When will FIU be known more than a joke university

[steven]

FIU will be known of as more than a joke university when people stop entering petty discussions about how much of a joke FIU is or not. When people respond to rediculous claims on other boards or on the street it just fuels much of the arguing and gives those who make the baseless comments a reaction, which is exactly what they were searching for in the first place. The best way to not be considered a joke is to not lower yourself to the baseless critics and just continue putting out a high quality product.

That being said, I do believe that FIU needs to improve its marketing of achievments to the community. One such example is the eco-home competition that takes place on the national mall in Washington DC. Local news covered a home built in Washington State that did not even rank, while FIU had an entry that ranked very high and was passed over and ignored by local media. This type of thing is unexcusable. A local station reported on a university in WASHINGTON STATE, a state that is as far from here as you can get in the continental US, that was less successful than a university not even 10 miles away.

I guess the short answer is to not get into pissing contests with people about the quality of FIU and not reply to baseless accusations and instead mention the successes every day.

[fiu12]

lets get a few things straight. #1- i did not play sports at fiu. #2- talk to anybody who works at fiu in a fairly high capacity. Madique is a "Ready, Fire, Aim" kinda person who doesnt know what the hell is going on the majority of the time. FIU is the "try" and do more with less capital of the the world. Madique's arrogance turned away what would have been the largest donation in fiu history. he had paul gallagher overseeing the athletic director for years and their rationale for hiring strock as opposed to schellenberger is that they thought schnelly would end up having them on probation. Well, look at what FAU has done and look at what FIU has done. He hires all of his friends who are mostly the "columbus" type cubans who come from money and cant do anything within budget. PG and MC are both in over their heads big time. They can talk all the rah rah stuff they want but neither one can get it done. Another thing on Madique, panther soft. what kind of idiot buys parts of software but not the whole entire package? he didn;t think he needed most of it and thats why nothing in panthersoft links together. You should see how smoothly peoplesoft runs at UCF as compared to FIU. FIU's customer service is the worst ever. I graduated from FIU yet would never give that place a penny as I do donate money to 2 other universities. I could go on all day but i will stop now. ALl MC and PG's lil chronies have fun coming back at me but dont get it twisted, i know what i am talking about. believe that!

[FIUFanatic]

Ax to grind? Calling fellow FIU fans names here is your specialty it seems. I don't think you even know what you are talking about, and according to your own post, you support 'other' universities and not FIU, so everybody here should take your comments with a grain of salt, since it is evident you don't necessarily want the best for FIU. So, while I'm sure you can say a couple of realities here.....no....I don't believe everything you say. Period. And in your own, humble words, "I know what I'm talking about, believe that"!

Oh...by the way, while football had been talked about at FIU for a number of years before FIU (and FAU for that matter) had the plan, money, and drive to bring up football, Schnellenberger applied to be FIU's Athletic Director then (not as football coach or director of operations) ,FIU, instead hired Butch Henry, whose main drive then was to move FIU from the TAAC to Sun Belt and the move came for the 1998-99 season, so that decision was made prior to the1997-98 season...go figure... Get the story right, please... It was not a decision...originally...of Schnellenberger vs. Strock...When everything was ready for football, he was already picked up by FAU...not as AD...but as director of football operations.

[FIUFootballer]

fiu12 said:

I graduated from FIU yet would never give that place a penny as I do donate money to 2 other universities.

Wow, with that comment it is safe to say you are the definition of a DOUCHE. I am ashamed to have to refer to you as a fellow alumni, please rescind your diploma immediately and NEVER post here again you feminine hygiene product.

[gpantera]

fiu12,

please take all that money you're donating to your non-alma maters and invest it in a shrink. you need clinical help. you have an identity crisis.

as for those of us who bleed the gold and blue of FIU are concerned, you can leave this board and take all the FIU alum haters on this board with you. don't let the virtual door hit you on the backside on the way out.

what's happening to this place? is this not an FIU board? with alums like fiu12 and a few others, who needs enemies?

[jar86]

I agree with you gpantera, FIU12 is way off. I attended FIU from 1983 to 1986 and what a difference it was. Mitch has accomplished so much for FIU and it's sad to see that alums like FIU12 can not see that.

