Alive and Such

I should be back on the blogging ball pretty soon, though I really have no idea what's been going on with the world lately, other than something about a former heart surgeon with a nuclear constitution and people in red shirts handing out free coffee and donuts. However, based on my recent experiences doing a report on the Middle East Studies Title VI-A grant, I'd like to make a comment about what it means when large universities cut bureaucracy. Basically, as near as I can tell, it just means they reduce the personnel. All the same rules and regulations are still around, however, so what you really have is fewer people doing the same amount of work. This, at least, is what seems to have happened in this part of UW the past few years. So be warned when you hear someone say they're cutting the bureaucracy and not touching classroom instruction - the time lags involved will only get worse, and it won't be the bureaucrats' fault.