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Post by gpantera on Mar 5, 2006 11:01:54 GMT -5
www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14018960.htmI usually try not to feed into the "Miami Herald Has it in for FIU" conspiracy theories. I try to be objective, after all, journalism is objective, right? This latest assault on Maidique's character sure does cast a suspicious cloud over FIU's leader. As a public official, I agree that his travel expenses should be subject to auditing. However, when compared to other leaders of public universities across the state of Florida and nationally, how does Maidique's behavior stack up? He can't help that an average hotel in NYC is $400. It just appears that this Herald article has a viscous ulterior motive behind it. What's your take?
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Post by FIUFan on Mar 5, 2006 12:44:06 GMT -5
IMO, the enemies of FIU will begin to ramp-up their political pressure as the vote on the Medical School draws near. The Herald had to dig deep to find this information; $450 a night for rooms in NYC? geez, I'm trying to book a trip to D.C. for a week and I can't find anything downtown (F, G, or H Street; 12th -14th Street) for less than $400/night; and I aint no University President.
Unfortunately for us the Herald has made a conscious decision to be the voice for the dissension instead of providing support for this initiative and supporting this community.
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Post by FIUBlue82 on Mar 5, 2006 21:14:59 GMT -5
Fan:
I feel your pain about booking hotels in DC. I should be up there soon on a work-related trip. Unless you plan on lodging at a motel, you have to pull out cash to stay anywhere.
Do I think the university should have audit oversight? Yes. Should we hold public officials accountable? Yes.
But...in my view, this was a result of someone who wants to see some change at the top. I do not think the Herald initiated it w/o the aid of someone on the outside. Although I do believe they try to stick it to any public official in Miami-Dade (especially FIU), in my humble opinion, some people want Mitch out of office. It is just that simple. Notice how at the end of the article, the Tallahassee lawyer the paper quotes even calls Maidique "honorable." But the Herald writer buried that comment at the conclusion.
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Post by FIUFanatic on Mar 5, 2006 21:59:34 GMT -5
Definitely some sort of trying to make something look very negative out of something that goes on normally. I do agree that some more guidelines should restrict his travels, but this could be considered "witchunt" journalism of sorts.....
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Post by FIUFan on Mar 6, 2006 10:06:56 GMT -5
Why restrict his travel? The guy is out there promoting FIU. He's doing the leg work to make these exchange programs happen. And to complain about a 'hired car' is ludicrous. Would we rather have him driving himself around a foreign country with a cell phone in one hand and a map of the city in the other. That's preposterous. He should be in the back multi-tasking. The Herald is so short-sited, they are just trying to throw sand in our eyes at this key moment.
I think mh is on the right track, though, imo, I think it's more about trying to 'sling mud' around the time big decisions are being made. Classic political trick to get people to take their eye off the ball (i.e. the Medical School).
Now is the time the FIU Community needs to remain focused on the task at hand; come what may as far as the vote is concerned. We can deal with the day-to-day once this battle has passed.
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