the mass media [extra]

Bruce Reed's Washington Monthly piece offers an explanation as to why President Bush's policies are falling apart.

He mentions the Esquire article from a year ago, where journalist Ron Suskind quoted a former White House administration official: "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything--and I mean everything--being run by the political arm."

This is proved again and again by more and more administration officials who come out into the sunshine.

Frightening. At the very least, each White House should have both sides considered before moving to enact policy, debate of the merits. "Brandeis briefs," as former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill called them.

Chalk it up as another reason not to vote to re-elect.

Globe writer Scot Lehigh's column rips the Board of Trustees meeting that selected Jack Wilson as the next president of the University of Massachusetts:

"Stony looks flooded the faces of most of the other trustees. One could almost hear their thoughts. Interview the finalists? Why, there were two. That would take . . . several hours. And some independent judgment..."

UMass Amherst's Daily Collegian editorial today lauds the appointment.

Yesterday in the Globe's letters section, UMass Boston professor emeritus responds to the Globe editorial asking why the rush to pick a president.

The Washington Post had this today yesterday, sixth graf:

"Shortly before the hearing, the White House violated its long-standing rules by authorizing Fox News to air remarks favorable to Bush that Clarke had made anonymously at an administration briefing in 2002..."

The Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk nails it: "If the White House is the final authority when it comes to the confidentiality rights of its employees, as its actions yesterday suggested, then all it must do to wrap up its investigation is grant Novak permission to release the name [of the White House official who leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity to members of the press, Novak included]. Under the White House's logic, he won't have any reason not to."

Or, in this case, 2003.

This week's News Briefs misquotes a professor's comments in an online forum on the university's strategic plan last year, accidentally making it out to look like he was commenting on the current plan.

The comments were made on March 21, 2003, not 2004.

The Mass Media regrets the error. Thanks to Associate Provost (and forum moderator) Peter Langer for the heads up.

Any and all corrections are encouraged. Information can be sent to here, to the editor, or called in at 617-287-7990.

The latest issue of the Mass Media went online today.

UMass Boston goes to NYC for protests. Part one of a two-part series on Chancellor Gora. Spring break turning into "spring broke." UMass Boston Bookstore moves into the new Campus Center. And the first week of the Campus Center is going to be all fun and games. No pie-ing of senior administration officials, though. That will have to be reserved for print. (I kid, I kid!)

Announcement of this here blog and online forums.

University of Wisconsin's Badger-Herald:

A bill referred to the House of Representatives Tuesday may strengthen an act that restricts funds from federal agencies to colleges that bar military recruiters from their campuses.

The Solomon Amendment, already a law, is supported by a bill that has not yet been passed but was approved by the Armed Services Committee last week.

Lawsuits disputing the constitutionality of the Defense Department's interpretation of the Solomon Amendment have been filed by organizations at a dozen universities, including Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania...

I put a story up on U-Wire last night. Something more in depth will follow in next week's paper.

UMass President Jack Wilson [Mass Media File Photo]

Mass Media story here.

Crazy times. I met a couple of cool folks from the press, and even managed to make it onto NECN for two seconds as the camera panned across the room. (My mom probably told everybody at her work...) I was surprised to learn that the Associated Press reads the Mass Media. That makes five readers. Huzzah!

Boston Globe. Boston Herald. The Globe also has an article on reaction to Wilson from faculty and students, which mentions this:

Still, Wilson has ruffled a few feathers in his six months in office. Some staff at UMass-Boston are still seething at what they describe as his decision to unilaterally back out of a complicated agreement between UMass-Boston and three unions which would have shut the campus down between Christmas and New Year's. "It was a serious morale breaker, and many people are still furious about it," said Tom Goodkind, a union representative. "But it was a single incident, and we don't judge people by a single incident."

Daily Collegian of UMass Amherst has a round-up of campus reaction.

