Comments on The Bacon: PBA's Most Reliable News Source: 'Last Admission Staff Standing' receives rave revi...

"Bible College"?Vacation Bible Camp?Christian Pre-...

2008-10-02T18:59:00.000-04:00

"Bible College"?

Vacation Bible Camp?

Christian Pre-school?

Goo-goo Ga-ga for Jesus Day Care?

How low will the academic level descend?

....come on! Everyone knows that although Christi...

2008-10-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

....come on! Everyone knows that although Christian HS students are a faith fit and have parents who have the cash for PBA they really are not known for being academically strong students.

Their test scores are often sub par and the value of their grading scales are anyones guess. I can see how faculty may become nervous about over recruiting Christian HS grads. Retention may increase...but say good bye to academic cred.
...Hello Bible College!

Sure, but we are a university (read: ACADEMICS)

2008-09-29T20:15:00.000-04:00

Sure, but we are a university (read: ACADEMICS)

Um, not true. We are a Chirstian school aren't we...

2008-09-29T12:41:00.000-04:00

Um, not true. We are a Chirstian school aren't we? Why shouldn't we target Chsitian High Schools?

true

2008-09-29T09:24:00.000-04:00

true

If PBA focuses on recruiting from Christian school...

2008-09-28T18:14:00.000-04:00

If PBA focuses on recruiting from Christian schools, then you are doomed.

Admissions should vigorously recruit from Advance Placement Students from all schools.

Where is the academic leadership at PBA? Why are cheerleaders for Searle rewarded while Honors Students are neglected?

PBA used to be a true liberal arts school. Students used to read books and demonstrate a true love of knowledge.

Now you have Wazoo Weekend. This is so depressing. Where are your God-given brains, PBA?

I also am a student in the admissions office and u...

2008-09-28T10:28:00.000-04:00

I also am a student in the admissions office and understand the process as well. However, I disagree with Mango and would say everything was MUCH needed. The AO is so much better off with the new people they've hired and enrollment is going to be at record levels this year.

I've already heard so many reports from the road that confirm these decisions by the administration. There were schools who wanted PBA to pay attention to them but heard nothing from us. We had admissions staff who literally refused open inivitations to visit large Christian schools in Florida. How wack is that? A major contact for an entire region said, "now that you're finally paying attention to us, we'll start paying attention to helping you."

It hurts to say good-bye to those who were let go, but we're much beter off without them.

Concerned, that must be the longest post I have ev...

2008-09-26T14:11:00.000-04:00

Concerned, that must be the longest post I have ever seen on The Bacon.

As a student worker in the Admissions Office, I have come to understand the process pretty well. What happened was wrong. It did not help the AO at all.

Fortunately, Dr. Clark is leaving, so his vision for PBA is irrelevant.

The hope for our school lies in the Board now. Hopefully, they choose somebody who will be here to help the STUDENTS primarily...then FACULTY....then STAFF...and finally ADMINISTRATION (rather than the opposite).

Dear, "concerned alumnus and my regretably long th...

2008-09-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

Dear, "concerned alumnus and my regretably long thoughts"

I appreciate your thoughts but I think you must reconsider one detail. It is people who create poor policy...not the other way around. The fate of PBA might be more positiviely impacted by the removal or hard disipline of those who produce and execute poor policy. I agree it should not be a presonal attack. They have done enough attacking for everyone.

otherwise...your thought are fair.

Pray for PBA...its scary around here.

I'm an alumnus and former PBA employee who has liv...

2008-09-25T20:04:00.000-04:00

I'm an alumnus and former PBA employee who has lived outside of Florida for about nine months now. I occasionally get onto the Bacon's website just to catch up on some of what's been going down at PBA lately. This post is particularly disheartening to read, as I have personally had two good friends who have been fired since the time I left, and very unjustly so in my opinion. I still have friends that work there in different capacities, and I personally know employees and students who hold different opinions of Dr. Searle in particular, some positive and some negative.

