^ UMass, proving my sign-off once again. Also, UMaine bans smoking TOBACCO on campus.

President Huddleston on UNH in 2020

This the video of President Huddleston's speech on UNH's strategic plan for the future. It is kind of long, but it is pretty interesting if you want to learn about UNH's future plans.


UNH in 2020 from UNH Video on Vimeo.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Karma's a Bitch

Last May, just over a month after this blog was born, I received a facebook message from someone with the name "Mark W Huddleston." Obviously, I knew it wasn't the UNH president, but just some random student.  In this message the kid made fun of the blog, it was actually kind of funny because I could tell he took everything I wrote way too literally.  However, I will admit that in the beginning I had no idea what I was doing or what direction to go in. I actually saved this message, even though I ignored it's content. And am I glad that I saved it after coming across this article: (From seacoastonline.com click to see full story. And more from the Union Leader.) 

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A recent University of New Hampshire graduate is facing misdemeanor criminal charges after police said he used the Internet to falsely claim he had beaten up a student on Halloween and impersonate the university's president.

Scott Holbrook, 23, of Manchester, was arrested Thursday after turning himself in, university police said Friday.

Holbrook also was charged with criminal defamation for allegedly identifying himself as University President Mark Huddleston in instant messages and Facebook postings that included "inappropriate and suggestive comments." Sgt. Steven Lee declined to elaborate, but described the comments as crass and inflammatory.He was charged with hindering apprehension, unsworn falsification and disorderly conduct for allegedly posting information online claiming responsibility for the attack that left a 21-year-old student seriously injured.

So this kid gets arrested because he made a fake facebook account claiming to be President Huddleston  and pretends to be the assaulter. I am not positive but I believe the AIM screen name was "unh," which has been around for a while. (Even before I started my blog I remember seeing that he left messages in different facebook groups such as the incoming freshman class ones.) Wow, nice life. I mean this is absolutely the greatest thing ever. I knew when I read his message that he was a little off, but I never would have guessed it would lead to something like this. Here are a few lines from the message he sent me last year: "first off, your blog is meaningless; as your opinion is shared by almost all of the other ignorant cavemen on our campus... the only people reading your blog are these indie faggots and other fat slobs who are interested in journalism... get your act together. you're only impressing nerds and scene kids. what a disgrace you are... you are so cliche, so stereotypical."

Hey dude, I hope you're happy. If you still read this, which I wouldn't doubt, congratulations. I hope that you have accomplished all of your intended goals. Does it make you feel cool to make fake facebook accounts to and make fun of people? Really, what did he think he would accomplish with that? I'm glad that he was caught because I read some of the things he wrote about the assault and he went over the line. I don't know if the charges will stick, but hopefully it will teach him a lesson. 


Stay classy, not UMassy.