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Post by mrose on Feb 9, 2019 7:06:58 GMT -5
Hmm. Should I have said communists instead? I was being polite and calling them what they prefer. Anyhow, here's a link by the Communist Party of Ohio coming out and supporting the socialists at WSU. It's a 40+ minute podcast. It's the link just below Maduro's pic. www.facebook.com/pg/Communistpartyohio/posts/
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Post by mrose on Feb 9, 2019 1:10:35 GMT -5
I guess it comes down to how one defines "overwhelming." Overwhelming is the key word. Of course (unless he's a complete doofus) he's going to get support from his aforementioned groups. Overwhelming?? That's up to interpretation. Earlier this week (Tuesday?) a few Akron and Kent State socialists picketed outside their respective universities in "solidarity" with the Wright State striking socialists, but it was just a one day event and just a handful at each school. Some, if never seen before, might interpret a handful of gathered people with signs as "overwhelming." And, we already know there were a few collected WSU students ducked-taped across their mouths to support the striking socialists in a so called "sit-in"....that could be another interpretation of "overwhelming." Overwhelming support of Community members? Huh. He had to travel to Columbus today to engage "community members" and his sponsor at the Ohio State Capital is an uber-liberal that represents the rich districts of suburban Columbus. Not Raider Country.
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Post by mrose on Feb 8, 2019 22:10:50 GMT -5
In a sign that spring is around the corner Softball opened the season down in Birmingham this afternoon. Last year the Raiders dropped their first 11 games, but played .500 ball the rest of the way and finished the season 21-32. So far the 2019 season has started out in a similar fashion to last year with the Raiders dropping their first 2 in uncompetitive games with losses to Austin Peay and UAB.
FWIW, The Raiders were picked 4th in the HL preseason poll.
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Post by mrose on Feb 8, 2019 16:20:01 GMT -5
Thanks for reminding me of Big D's post. Let's start with replacing the president and trustees. Can't believe they ever let a strike happen but, I suspect there has never been any thought of bargaining in good faith by the university. As for job requirements in the past, I have faith that was true. I no longer think the goal is the best qualified. ( Strictly my opinion ) There are 6 relatively large well-respected universities within a 60 mile drive of the WSU campus. 60-miles...Not an unreasonable commute to work. Each of those universities currently employs well-qualified adjunct professors in the same fields WSU has jobs openings. As sure as I'm writing this, I can guarantee you the value of education the students being taught at NKU, UC, X, Miami, UD, tOSU by those adjunct professors is equally as good, or better, than the kids at WSU received last fall. As far as replacing the WSU President. The one that got us into the shithole is gone. President Schrader has only been here 18-months and she's been trying to right the ship all along. Lastly, I don't think the WSU administration or Trustees are determined to break the union. It appears the AAUP is doing a pretty job of that by themselves.
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Post by mrose on Feb 8, 2019 13:54:07 GMT -5
tommygun, Qualified applicants must have a Ph.D. or a master’s degree in the subject to be taught, or in related fields. My 2-cents, if an individual has earned a Ph.D. or master's in biology, chemistry, English and literature, history, mathematics, philosophy, etc., etc., and isn't qualified or knowledgeable enough to teach their craft then they should go back to the institution issuing their postgraduate degree, return their useless degree, and demand their money back. Then we should keep a list of these institutions that are cranking out Ph.D's that aren't qualified in their field and hold them responsible...
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Post by mrose on Feb 7, 2019 14:24:09 GMT -5
Vegas has us favored by 7.
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Post by mrose on Feb 6, 2019 20:50:34 GMT -5
These costs and loss of benefits are not because of the university. The reason is because of ACA(Obamacare). It is a bad law and passed with a lack of knowledge about how that system works. First treating everyone the same. Men and women post menopause or hysterectomy pay for OB care. There are other issues also. If they understood premium calculations that wouldn’t or shouldn’t have occurred. This allowed the industry to raise premiums. Since was mandatory they raised deductibles. The irony is the unions pushed for this and now it is affecting them in a negative way. You know not what of you speak. These increases in cost were happening every year long before the ACA. I am quite familiar with health care costs over last 25 years with my company. The companies absorbed the costs as long as they could then started passing them along. The company now offers a choice of either bare bones coverage for a lesser amount (but still more than it used to be) or a cadillac coverage that I am sure no one chooses unless they know they are going to have major surgery or health issues. You're both correct. Costs have been increasing at an unstainable rate for years...decades, but increased deductibles since the passing of Obamacare have grown at an alarming rate. And, to put it simply, a better "bare bone coverage" with a higher out-of-pocket expense has the same net effect...what we had before, but everyone is paying more...
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Post by mrose on Feb 6, 2019 20:23:00 GMT -5
Here is what some people think about health care. If you want to live a long life and you were dealt a bad hand when you were born you better have a lot of cash. If god made you healthy when you were born and you don’t have issues why should I pay for the people that have bad health because of bad choices or born with them. It’s not my concern. A lot of folks feel that way until they are on the short end of the rope. I know that's the narrative in some quarters. However, I don't believe it accurately represents those who feel God blessed them with good genetics that they automatically take the attitude the rest are simply s.o.l. Perhaps "what some people think" is the "teaching" by some striking employees at WSU...