I would like to point something out just from my own experience. I know that I am not a student at present fully involved in all the conflict that comes and goes for the current students, however, I went through a year and a half in the disciplinary process at PBA for something which I felt was completely unjustly dealt with. And ironically, I was mentored by a student two years my junior during half of that time. I have been friends with people on the student government who have been pushed around without cause or justification by the school's president and administration. Basically, I am generally aware of all of the problems that come along with being at PBA, and perhaps even more so. I am the daughter of two professors, neither of whom have ties to PBA. One of my parents teaches at a similar Christian liberal arts college to PBA, the president of which Dr. Clark has told me that he is very close with and shares the same school-building ideas with. One of these ideas being a strong resistance to professors being allowed tenure. At present, the school at which my parent teaches is having massive issues of conflict between the president (and his administration) and the professors. This, to me, is indicative of the flawed nature of the strategizing that these administrators have had. What is in common between these schools? An emphasis on construction and school beautification projects. A silencing of professors in discussions about what the school does. High turnover in admissions staff. It's interesting to me how similar they are.

Alright. So I've been reading all these 76 comments, which took a while to get through, and I believe it needs to be said once again, that criticizing the administrators who have been in positions of power lately is not the solution. It may make us feel better to call people "evil" or "the beast." But it does us no good, and it discredits us to anyone who might otherwise listen to us. Not only that, but it discredits us as Christians. We must focus on what the problem is. And I believe that problem to be the policies which are being enacted.

One commenter said: "So I ask you, who should PBA listen to? Students who have a limited view and opinion of admissions, a bitter online newspaper, or experts who know what it takes to have a successful admissions department?" I am sure that PBA is listening to experts. It is apparent that what they are doing is not uncommon when compared to other similar schools. However, there are different approaches to having a successful school, and I do not believe that PBA is pursuing the best route to that.

In light of all of what I have shared, I would encourage you to recognize that PEOPLE are not the problem. Policies, ideas, theories of how a school should be run... these are the things against which you must contend. And that is not an easy task, because you must know what you are talking about to engage in conversation such as this. I'm not saying that everyone writing on here is ignorant. I would be the first to admit that I might not know everything involved right now since I am not even a student currently. However, this tendency to talk badly about individuals, and to blame everything on certain people, such as Dr. Searle or Dr. Clark, is completely counterproductive. It does not contribute to a constructive dialog about the issues. All it does is create more division.

Today I was at a meeting of church leaders discussing missions. I listened to an older woman, a church leader who had recently been at another meeting discussing the need for their particular denomination to open up and incorporate other ways of doing missions. She said, somewhat emotionally, that she felt out of place among all these attenders who came from backgrounds which, it appeared to me, was quite similar to most PBA students. They were younger. They were evangelical. They were bitter against the denomination's failure to work with them in the past. And this woman who was now a part of discussion about how this church was going to change in order to involve these other approaches; this woman felt out of place. She had never considered the denomination to be a problem. She had not felt this bitterness against the church. She had always been a part of it. Now... I do not mean to say that this experience is completely like that of the administrators, or that they desire such change as was being discussed in this meeting, but I would like to suggest that these individuals many of you are blaming should not be treated as though they are unfeeling, unresponsive, mindless dictators. These are people who are Christians, just like us, and want to do what is best for the school and for the students. Despite how incorrect their approach, their policies, their decisions may be, they are trying to do what is good. Perhaps I am being naive in believing that, but I truly do believe it, and I can say that having felt a whole lot of bitterness about what I went through at PBA. I am not being ignorant. I am being forgiving. And I am quite aware that in challenging you to do this, to treat these people with respect, I am asking you who are still in the midst of this struggle to choose the higher way. I am through with my PBA time and over a year past graduating. You are still going through it. And I understand how hard that can be. But I believe that a dialogue is needed, and if the students can't get the administration to listen, then talk about it constructively with each other. Talk about what you can do to change it. Talk with professors. Many of you know those who would listen and perhaps give helpful and wise advice in this. This is a struggle that must be had. Stick it out. Get through it. And try to do some good along the way, not speaking in anger and bitterness, because that will shut people's ears. I read this recent post about SoulForce coming to PBA and I see comments that are so welcoming, inviting open discussion, and certainly not judgmental for the most part. Yet when it comes to our own school, PBA, should we be hateful, judgmental, unforgiving?

I am not calling you to ignore injustice, simply to discuss it constructively.

L, there is JusticeWait for it -- good luck.

2008-09-23T23:18:00.000-04:00

L, there is Justice
Wait for it -- good luck.

bacon--there are a lot of personal attacks on here...

