Seriously, this story gave me writer’s block. I thought about a play on ‘swingers’ but I avoid puns and puns about golf should be included in stand your ground laws.
It is Friday and everyone else is mountaineering or learning parkour, so I will just outsource today’s blogging to the deserving folks at RawStory.
A former teacher at the California University of Management & Science (CalUMS) filed a lawsuit against the schoolās president for, among other things, firing him after he complained about having to change the failing grades of the presidentās numerous lovers, Courthouse News Service reports.
According to the lawsuit filed by Keunjun Choi, CalUMS founder and president David Park fired the golf professional ā who taught a class in the āThe Golf College of California University of Management and Scienceā ā after Choi refused to change the grade of a 45-year-old woman who failed to attend the classes required to pass his course.
Park allegedly ordered Choi to give the woman an āAā or be terminated. He relented, the student was given an āA,ā and then she was hired by Park to serve as the Dean of Student Affairs. When Park learned that she was having an affair with another man, he struck up a sexual relationship with another student, on whose behalf he also asked Choi to change an āFā into an āA.ā Again, Choi did as he was told.
The situation, however, became more complicated when Park began seeing the Dean of Student Affairs again, leading to a romantic love-triangle with Choi serving as an unwilling go-between.
So profound. So rich in pathos.
Robert Waldmann
All I can say is that all fore of them should smack their fourheads.
(note I am in Rome and there is no stand your ground law here so just delete the comment).
Robert Waldmann
All I can say is that all fore of them should smack their fourheads.
(note I am in Rome and there is no stand your ground law here so just delete the comment).
raven
A Serious Man – Clive
I understand the dead cat.
MCA1
It’s not clear how Choi performed on an actual golf course, but in terms of grading, he scored at least 2 under Park.
//Applying bulletproof vest//
Emma
Headdesk. Thinks about it. Headdesks again
Golf grades? Really? Golf?
Roger Moore
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Choi’s dilemma is an example of why you need to refuse to go along the moment somebody tries to get you involved in their unethical behavior. He tried to go along to get along, and now he’s been fired anyway and ruined his reputation in the bargain.
blueskies
Park for the course when it comes to these diploma mills set up to rip-off students and the Pell Grant system.
boatboy_srq
Any chance one of the “students” is named Mulligan?
Ecks
The legal perils of letting your boss mix golf with swinging.
(UK, no firearms – sorry Americans, you’re getting it from the foreigners in this thread)
Gin & Tonic
Do the sweatshirts from that place say “CUMS” ?
boatboy_srq
@Emma: Golf classes I get, so golf grades make sense. A golf COLLEGE? REALLY?
Bobby B.
Lifetime Channel, get on it STAT
boatboy_srq
Oh and
is just one priceless phrase.
boatboy_srq
@Gin & Tonic: Only if they’re made by FCUK.
Schlemizel
Park should have gotten the requests in writing & then demanded to be named department chair with a big raise. Why should he be the only one in the arrangement not screwing someone?
MattF
@Schlemizel: That would have worked. Always get everything in writing.
WaterGirl
@Emma: These are real schools, often at real universities, that teach people how to run and manage a golf course, etc. These kids have to work their asses off, which I know because my nephew attends one of these schools.
WaterGirl
@boatboy_srq: Wanna step outside?
NonyNony
@Schlemizel:
He should have gotten the requests in writing and then failed her anyway.
If they move to fire him for it, break out the request and show that whatever reason they were firing him for was bullshit.
In my 20+ years of working for a living, if there’s one lesson that has sunk so deeply into my brain that I will never forget it it is “get it in writing”. Asking for a written order to do something unethical is like exposing a vampire to garlic – everyone backs away and forgets they ever asked you to do it.
Tone In DC
@Emma:
You’re gonna do some serious damage to your head (or the desk!) trying to make actual sense of this situation.
It’s even worse than those basket weaving classes that are part of the curriculum. Seniors and/or graduate students at that school want a low stress elective while they’re taking Advanced Union Busting and Tax Inversion for Dummies.
boatboy_srq
@WaterGirl: Only if you’re bringing the Slazenger 7s…
WaterGirl
@Tone In DC: Uh oh, it looks like I’m gonna have to take on the whole lot of you. But I’m standing my ground.
big ole hound
I live near Berkeley and hear all the stories. The Cal board of chancellors and all the top brass Univ of Cal system are corrupt overpaid moochers who have taken the school down the tubes and the public for a ride. This is a very top heavy organization that should loose most of the deans and save the state multi-millions. No one is ever terminated or denied tenure so the corruption flower keeps on blooming.
Roger Moore
You have to admit, she did have experience in the topic from the student’s point of view.
WaterGirl
@boatboy_srq: I have a feeling you have already taken your revenge. I had to google that, so now i am sure to be bombarded with spam related to golf and golf clubs.
Amir Khalid
I don’t think I’ve come across a less credible “university” than CalUMS. It appears to be just a small step up from a diploma mill.
However, I only wish I really were off mountaineering or learning parkour. I am struggling with something much more mundane: learning how to use a new Android phone, the first smartphone I have ever purchased. It’s a not-quite-latest model Lenovo. One of these days, I’m going to have to ask you guys how to copy photos and video and audio recordings to my laptop.
Sideshow Bill
@Emma: Golf is crucial in management, a bad grade in golf could keep you out of the VP office!!!
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@big ole hound: I sincerely doubt that the California University of Management & Science is a part of the University of California system (whatever flaws it may have).