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Post by mrose on Feb 6, 2019 16:24:45 GMT -5
Give it time, phelps, give it time. The way it (ACA) is written we'll all have Cadillac plans in a few years. Last year the monetary value threshold was $10,200 (Employer & Employee paid) per individual and $27,500 for family coverage. The problem with the $ threshold in identifying Cadillac plans is the ACA indexes the price to the CPI. In 2018 the CPI (unadjusted) was up 1.9%. Health insurance premiums have always increased more than the CPI and still are. Historically at a significantly higher rate. Heck, my out-of-pocket premiums are up 50% from 2017. There's still some distance from my current value and the $ threshold, but at this rate (premium increases) and CPI growth I'll have a Cadillac plan in several years...
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Post by mrose on Feb 6, 2019 14:17:30 GMT -5
Not knowing the details, it might not be the paycheck adjustment but the hardship of maybe paying more out of their own pockets. If the plan is no longer available no matter how much someone is willing to pay then that should have been hammered out by now. The plans (Cadillac) are still available. The theory, under the ACA, is they would go away as there was supposed to be a Cadillac Tax of 40% on those plans. That 40% tax was to go into effect in 2018. In 2016 Obama signed a two-year extension allowing the plans not to be taxed at the 40% rate until 2020. Last year Trump signed another two-year extension pushing the effective tax year back to 2022. The way the ACA is written it is the employer that has to pay the 40% tax. The theory is/was the employer will no longer offer such plans as a 40% tax is too much of a penalizing cost. So, if the tax goes into effect that's another cost the WSU administration has to take into account along with the original costs of the plans.
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Post by mrose on Feb 5, 2019 10:27:08 GMT -5
Actually Wright State is not as much of a commuter school as it once was. I read somewhere that 90% of freshmen live on campus. Also there are students from all over the country here. I have always thought they need to market these facts better According to last year's US News rankings only 19% of WSU students lived in university-owned, operated, or affiliated housing. Now, maybe that's mostly the Freshman class, but 19% sounds about right. Why? Because nearly 75% of our student body still comes from "Raider Country." That's the 16 contiguous counties in Southwest/West Central Ohio, A.K.A., The Miami Valley. In other words, commuting distance. Only 2% of the student body is from out-of-state and I'm guessing many of them come from Indiana due to our Reciprocity agreement. In fact, there are more international students at WSU than out-of-state domestic students, but that's pretty typical of America's university system today.
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Post by mrose on Feb 4, 2019 14:29:23 GMT -5
To some the healthcare plan might be the only reason they stay at the university. If it weren’t for that they would leave. DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! It might not be the only reason, but it is a big reason why good professors have decided to come to WSU and stay. I understand the current financial situation of the school, but you get what you pay for. And these are people with PhD's who we are trying to attract. Hate to say it, but this strike has really damaged Wright State’s brand. The University has lost its shine and I fear that it will be in a downward spiral for the next decade or so. There's actually a PhD glut in many fields. I'm sure there are many underemployed PhD's out there who would love a full-time job at WSU and take the benefits the rest of the employees have.
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Post by mrose on Feb 4, 2019 13:41:49 GMT -5
The more I think about, BBJones, the more I rule out the football model or two-tiered tournament. I think the NIT will look similar to the NCAA tourney and be dominated by the major conferences. I think we'll see a few more of the perennial conferences rated 7-10 get spots in the field, but there won't be anymore spots open up for mid-to-low majors. In theory, if chalk holds in the conference tournaments, the most deserving teams via NET, eye test, etc., will be selected from the top 10 or so conferences--leaving the other conferences home watching on ESPN.
Look at last year's tournament. Nearly half (15) the teams in the field were from the top-7 conferences (P-5, AAC, Big East). Only 4 of the top-16 seeds were from lower rated conferences and 2 of them came from conferences typically rated 10-ish or better (Mtn. West, WCC). The average seed for the automatic qualifier was 6.75 and only one of the 12 auto qualifiers was seeded to play an opening round home game (Middle Tenn. RPI 27). Since the NIT incorporated the auto-bid in 2007 having 15 teams from the top-7 conferences is a record number--it ties 2009 with 15. However, the landscape was different in 2009 pre conference expansion and alignments. The year with the next highest number of top-7 conference teams was the year before last (2017) with 14 slots pegged for those programs.
In my mind that goes back to the whole genesis of this thread--NIT expansion. The NCAA/NIT isn't going to expand for the benefit of the likes of IUPUI, Radford, Utah Valley, etc., They'll expand for the likes of Rutgers, Boston College, UConn, Missouri, etc.
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Post by mrose on Feb 4, 2019 0:52:56 GMT -5
The irony is, this year the Horizon League, in aggregate, is a better conference than last year--via the metrics. But there appears to be more parity and that may not play out well for the world's perception of the HL come the tournament. The HL is a 1-bid league and depending on who wins the league they could receive a seed anywhere between 13-16, and the 13 seed was before the NKU loss at UIC. In short, there's an increasing probability the HL champ could be a 15 or 16 seed...a lower seed with an overall improved conference from last year.
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Post by mrose on Feb 4, 2019 0:29:13 GMT -5
If I had a "Cadillac Plan" I would have been grateful to have received such a plan, but I couldn't justify (to myself) holding an institution hostage for my superior plan and letting others suffer in many different ways. All in a effort to keep my special plan (unlike most others).
If that's what it really comes down to then I find it simply unconscionable to defend the strike.
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