Featured Post #6
On Sunday, July 27, 2014 a Current Paine College Faculty Member Wrote:
Since the authors of “The Paine Project” wish to maintain anonymity, so do I. Since I am a current member of the Paine College untenured faculty, my reasons for doing so should be obvious.
The academic program at Paine College compared to other benchmark colleges and universities is disgraceful. There is a dual school system that boasts a School of Arts and Sciences and a School of Professional Studies. The Arts and Sciences division has functioned without a dean for an entire academic year, and is approaching a new season of our discontent with the position still unfilled by Paine College faculty input on any new or prospective appointments.
Yes, Dr. George Bradley’s wife, Tina Marshall-Bradley occupied the School’s deanship this previous academic year. But, she also held the position Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, not to mention her various college committee memberships.
The School of Arts and Sciences has three departments with only 17 faculty members. The division of Arts and Sciences is being allowed to languish. Instead of President Bradley mandating a national search for replacement of the former Arts and Science’s dean whose resignation he orchestrated, he appointed his wife. The School of Arts and Sciences houses over half of the 800 plus students that attend Paine College.
The School of Professional Studies has three departments. Those departments are Business, Media Studies, and Education. The Business and Media departments have the highest number of student majors of all departments at Paine College. The Department of Business only has six faculty members and the Department of Media Studies only has two. Neither of the two media faculty members have doctorate degrees. And, only one even has a master’s degree.
Dr. David Chamblee is the dean of the School of Professional Studies. Yes, Dr. Chamblee has speech pathology issues. But, even more disconcerting is his leadership abilities. Drawn from Chamblee’s online resume, he has no credible collegiate experiences that qualify his appointment to lead a collegiate faculty that is academically accomplished. Chamblee just showed up out of the blue two years ago and was announced as the new dean for the School of Professional Studies. Over the two years marking Chamblee’s deanship, this division has also been allowed to languish with no discernible growth that may be directly attributed to his existence, but any growth at all rather to the efforts of the School’s department chairs, and their individual faculty.
The School of Professional Studies offers radio production classes without radio or audio equipment. The School offers television production classes without television production equipment. And, the School under Chamblee’s purview offers drama and theatre courses without any theatrical stage or theater production equipment. Students taking these media classes are being academically cheated as a result of do-nothing leadership.
Clearly, Dr. George Bradley has not defined the role of a Paine College dean other than one of being a micro-manager, or overseer who is directed to report directly to him.
But, more blameworthy than the absence of qualified deans is the absence of an energetic chief academic officer. As Paine College faculty, we had great expectations upon the announcement of Dr. Samuel Sullivan as Vice President of Academic Affairs. Given his former association with Augusta State University, we assumed his presence would be a boost od adrenalin. Unfortunately, Sam came out of retirement to Paine College seemingly like he must have just been taken off of life-support himself. In the year, going on two, Dr. Samuel Sullivan has been at Paine College, he has shown himself to be just another Bradley lackey. And, that’s not “lackey” in the pejorative sense, but lackey as it applies to lacking any substantive ability to be a leader as opposed to being a taker or drawer of a comfortable salary.
Paine College, it’s faculty and students require better than what’s being offered by this current administration. It’s time for a complete overhaul if this college doesn’t want to see a mass exodus of students to way more academically capable institutions of higher learning.
A Paine College Current Faculty Member
Featured Post #5
Dear Board of Trustee Members:
Paine College is in the education business, and as Board members, each of you have the fiduciary responsibility of providing the President with guidance and direction to meet the established short-term and long-term goals of the institution. The President should be presenting to each of you a plan of action to meet the institutional short-term and long-term goals. If these goals are not met, the President ultimately needs to be held accountable. Tasks can be delegated by leaders, but the ultimate responsibility of completing those tasks still remains with the President. Evidently, the high turnover indicates that Dr. Bradley has been able to downward delegate his responsibilities and not be held accountable for the downward spiral of Paine College.
When a new member is brought into the Board, that Trustee should be provided with the requisite information to add value, assess performance and make recommendations accordingly. Each Trustee member should have a copy of the Board’s Policy & Procedures, Board Governance, Dr. Bradley’s contract, short-term and long-term Board approved plans to meet short-term and long-term goals, and any correspondence from the Department of Education, SACSCOC, auditors, . . . that will impact Paine College. At each Board meeting, the President should be giving you a progress report on meeting the established goals. If you are not provided this information, your ability to provide the President with guidance and direction and assess the President’s performance is severely compromised.
Unfortunately, this information has not been provided to the Paine Board of Trustees. Without this website, the Paine community would not even know who are the Trustee members. This pervasive lack of transperancy at the highest level will lead to the ultimate demise of Paine College. The leadership has established a culture that enables secrecy, no accountability and intimidation. Trustee members who have not attended a meeting in years is sorrowful. In essence, this is black on black exploitation that will sadly lead to the legacy of a great institution such as Paine College to its eventual demise, and best case, a shadow of its former self. My prayer is that each of you will have the courage to ask for this information, and more importantly, bring in new leadership. Six years is adequate time for any leader to prove themselves, and in any corporate environment, Dr. Bradley would have been dismissed years ago. This will give you as leaders time to reinvent the leadership structure at Paine College and bring in leadership that is highly competent and cares.
