As reported in the Daily Sentinel, The City of Sitka is working with the University of Dubuque to assess Sitkan's readiness and/or willingness to teach college courses.
Sitka was, of course, far more ready and willing before 100 of us were laid off with no notice...What's to say things will be different this time if Dobler and the Trustees remain involved?
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18 comments:
The school will never open again. The Dubuque thing is only a fantasy, especially if Dobler and the board stay the same. I think this is yet again another game they are playing with us to build up false hopes. In the end the Dubuque will pull out and then the board will say they had no choice but to sell to some entity like the cruise ship folks.
Maybe...But doesn't the invitation to respond to Dubuque's request provide an opportunity to voice our mistrust of Dobler and Company? They should hear that were not interested if the lineup isn't changed.
Well said Chris! And I hope the University of Dubuque will get to hear all that transpired in those final days and also that SJC still owes many of us former staff and faculty money. Some say we will never see that money!
Chris does have a good point. I’d go as far as to say why would anyone want to work for incompetent management and a board that turns a blind eye to the incompetence. I wonder if anyone at Dubuque ever reads anything from this blog. If they are doing a proper job of due diligence I’d sure guess they should.
I agree with Chris as well. Sounds like a writing campaign to Dubuque might be in order to briefly state that the people of Sitka cannot be behind such a transfer of ownership if Dobler remains in place. I was only a VIM & have a bad taste from the treatment; I can only imagine the feelings of staff & my heart still goes out to you all.
I guess in today’s world it is a trend to reward CEO’s and Presidents of failed banks and colleges.
Im no huge fan of Dobler, but I can honestly say that my 14 months at SJ where the best of my career, so much so that I let them lay me off twice! and in all honesty, as much as I miss Sitka (closest thing to home ive ever had) I would be willing to give it another try. Would it be a challenge? absolutely, but nothing in my life has ever been easy, and to me thats part of the fun. would there be uncertainty? of course, but nothing in life is certain. You can choose to be bitter about it for the rest of your life or you can let go and be a bigger person, put a better foot forward, and try harder when life kicks you around and knocks you down, thats true character.
but thats just my philosophy
If Dubuque is willing to transfer a lot of money and energy to Sitka then the city should put forth an equal amount of money and energy along with educational expertise. How else will Sitka maintain those old failing buildings. The alternative of putting a bulldozer to them would be sad indeed. Clyde
James, I hear what you're saying. Despite all the issues, I am grateful for my years at SJ as well. And Clyde, I agree that the City needs to match the energy and commitment of Dubuque.
However, any involvement by Dobler and Trustees is a no-go for me for one simple reason: their actions showed a complete lack of care and respect for students. Ask yourself, where are the freshman and sophomore students who learned just weeks before school was to begin that they no longer had a college to return to? What debt load are the carrying for an education they never received?
Never again. A college is more than the jobs it provides, buildings it occupies, and economies it contributes to. It must demonstrate a commitment to its students that would never allow what happened at SJ(C?).
Dobler and the trustees chose to ignore this commitment, the harm done too great to give these same individuals such a responsibility ever again.
president@dbq.edu
I dropped him a note.
And this was his reply:
Thank you for your note.
Though I appreciate your note, I couldn't disagree w/you more on your assessment of the President and the SJC Board. I am President of a school that was in a similar position to SJC 10 years ago. We made the tough decisions and, fortunately, did not have to close. I have learned over the years that people don't want to hear the truth re: their institution. I've reviewed the SJC finances and am familiar w/his history and, frankly, I'm amazed that it stayed in business as long as it did. President Dobler and the Board have served admirably, in my opinion, in an extremely difficult and often thankless time.
If we do enter into a relationship with SJC, I hope that our efforts at success will help heal some of the bad feelings that you currently hold.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Bullock
>>> 10/27/09 1:38 PM >>>
President Bullock:
I am writing you as an alumni of Sheldon Jackson College '88. On one
hand I am happy to hear that your University is interested in the
campus. On the other I want to clearly state that I think President
Dobbler and the current Board are un-ethical and
un-Christian. Hence, I would encourage you to pursue acquisition of
the campus if it fits your business model, but, I want to see the
existing leaders kicked to the curb in the same way they dumped
faculty, staff and students and the whole of Sitka. Sheldon Jackson
College deserves a second, perhaps a fifth chance, but, the President
and Board do not. Over the years, I have, because of the bad
management gradually divorced myself from the institution, I can say
this is true for many alumni, but also for many VIM's. I encourage
you to remember us if you decide to bring this school back from the
ashes we are the bearers of the real institutional memory.
Just,
Everybody has their moment of great opportunity in life. If you
happen to miss the one you care about, then everything else in life
becomes eerily easy. --Doug Adams
I wash my hands.
Bryner I do appreciate your efforts to keep those of us outside of the loop informed. I just feel like some of the resulting "color" commentary just perpetuates old wounds.
I was heartbroken at leaving SJ and Sitka, but Ive moved on, and in all honesty, its been tough, but its been for the better.
I agree that Dubuque does deserve to know what they are dealing with from both sides of the situation, however if all people do is send angry letters calling Dobler a cold hearted calloused poopy head, you won't get very far, and it only damages the greater cause. People need to divorce themselves from the emotion and write a convincing professional argument citing verifiable examples of Dobler's shortcomings. After that its beyond anyones control. I do believe in a just world and if Dobler truly is the villain in this. I think he will get his some how some way, we just have to make sure that we don't allow ourselves to be drug down in the process. Destructive nay saying is not the answer, and people should have a lil more maturity than just saying "well i dont like this game so im just going to take my toys and go play by myself" which seems to be a growing attitude in America....
I am torn. I want something to happen there. It breaks my heart that the campus stands empty and unused. For my two years there it was always full of life. To think of it boarded up now is something I would rather not do.
At first I was very hopeful with the idea of Dubuque taking over. But now it seems that Dobler and the same crew will run the show and I fear they will only succeed in bankrupting SJ once again.
They have shown they have no leadership skills, no ethics. They showed that when they fired everyone with no notice, when they refrained from notifying students that there would be no Fall of 2007 semester until the last possible notice (and many students only heard from other students). They showed their leadership during the Brian Chamberlain fiasco and the bounced payroll checks. They showed their leadership when my hall was dealing with temperatures inside of no more than 50 degrees in the winter because of the wind blowing through closed windows.
No, Dobler and the board cannot lead that school regardless of how much Dubuque invests.
The college ILLEGALLY witheld state of Alaska student loan refunds from students for MONTHS under the lame excuse that their "computer systems were down".
Lame as Jeffrey Bullock's letter to Sisyphus. It's appalling that this man thinks that Dobler and the administration's illegal actions are admirable, and it's appalling that he dismisses the hurt and anger at the layoffs, sudden closure, illegal activities, etc. as holding onto bad feelings.
My loan advisor straightened SJ out, but other students had no clue where to turn. I wonder if many students are still paying on loans for the money that SJ never refunded.
Yep, Dr. Bullock needs to "dig a little deeper" where Dr. Dobler is involved.
I was wondering if anyone reading this blog who SJ still owes personal debt to, has received their money yet? We still haven't and aren't even sure where to send the collection letters. Does anyone have any of that information?
Thanks,
Diana Sheahan
Diana the president of the U of Dubuque says they will not take over SJ until all debts are settled. So, it might make sense to send him an e-mail at this e-mail address to see if he knows where to send the bills. president@dbq.edu You know darn well that the 2 people at SJ as of this date have no intentions of ever paying you or anyone else who worked at SJ back. Maybe Jeffrey Bullock has a little more integrity?
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