Trollhattan
Holy crap, y’all, you haven’t been mining the curriculum nuggets.
–Golfer Career Enhancement [involving Enzyte?]
–Golf Car Fleet Management [the Volkswagens?]
–Advanced Golf Teaching (Swing Analysis…) [aaand, there it is]
–Psychology of Golf
–Swing Fundamental [this must be the grad-level course]
–Turf Grass Management [have been doing this since I was ten]
–Art of Game Management [come again?]
http://www.golfcollege.us/curriculum.php
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@Roger Moore: Yeah, that’s when I whip out that stubborn, mulish, mid-western dumb as a stump routine: Well, ya see, I can’t do that. Because blip. And bloop. I could do B, C, or D. But if I did A … hey, where are you going?
Tone In DC
Hey! This ain’t Florida!
In the quoted text, Choi is called a golf professional. Makes me think he’s not a manager, he’s a player. Unlike that Don Juan wannabe, Park, who may or may not crush a lot.
And, the best revenge for any of us would be a four iron to the head of Darrell Issa. Repeatedly, and with vigor. Admittedly, this act might damage a perfectly good club.
Cervantes
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
The two have nothing to do with each other.
Trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
My sympathies on the many days you are about to sacrifice to this time-sink now in your hand.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Cervantes: I know.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
It’s only a matter of time before nude photos of you are all over the Internet.
Days, maybe.
YellowJournalism
Title suggestion: “You’re not being the ball, Danny.”
Trollhattan
@Cervantes:
But, how will he know?
Only solution I can think of is to post some now, then we can alert him if any stolen ones appear. It’s the dilemma of the not-yet famous, everywhere.
Steeplejack
@boatboy_srq:
I’ve been seeing TV ads out here in Vegas for the Crescent School of Gaming. I thought it would make me a better gambler, but it’s to train dealers, etc. Maybe I should investigate the International Gaming Institute at UNLV—“a world leader in gaming research and industry training.”
Reminds me of back in the ’80s, when my officemate was using an elaborate COBOL program to fine-tune his NFL betting and always referred to it as his “predictive-outcome systems analysis” project.
Paul in KY
@Roger Moore: I agree. That request should have been met with laughter & if he persisted, then you loudly walk into a colleagues office & say what just happened, laughing about it & then asking the dude if he’s serious or was that just a bad joke.
Paul in KY
@Schlemizel: That also would have been better than what he did.
Amir Khalid
@Trollhattan:
My siblings demanded I get a phone. There’s some family business afoot which requires I be easily contactable. I’m all for connectivity that can’t escape you, but connectivity you can’t escape is another thing. And I’d thought being retired meant I could escape the latter. Sigh.
Mike G
In Southern Cal there are a large number of these dodgy “colleges” that cater to Asian students who are either desperate or don’t know any better.
Trentrunner
@big ole hound: This is mostly bullshit. But thanks for playing.
And this post’s story is unconnected with the UC system.
Again, thanks for playing.
Anoniminous
@Amir Khalid:
The former implies the latter. Although the mobile phone industry won’t tell you that in their marketing literature.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
It’s pretty easy. Just hook up the phone to the computer with the USB cable, then open Windows Explorer to see the phone as another drive. Depending on your phone and version of Android, you might get a message on the phone asking in what “mode” you want to connect. Can’t remember the options, but they’re fairly obvious. I always use the one called something like “drive only.”
Anyway, when you get around to it there will be a plethora of conflicting advice available here.
Paul in KY
@Mike G: I thought the name of the college sounded like it was made up by someone who has English as a 3rd language.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
You don’t have to do everything the phone can do just because the phone can do it. My mother has a semi-smart cell phone and doesn’t use it for anything beyond speed-dialing my brother who lives here, and that rarely.
Emma
@WaterGirl: I get that. I wasn’t casting aspersions on real students. But really, from a golf class to Dean of Student Affairs?
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
Believe me, I won’t be one of those people who are forever doing something or other on their phone. I don’t plan to use it as an audio or video player. I’m not keen on phone games. I’m not even a keen phone or text user. This laptop shall remain my primary Internet access device.
ETA: Fingers crossed.
Bruuuuce
::pops the corn slowly and bangs the grains lowly::
Now THAT’s entertainment!
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@Emma: We all know these admin jobs are not about having a qualified person perform a necessary task to support the academic mission but about The Club.
At that point, she was In.
Downpuppy
@Trentrunner: Is the UC Berkeley Faculty Association unconnected? Well. sort of, but they are watching the administrative bloat.
Roger Moore
@Cervantes:
Who cares about the pictures of Amir. This is Balloon-Juice. We want pictures of his cat.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
That’s what the power button is for.
PaulW
is this a vo-tech school or one of those for-profit-rack-up-the-student-debt colleges?
PaulW
is this a vo-tech school or one of those for-profit-rack-up-the-student-debt colleges?
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
Uh-oh. Bianca read your comment and ran off to hide.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
Are you sure she wasn’t just going to a favorite nap spot? If she’s smart enough to read, she should have read the part where you don’t know what to do with your photos.
Trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Well, doesn’t that just shave the…sorry, wrong cat.
WaterGirl
@Emma: I have to agree – that is completely absurd! The president of that school is an embarrassment.
RSA
I would have described the accusations as CalUMny without a second thought.
chopper
@MCA1:
You son of a bitch.
tommydee
Re. Lawrence pix: You know, the FBI likes to hang around celebrities too. Good PR, also fun.
Julia Grey
Don’t you mean BATHOS?