[washingtonismoney]

If Florida's computer science department is A) truly pulling in lots of students, sending them off to lucrative careers in an underpopulated profession, and not needlessly duplicating the activities of other Florida schools, WIM, does it seem likely to you it would B) take actions that would abolish or hopelessly cripple that department? It doesn't to me, any more than I would have expected the 59ers to shut down their football or basketball programs when they were talking about cutting teams. I maintain that either A) or B) is not true. And I think this is just one more example of the total hysteria whipped up over each and every cut in public spending that's ever suggested anywhere in America.

I have no idea. I rarely dismiss incompetence out of hand as an explanation--as your example of the 59ers quite well proves.

Knowing what we do of the average university, I would guess there's quite a bit of academic bloat somewhere that should be cut before getting involved with cutting a department in a field that will likely define the future.

Your point about public cuts may or may not be true but certainly is beyond the scope of this argument. I suspect I wouldn't be as bloodthirsty as you in cutting various government expenditures, but there are quite a few things I'd be interested in cutting in a me-as-dictator world.

[washingtonismoney]

If Florida's computer science department is A) truly pulling in lots of students, sending them off to lucrative careers in an underpopulated profession, and not needlessly duplicating the activities of other Florida schools, WIM, does it seem likely to you it would B) take actions that would abolish or hopelessly cripple that department? It doesn't to me, any more than I would have expected the 59ers to shut down their football or basketball programs when they were talking about cutting teams. I maintain that either A) or B) is not true. And I think this is just one more example of the total hysteria whipped up over each and every cut in public spending that's ever suggested anywhere in America.

I have no idea. I rarely dismiss incompetence out of hand as an explanation--as your example of the 59ers quite well proves.

Knowing what we do of the average university, I would guess there's quite a bit of academic bloat somewhere that should be cut before getting involved with cutting a department in a field that will likely define the future.

Your point about public cuts may or may not be true but certainly is beyond the scope of this argument. I suspect I wouldn't be as bloodthirsty as you in cutting various government expenditures, but there are quite a few things I'd be interested in cutting in a me-as-dictator world.