The reign of University of Texas at Arlington president Ryan Amacher is over, but not forgotten. In fact, it's gone on to become a case history in how not to run a university.
The New York-based academic journal Lingua Franca analyzed Amacher's short, bitter administration at UTA, calling it a "step-by-step guide to failure."
The story of Amacher's short, expensive ride to glory at UTA has become a morality tale for academics. Of course, the Observer long ago reported extensively on Amacher's attempts at raising UTA's profile by spending copious amounts of money on athletics, splendid offices, globe-trotting, dazzling parties, and pompous graduation ceremonies. Let's just say Amacher's wild kegger ended with open faculty and student revolt and an audit that found the beleaguered president needed to be held back in Leadership 101.
But how many eggheads read the Observer?
Now they can see a somewhat more boring version in Lingua Franca, which brings some tasty new Amacher anecdotes to light and made a sobering point that won't be lost on enrollment-poor UTA: "After three strife-filled years, an uncertain campus has found itself back where it started."
Adventure Club
The last time we looked in on those wayfarers at the Dallas Citizens Council, they were touring a Texas state prison in Huntsville--which they found very scary. (Buzz Reader's Aid: The Citizens Council is a group of rich North Dallasites who are under the fairly accurate impression they call the shots in the city.)
This time we learned from the group's newsletter that the North Dallas elite took a safari to South Dallas.
"The Fair Park South Dallas area, or Sunny South Dallas as it is affectionately known, has a rich history and culture and many assets," the newsletter reads. You might remember this as the part of town that Mavs founder Donald Carter affectionately referred to recently as an area that "might not be considered a desirable location" for a sports arena.
Buzz wonders if the council members wore those tasteful Abercrombie & Fitch safari jackets on the trip southward.
Mixmaster or Cuisinart?
What is the mojo on I-30 in Dallas anyway? In a span of two days, we've had accidents causing the loss of thousands of lives. OK, they were chicken and goat lives, but still Buzz is compelled to ask, what's the deal?
Consider: April 27, an 18-wheeler hauling 600 goats jackknifes, killing 350. "It was like slow motion," the driver told the The Dallas Morning News.
Consider: April 28, a truck carrying 7,800 of Bo Pilgrim's prime chickens rolls, shortening the lives of 4,000 fryers--which were already headed for a processing plant--by several hours.
Coincidence? Has the Bermuda Triangle migrated north, or is this an animal-rights plot gone awry?
The best one state trooper could offer the Morning News was, "We are still investigating why it happened."
Obviously another coverup in a city notorious for them.