I also met one of the Daily Free Press reporters. He said the reason they cover UMass sometimes is because it falls under the City Section, which I wondered about after seeing one of their guys at a UMass Board of Trustees committee meeting.

RELATED: Mass Media article from when Wilson came to UMass Boston in December.

EDIT-4.3.2004: U-Wire story replaced with link to fuller MM story.

Today's the day:

"Though the search committee originally planned to meet March 30 to nominate a successor to former UMass president William M. Bulger, its cochairmen hastily rescheduled its meeting Monday, after the Globe published the names of the two finalists for the job: Wilson and Alan D. Solomont, an entrepreneur and leading Democratic fund-raiser.

In addition, Wilson, 58, has recently been named a finalist for the presidency of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a development that added urgency to the committee's deliberations, according to a person close to the search.

Curious. A major candidate isn't included in the article. His name hasn't been floated at all, actually.

Odd.

Globe columnist Scot Lehigh has something on the "continuation of the Bulger era" at UMass with Wilson.

"Whoa, there," says the Globe editorial board.

UMass Amerst's Daily Collegian writes up the race for the presidency, and mentions the Boston Herald's article saying UMass Amherst "Frank Lombardi" isn't a candidate (it's John V. Lombardi).

Wilson, right, touring UMass Boston's new Campus Center [Mass Media File Photo]

Can't seem to find it online, but Lexis Nexis has this: "After Bulger's departure, speculation immediately centered on UMass-Amherst Chancellor Frank Lombardi as the likely inside candidate. Lombardi had run Florida's public university system before taking over the Happy Valley campus.... But Lombardi is not a candidate, several sources said."

In a January article on the search, The Mass Media, citing two sources, reported that Lombardi definitely wasn't a candidate. Granted, it was buried in the fourth to last paragraph, but I was under the impression that it was old news by that time.

"But some know who isn't a candidate: John V. Lombardi, chancellor of UMass Amherst. Two independent sources, one a UMass administration official, and another close to the search, confirmed that Lombardi's time has yet to come....

...Lombardi neither returned phone calls to his office nor immediately responded to an e-mail asking for comment."

I'm pretty sure we were the first to report this. If I'm wrong, someone let me know (which has happened before -- for a while I mistakenly thought we had broken the Dean Soto story).

I'm also pretty sure that the Daily Collegian was the first to get on record that Jack Wilson is indeed a candidate. Hopefully they'll be there tomorrow, too.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- The committee searching for a new president at the University of Massachusetts will meet Wednesday to recommend a successor to William Bulger, and a source close to the search process told The Associated Press it will be interim president Jack Wilson.

Wilson, right, seated next to UMass Boston Chancellor Jo Ann Gora [Mass Media File Photo]

The search committee will make its recommendation at an afternoon meeting at the Omni Parker House hotel in Boston. The full UMass board of trustees is expected to vote on the panel's recommendation later in the day.

A source close to the search committee who spoke on condition of anonymity said the committee will recommend that the board of trustees elect Wilson.

Wilson, a former physics professor, has served as acting president of the five-campus university system since Bulger's resignation last September. Since then, he has been praised for his strong academic background and ability to work well with Gov. Mitt Romney and legislators.

"An acting president could've just sat there and made sure the place didn't burn down," said Brian O'Connor, a professor at UMass-Amherst and member of the search committee. "But he's made excellent contacts with the governor and legislators. And he can sit down and talk to a faculty member as well as a CEO. He's pretty close to being a perfect president."

But O'Connor said he was unaware that the 24-member search committee had made up its mind. He said Wilson was a leading candidate for the job, along with Alan Solomont, owner of a Newton consulting firm and former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.

The source close to the search process said Wilson edged out Solomont with his exceptional academic background and proven ability to work with state politicians.

It’s not over, folks. We’ve still got 20 hours left until tomorrow’s meeting. And several hours until tomorrow's Globe.

UPDATE: Same AP story, with minor differences in people interviewed to comment.