Sincerely,
A Concerned HBCU Advocate
Featured Post #4
An Open Letter to the President and Board of Trustees of Paine College, Augusta, Georgia
In 2011 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges found mismanaged student financial aid, unqualified personnel preparing financial statements, and expenditures exceeding revenues. It issued a warning and granted two years to remedy the findings. A 2013 fiscal audit showed many of the same issues still remain, with ledger accounts not being reconciled, failure to track and reconcile cash, and discrepancies in what was paid and charges posted to student accounts. On June 19, 2014 Paine was placed on probation for nine violations of compliance with the Commission’s standards related to finances, governance, qualified personnel and mismanagement of federal student financial aid.
President Bradley has failed to adequately address the issues and as a consequence Paine College, a 132 year old institution, stands at the door of possible revocation of accreditation. Based upon the foregoing, I hereby call on President Bradley to resign immediately so a qualified and capable president can take the helm and resolve the issues that have put a historical institution with a rich legacy at great risk.
The current predicament of Paine College also results from failure of the Board of Trustees (hereafter Board) to fulfill its oversight and fiduciary responsibilities. Accordingly, if Bradley does not resign and the Board does not take the compelling and necessary corrective action within the next couple of weeks, I respectfully ask all alumni with legal qualifications to explore and execute all legal options to hold responsible and mandate the Board of Trustees to execute its obligations and duties under law. I am prepared to make a substantial contribution toward to the effort.
Grady L. Cornish, PhD, 1969 Graduate
Email: cornish530@att.net
New Board of Trustees Page
NEW WEBSITE PAGE
We have added a new page to the Paine Project website. It is called The Board of Trustees File. See it at http://www.thepaineproject.net or click here to immediately link to the page called The Board of Trustees File.
Our sources inside Haygood-Holsey tell us that the Board of Trustees meeting for July 25, 2014 is probably not going to happen as no notices of the meeting have been sent to Board of Trustees members. Please call, write or email all board members to demand a vote on the continued employment of Dr. Bradley and his administration at Paine College. Paine deserves better.
Featured Post #3
This letter was sent to Dr. Bradley by Joe Tinsley on Saturday, July 12, 2014.
Good Morning Dr. Bradley:
In light of past events, I feel sorrow and disappointment for the Paine College family. There are dedicated employees at the college who in no way contributed to the current predicament the college is in. As a colleague that stood along side those dedicated men and women, I quickly understood the value and importance of my work and of others.
I often reference to comments you’ve made in speeches about planting trees at the college that we will never sit under. I always liked that metaphor. I’m sure there are many ways to interpret the aforementioned, but I’ve always looked at it like this: To operate with a level of purpose, determination, integrity and altruism that promotes humility and authentic stewardship over the students we are entrusted to educate, the alumni that will forever be shaped by the foundational craftsmanship of Paine’s educational sculptors and the next generation of those who desire to one day enroll. Any place that exist on this earth that offers a real palpable and pragmatic way for young people to grow intellectually, socially and professionally should always remain inoculated from the flaws of self-preservation, myopic vision and egotism.
Though as humans, we may be guilty to a degree of some, if not all of the above at times. At Paine College, an incubator of higher education, the above mind-set cannot permeate a campus. It has. The will to fight, the desire to innovate, the energy to serve—-the sheer joy of coming to work has been forcibly and systematically drained from the campus. When all of the above-mentioned takes place, man’s natural proclivity to self-preserve kicks in. It’s plain to see. You know it. Quite simply, they’ve lost faith in you.
Though I’m sure it was not your intentions when the newness of the beginning was in front of you. It now has metastasized to the point that it can only be vanquished by a healing rebirth of new blood, direction and purpose. The College deserves that. It needs time to heal and re-establish it’s place as a progressive light for society. It can remain a beacon of hope for those who desperately need quality educational training, nurturing support and social structure. The brick and mortar of the college can never be explained in acres or location. It quite literally is the collective spirit of whites who opposed the stain of slavery and slaves who persevered so that one day they could see their lineage as free men and women receiving a quality education———to the generation that protested to preserve and earn a seat at the table of equality and now to a generation that desperately needs our tutelage. Their ancestors DNA is in them. We must re-ignite and re-align that focus and determination. In spite of what many may say about this generation, they are salvageable. Deep within them they cry out for structure, discipline and love. They need that. They crave it. I see it. I still remain recklessly naïve that our colleges and universities can deliver that with assembly-line like proficiency again.
With all that has been said, I hope you make the right decision to abdicate your position with the college and depart with the hope that She will rise again.
Integrity is a road that has few footprints and even fewer admirers. (I believe it is one of the core values) It does however reward the soul of a man’s progression throughout life’s journey. You have more to give, and a population to serve in a place that will be richer for your presence.
Joseph D. Tinsley
Former Admissions Director
Paine College
Featured Post #2
“Righting ” the ship must be the first priority! Those matriculating there deserve nothing less.
A lot of questions remain unanswered but as one of the students has indicated “nothing will be resolved unless we realize that Paine College is larger than any one of us or any group of us.” Forgetting that will be disastrous!
Dr. Curtis Martin, Former Interim President, 2007
Vice President for Academic Affairs, 2002 – 2010
The Paine Project 