Non-sports: UT continues to have a president of whom we can all be proud

[Vercingetorix]

UT president not penalized for omissions : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

After lengthy debate over how to punish University of Tennessee President John Petersen for omissions on a financial disclosure form, the Tennessee Ethics Commission ultimately voted to do nothing.

Petersen had already paid a $250 fine for filing his form late. After review of the form, questions were raised about his failure to list any investments or sources of income other than his UT salary.

...

Commission Chairman Donald Hall said it appeared Petersen "somewhat autocratically decided, 'I'm Dr. Petersen, and I don't have to spend a lot of time on this.'"

Awesome. Way to go, Dr. Petersen. Way to keep representing your university. Too bad about the late fee, but at least having your ethics hearing in Nashville must have been convenient. We certainly know you weren't anywhere near the flagship campus in Knoxville.

(Mods, feel free to move this wherever non-sports UT stuff should go.)

[jcolli30]

I can't stand the man. He gets booed at every sporting event he attends. He's responsible for Crabtree's resignation...a man who actually gave a damn about the student body.

[IPorange]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought "you have to be kidding!" And I was right. I just hope UTK can survive this fellow's tenure. I really wish we would get a president who wanted to follow Virginia's or North Carolina's model of building up the flagship university and then letting the benefits from that spread outwards to the other system schools. Without a true "flagship" university, it just makes the whole system seem mediocre (not saying that has happened yet, but that seems to be where Petersen is going.)

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by IPorange

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought "you have to be kidding!" And I was right. I just hope UTK can survive this fellow's tenure. I really wish we would get a president who wanted to follow Virginia's or North Carolina's model of building up the flagship university and then letting the benefits from that spread outwards to the other system schools. Without a true "flagship" university, it just makes the whole system seem mediocre (not saying that has happened yet, but that seems to be where Petersen is going.)

They've been talking about doing that at least since I entered UTK as a freshman, and that was 20 years ago. Loren Crabtree was the first administrator UT's had since then who actually seemed to be implementing a plan to do just that, which is why his ouster was such a disaster. I've seen how dramatically the University of Georgia has been able to improve the admissions standards and quality of education at its flagship school thanks to the HOPE scholarship, so I had incredibly high hopes for the combination of Crabtree + a HOPE scholarship in Tennessee. Unfortunately, we've gone for the least-common denominator approach instead.

Which is personally annoying because Petersen has dramatically increased the chance that my son is going to end up being a Georgia Bulldog one day. There sure doesn't look like there's going to be much reason to recommend my alma mater to him, that's for sure.

I know that the vast majority of fans on this board don't care much about UT adminstration issues, which is fine. But I thought it was worth posting because this is the kind of story that interested UT alums around the country should know about.

[hatvol96]

Petersen is a douche of the highest order. He, along with the BOT that hired him, should be summarily terminated from their positions. Allowing this imbecile to continue running UT into the ground should be grounds for impeaching Bredesen.

[General Jack]

Vercingetorix, thanks for posting. That type of information is a little harder to come by if one doesn't seek it (which admittedly I don't...), and/or only source is from University newsletters (with a decidely pro administration spin!).

I'm an alum and do find this interesting and disturbing. Good governance on the hill is at a frighteningly low level between Peterson and hambone.

[Vercingetorix]

The only way I see this stuff is thanks to RSS feeds. There are enough disgruntled faculty members in Knoxville that you'd think somebody would have a blog, but I haven't run across one yet. I wish I knew more about what was going on too.

And yes, the University newsletters are useless. Reading about Crabtree's "resignation" in the official UT news was about as useful as reading about Soviet politics in _Pravda_.

[Abeachvol]

at least it isnt as bad as the President prior to him, I forget his name 02-03? He was fired for blowing huge amounts of money on rugs, BBQ grille, parties, etc

[dickens821]

Petersen is the only reason I am somewhat glad I will not be a UT student come next fall.

[We're In Trouble]

Wow, he is thought as much of as that renegade athletic director.

[The Dude]

I got to party with Petersen at his house off Cherokee Dr before I graduated from the Hill, and I'll tell you he loved that expensive grill I'm sure as much as Shumaker did. Thing was like 7 feet long.

[trillville]

I'm not a fan of Peterson either. Chancellor Crabtree was one of the best things that happened to the university as far as developing academics, and he ran him off.