Change Starts at the TOP

[ronmexico5]

It starts at the top. After days of thinking I believe that our University is headed in the wrong direction. Our schools administration has bit off more than it could chew. Within 5 years we have been able to get a Law School, Medical School, and a division IA team. If you look at the speed in which we achieved this you would certainly think that its impressive. Unfortunately, all three of these programs cost money. Money that this university has never been able to raise only extort from the State of Florida's taxpayers. See although I believe we need both a Law and Medical School desperately I also understand that our state does not have the funds and our University does not have the donors to pull this off. The only answer that this administration has come up with is raising tuition. Our University looks like a welfare school. Every single time we need something to pay for; our university happily calls or sends emails to its alumni for their "Call to Action". They want us to put pressure on our politicians every single time so that they can bail us out. We need change and I believe change can only start from the top. Our bureaucratic system at the university is a joke. This take too long to process. People are scared to do anything innovative. We as the public university of Miami must understand that a time for change is upon us. No longer can we sit back and listen to our university administrators tell us that customer service will never be solved, that alumni relations is not important.
Success begins at the top. If our president cannot be a successful role model and a base of support to our athletic director, then there are no models of success for our A.D. to follow, which lead to failure for our head coaches who follow the A.D., our players who follow those coaches, and us fans who support the players.

[kevinkagy]

I have to disagree with you. Just because the football team is doing bad doesn't mean the entire university is under bad leadership and we're all being fooled. FIU is not the only university to push for a tuition increase, honestly, it sucks but Florida has some of the lowest tuition in the country, all our schools really need it, even FIU.

Secondly, our law school has proven to be very successful and is quickly becoming very prestigious. On top of that, it received many big-paying donors when it opened as well as when Balart Hall opened. Our Med School may seem like a bad idea to you now, but it isn't. Miami needs a public med school and FIU will benfit greatly from it, when it opens in about 2 years. On top of that it received the $5 million dollars from the med. center and now has a partnership with Miami-Dade Dep't of Health with construction to begin soon on two new med buildings! FIU will become even more prestigious!

I think Maidique has done a good job. He's done a lot for us and the university as a whole. Just because the football team is doing poorly doesn't justify a downgrade to the rest of the institution. And if it's a problem with the Alumni Association, than we need to take it out on them and let them know not degrade the 40,000 students and over 160,000 alumni. FIU is on its way to greatness and will emerge very quickly into one of the country's top urban universities, it's just a matter of time.

[FIUFanatic]

Aren't we getting a bit ahead or ourselves? I wholeheartedly, and totally, support and agree with kevinkagy here. I think, given the history and special situation of FIU and its history, what has been achieved is just marvelous. Take a deep breath, relax. After all...this is a STATE UNIVERSITY...and FIU gets less than 50% of its budget from state money...much less than at many other states.....UF, FSU, UCF, USF, FAU, UNF, UWF, and Golf Coast University, all....even UM..."extorts" money from the state....

[gpantera]

ronmexico5,

If it took FIU 10 more years to secure a law school, a few more to secure medical and launch football in the year 2060, would you and the rest of the entire fan base be happy then? Would you say, we did it the slow and methodical way? Stop thinking. The answer is hell no! Despite the youth of our university, our community has demanded the FIU become big time in all areas as quickly as possible. The challenge is the the demand for more now largely out-paces the amount of donations received by FIU. To my knowledge, despite these challenges, FIU has give us a university that has achieved more in less time, with less money than any other school in this country. Don't let an 0-4 start to the football season cloud your judgment and allow you to start destructively putting down all the accolades our president has worked over 20 years to deliver to us.

gpantera

[FIUBlue82]

ronmexico5 said:

"Call to Action". They want us to put pressure on our politicians every single time so that they can bail us out. We need change and I believe change can only start from the top.

I hope you're not insinuating that I am a part of the FIU administration in any way. I am not an employee of the university. I am just an alum, like you. I simply posted that "call to action" for those of us who care about the institution to call and write their legislators re: our medical school. I guess it worked because the Miami-Dade legislators I spoke with have both publicly and privately pushed the governor to amend his proposal specifically in reference to the FIU and UCF medical schools. Democracy at work.

As for the rest of your comments, I defer to kevinkagy and his post. Kevin, I am in complete agreement.

[The OC Panther]

From a marketing perspective FIU Tuition is so cheap that it almost undersells the value of an FIU education.

When I moved to New York and the state schools where 6 times the cost in 1995 $600 versus $4000 a semester i was stunned.

now that Im in Cali its even worse, a Masters program at a state school is $9000 a semsester in tuition for 12 credits.
Whats FIU?

I feel bad anytime soomeone can't come to FIU because of price but get over it, an FIU education is highway robbery.