[alt7787]

Madique is nothing special. People like to talk about how he brought a football program, a law school, a medical school and so forth to FIU. People seem to forget that none of those "accomplishments" have gone anywhere. I love FIU football, but it is a joke. Our so called Medical School has no funding. Whatever funding it will receive will be so little that the school will also be considered a joke. Our law school standards are so low that LSAC doesnt even publish them.

Im not from Miami so I will tell you one problem that I see with this city. Everyone in this city is content with mediocrity. All the local politicians are incompetant, unqualified, crooked and dont know what the hell they are doing. I personally dont feel comfortable with the fact that my local representative's highest degree is from Miami Dade Community College. Everything that I have said applies to FIU. Everyone is content with the mediocre stage that FIU is stuck in. Incompetant people run FIU. Even better there is no way to get those people out. All of Madiques buddies are on the board of governors. You think they will force him out?? Yea right because he is probably supplying them with contracts to do work around the school. I know this to be true because i ask myself, Why the HELL is Sergio Pino on our board of governors?! This guy is some greedy cuban developer with no educational ties whatsoever. I'll tell you why. because he and Madique are in bed.

The point is that FIU is at a critical stage right now. Yes we have certain things in place, but they have to be finished. A medical school, football program and law school have been started, but now they have to be finished. We need a top 25 football program and top tier law and medical schools. Unfortunately the football program is headed in a bad direction, the law school has weak standards and the medical school will probably go nowhere.

[gpantera]

once again, with FIU alum like alt7787, who needs enemies?

if alumni support and word of mouth marketing are key components of university reputation, then we'll never get far. of course those with nothing but negative things to say will never recognize how their constant negativity feeds into all the problems they complain about.

ok, we all want FIU Football to rival USC, our Medical School to rival John Hopkins and our Law School to rival Harvard. for those of us who were here before football, med and law, we appreciate the mere existence of these three major accomplishments. back then, we belly-ached and whined because we lacked these programs. Now we have them, all three are young and are going thru their expected growing pains and we still whine and complain.

would all the FIU haters please give me the name of all the institutions who had D-1 football, law and med school rank in the top 25 within their first decade of existence? anyone? alt7787?

patience and positivity will take us a long way.
you haters are a tough crowd than only spew impatience and negativity. i'm all for CONSTRUCTIVE criticism but the brand of criticism found among way too many alum is simply counter-productive and down right destructive.

i'm going to go over to the FAU and UM board. if i'm going to hear soo much FIU criticism, i'd rather get it from non-panthers.

[FIUPantherFan]

I sometimes don't even feel like a response is necessary. Apparantly, instead of starting those 3 programs, FIU should have bought out another university who have had 100's of years to establish their programs. In doing so we would be top ranked in everything from day 1. That of course is NOT POSSIBLE! But hey, don't let reason and good sense stop you from hating on the fact that all of these programs are now established and can be allowed to grow, as opposed to a few years ago when we could only dream about them.

[mjgpanthers1]

alt7787: "Everyone is content with the mediocre stage that FIU is stuck in."

Thank you alt, my point exactly.

[FIUFanatic]

Wow...some people don't know...or put things in proper perspective...what FIU has achieved is nothing short of sensational. For someone to say FIU Law's standards are law, given our "youngness" and other accomplishments is almost as ridiculous as your continous ethnic attacks.....it only fuels people with (not so) hidden agendas. Your thinking process is slanted, at least., if not ridiculous.

[steven]

FIU does suffer from some real problems at the administrative level. Ask anyone who has dealt with the offices of the Registrar, Financial Aid, Admissions, Undergraduate Studies, or many other of those offices in the PC building and they will agree that there is some work needed. As someone who has dealt with those offices and has discussed the matter with others who have dealt with similar offices at other universities, I can assure you that the grass is not completely greener on the other side of the fence.

Overall, FIU does have some administrative problems but I challenge anyone to find a university where there are no problems at all at that level of administration. Understand that I am by no means trying to defend those offices at FIU, but I feel it is misspeaking to say that it is better overall elsewhere.

[FIUFanatic]

Good post, steven. Well put.