University of Tennesee President Resigns

WKRN, Nashville TN ^

[nashvilleguy]

It was just one year ago that 60-year-old John Shumaker was offered the job to lead the University of Tennessee into the future. Now he is out of a job.

At a press conference called Friday morning after Shumaker submitted a letter of resignation, Governor Phil Bredesen said, "The past several weeks have been very difficult for the University of Tennessee family. UT is a wonderful university with many opprtunities in front of it. And I have to say it pains me as governor to watch this happening."

Over the past several weeks, questions have surfaced about Shumaker's use of a state plane, a state credit card, and the awarding of a $300,000 contract to a friend without taking bids.

"At some point, I think any reasonable person - and he certainly is that - they kind of throw their arms up in the air and say, 'It has just gotten to critical mass, it's gotten out of control and I need to do the right thing here,'" said Bredesen.

News 2 obtained a copy of Shumaker's letter of resignation. In it, Shumaker wrote, "I simply cannot permit our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees to be distracted from their important work by letting the controversies of the past several weeks continue."

According to Bredesen, in the interim, Shumaker had a vacation planned to take with his children and intended to keep those plans. News 2 has been told that Shumaker is currently out of the state.

How This Happened

For one year, it was smooth sailing for the UT president. But for one month, the allegations have been piling up.

- On June 24th, 2002 - Shumaker took office at UT. - June, 2003 - Questions surfaced about his use of the school's plane to visit a romantic interest in Birmingham. - July 2nd - Shumaker asked the state to audit his use of school funds. - July 15th - UT decided to conduct its own audit. - August 1st - Depositions from Shumaker's divorce hearing started making headlines. Among the allegations: the UT presidency search was rigged to get Shumaker his job at UT. - August 7th - Gov. Bredesen admitted that the scandals were hurting the school. He called Shumaker in for a three-hour meeting that lead to his resignation.

[GailA]

good riddance to bad rubish!

[rewrite]

I hear he's going down to Alabama....He'll fit in better down there.....WAR EAGLE!!!!!!

[GailA]

Bet he tries for University #4...after all he's gotten away with his scam in 3 of them so far.

[demkicker]

"At some point, I think any reasonable person - and he certainly is that - they kind of throw their arms up in the air and say, 'It has just gotten to critical mass, it's gotten out of control and I need to do the right thing here,'" said Bredesen.

Speaks volumes, doesn't it, that the gov is defending this turd?

[rewrite]

Honestly, I think He's done. There's too much out there on him now that documents his corruption. Maybe he could get a job with Lojac with one of those "slow /stop" signs.

[boycott]

I hear he's going down to Alabama....He'll fit in better down there.....WAR EAGLE!!!!!!

What's a war eagle? I've never heard of them.

[thegreatbeast]

Yeah, amazing:""At some point, I think any reasonable person - and he certainly is that - they kind of throw their arms up in the air and say, 'It has just gotten to critical mass, it's gotten out of control and I need to do the right thing here,'" said Bredesen." Like this man just decided to do the right thing. What a crock!

This whole compensation thing has gotten out of hand. Now everyguy with a a sizable budget thinks he's entitled to Michael Eisner/Jack Welch money. Even the jerk-offs in Congress think that what they do is analagous to private industry. If these guys were judged like most of those in private industry, they'd have been unemployed long ago.

[Semi Civil Servant]

This whole compensation thing has gotten out of hand. Now everyguy with a a sizable budget thinks he's entitled to Michael Eisner/Jack Welch money. Even the jerk-offs in Congress think that what they do is analagous to private industry. If these guys were judged like most of those in private industry, they'd have been unemployed long ago.

You're a triple winner.

The top weasels in both the private and public sectors are completely out of touch with their true worth -- which is almost always far below what their salaries, perks, and often ignored "corruption on the side" would lead you to believe.

Running a government is NOTHING like the private sector but there are a seemingly endless supply of petty school superintendents and mid-level bureacrats who seem to believe they are the incarnation of Ford/Carnegie/Iacocca combined.

Beware the candidate or civil servant who says he wants to run the government "like a business". Business and government run on completely separate and incompatible sets of rules. "Performance" and "effiency" are not possible when others (a legislature) set your yearly operating income and there's no way to increase it or avoid a decrease the next calendar year. Stopping gross waste and corruption in a given agency is about the best you can hope for. Stupidity seems to be an unassailable feature of all levels of government, however.

[mountaineer]

Another reason public institutions of higher education cannot be run like a business is the protected status of incompetent and/or dishonest employees. In my state, public employees - whether professors, secretaries, or maintenance workers - essentially hold the administration hostage with a draconian grievance system which would make a labor unions green with envy. Employees who do no work or steal state property cannot be fired, no matter how hard you try, and the administrator who tries to clean up the mess he finds will be frustrated.

[isom35]

not to be a jerk, but does this really rate breaking news?
I mean, doesnt someone resign somewhere everyday?

[rewrite]

To Freepers in the Southeastern conference area, and there aremany of us,yes it is Breaking News. If something is pertinent to one of the schools in the conference it is usually relevant to all of them.

If for no other reason, to help pile on more misery to the affected school by adding insult to injury.

It's a southern thang.