Another Day at The College of The Bahamas (COB)

C.O. B. - Another ‘New’ Day!
The Bahama Journal Editorial


For quite some time now, The College of The Bahamas has been able to make the news for all the wrong reasons.

The College has made the news when a president was found to be a plagiarist; on another, it made the news when it was discovered that some other senior people were egregiously incompetent.

The College has also made the news when some of its faculty decided that they could or would bring the institution’s work to a screeching halt.

Had we so wished, we could today write reams and volumes about some other nightmare stories now going the rounds in that hapless place. One such involves the alleged theft of a brand-new $7,000.00 aluminum gate; with this rip-off allegedly taking place sometime between mid-night and eight in the morning of January 4, 2011.

To date, no one from the College of The Bahamas has seen fit to raise a public alarm about this alleged theft of public property.

And perhaps, today we might have raised such an alarm.

To date, we have not done so; and this, because we have concluded that such an alarm should have already been raised by the most appropriate College of The Bahamas personnel – perhaps, its new president!

Even now, we await some response or some sounded alarm from the College of The Bahamas.

If – in the most unlikely of cases – it is discovered that we are mistaken, we gladly admit error.

But “believe you me” we are convinced that our informant was telling the truth when she alleged that an aluminum gate was stolen from the College sometime on January 4, 2011 in those hours when most Bahamians were fast asleep.

Regrettably, the gate thieves were doing what they do best, ripping off gates.
Notwithstanding the bad news, there was some news that could be put in the good news bracket.

In the first instance, we can report that, a new four-year industrial agreement between The College of The Bahamas and the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas has been sealed.

This was done during a so-called “private” ceremony which was said to have been held in the board room of the College.

It is also being reported that, UTEB President Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson is of the view that, [this signing] came as a relief to many of the men and women who teach and lecture in the College of The Bahamas.

The signing bonus of $500.00 might have something or the other to do with their new-found sense of both release and relief, however small each might turn out to be as far as such matters are concerned.

The agreement will expire in 2012.

Signing on behalf of the college were Board Chairman T. Baswell Donaldson, President Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze, and Council Secretary Wendy Poitier-Albury.

Signing on behalf of the union were Isaacs-Dotson, UTEB's Vice-president External Vicente Roberts and Trustee Janet Donnelley.

But even here, these folk have to wait for another barrier to be hurdled; this involving minutiae regarding registration of the document signed on their behalf.

They who have waited patiently, now wait some more.

For them, this passes for what some of them might call good news.

In the second instance of some of what might also be called good news, we have information to the effect that, The College now has another brand new president; and that her name is Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze.

We are also told that, this fine lady took up the reins of power in The College with effect from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014.

The same public relations script noted that, the appointment of Dr. Earla Carey-Baines as President would have come to an end on December 31, 2010; and that, the College was greatly indebted to Dr. Carey-Baines, has resumed responsibilities as Dean, with effect from January 1, 2011...”

We are told that, “Dr. Vogel-Boze comes to The College with a wealth of experience in building and transforming tertiary academic institutions; and that her experience in academic administration spans 20 years in multi-campus university structures.

We note also that, “Kent Stark is a public liberal arts university offering baccalaureate and masters degrees. It has a student population of 5,400 enrolled in academic programmes and about 5,000 that enroll annually in executive education programmes...”

Note also that, “Dr. Vogel-Boze holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas, a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, both from Southern Methodist University. She currently holds the post of Senior Fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), a leadership organization for 430 public colleges and universities...”

We wish this fine lady well.

And for sure, we also hope that she will do her utmost to help the police find the gate.

January 17, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International