2008-09-19T12:38:00.000-04:00

bacon--there are a lot of personal attacks on here. The Bacon used to be careful to allow individual attacks on people.

It used to be about ideas.

It's your site, but I would like to request that you all keep a closer eye on attacks that have nothing to do with policies or ideas, but are hurtful to the individuals.

Read over some of the comments. Every time a commenter veers away from criticizing an idea and attacks a person, replace the name with a family member.

It's hurtful,isn't it? And it does nothing to contribute to the community conversation.

Please do something.

Sincerely,
A Loyal Reader who thinks ideas are open game

WOW...everyone really had a whole lot to say about...

2008-09-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

WOW...everyone really had a whole lot to say about this situation so i should say something too.

I have met Dr. Searle and I have met Dr. Clark (who is a dick my the way) but Searle is ok, she was actually rather helpful to me at the time and takes time every time i see her.

As far as all the admissions counselors being let go, I know each of them and they are all different but great people and good at what they do. I think that other offices such as Tech services needs to be evaluated. Someone made a comment about counselors watching movies and playing games no answered calls etc. I know from experience the things that happen in Tech services and they do NOTHING over there but watch movies, talk on the phone and leave for hours on end. Some people do work however they are the vast minority.

I think that things do change, and PBA is trying to change with it but it needs to be a change for the better and I hope that the powers at be know what they are doing and the choices they have made do not come back to bite them in the butt.

God knows and sees all things, and karma is real. They need to be mindful of the golden rule and know that nothing lasts forever. Dick will not be the President of PBA forever and Dr. Searle will not be in the position she is in forever. there were people there before them and people will be there after them, so they need to be careful and tread lightly. They may be next.

Ha ha ha ha ha...when you can't beat 'em with logi...

2008-09-13T19:28:00.000-04:00

Ha ha ha ha ha...when you can't beat 'em with logic, make fun of them instead. Sounds like Junior High all over again.

you are micro-arguing

2008-09-13T11:42:00.000-04:00

you are micro-arguing

That little nugget of insight may be obvious to yo...

2008-09-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

That little nugget of insight may be obvious to you, but some posters on her don't seem to get it. They say that people hate her, but in reality, most staff don't hate her. If it's so obvious, why do posters say she's a micro-manager? Most of her current emplyees would probably disagree with that.

Sometimes you have to state the obvious for those who are too bitter and biased to realize it.

before this, there were 69 comments.

2008-09-12T09:23:00.000-04:00

before this, there were 69 comments.

well of course the people she hires like her...nic...

2008-09-12T09:07:00.000-04:00

well of course the people she hires like her...nice insight

Wow, well I don't know who you're talking to but e...

2008-09-12T00:10:00.000-04:00

Wow, well I don't know who you're talking to but every person I talk to who works for her is happy and doesn't feel micro-managed. She holds them accountable, but that's much different than micro-management. Maybe we should compare notes...

I HAVE asked people how they like working for her....

2008-09-11T23:52:00.000-04:00

I HAVE asked people how they like working for her...I got several meaningful stares and a couple straight up disgusted looks.

Concerned fuddy-duddy, are you serious? Margaret ...

2008-09-11T23:24:00.000-04:00

Concerned fuddy-duddy, are you serious? Margaret Argyle is the queen of micro-managing. Which ever person talked about her having all the meetings is right. You obviously don't know much about what is going on, or you acutally are Margaret Argyle.

To Micro-moron"What Dr. Searle creates as a "leade...

2008-09-11T19:24:00.000-04:00

To Micro-moron

"What Dr. Searle creates as a "leader" is not an environment of empowerment and motivation, rather one of micro-management and fear."

I could not disagree with you more. From my observations over the last few years, she is great at empowering her employees to do their jobs as they see fit. Ask the people who work for her if they like it or not. I would guess that well over 90% would say they love her.

I know that you'll all call them company men and women and say they can't think for themselves, but you'd be wrong. It sucks to get fired, but get over the bitterness and stop lashing out at the administration. Just grow up in gereral and stop saying things that aren't true. She is NOT a micro-manager.

As a member of the "old school" era at PBA, I can'...

2008-09-11T15:23:00.000-04:00

As a member of the "old school" era at PBA, I can't help but feel as if PBA has changed dramtically since my graduation in '03. Many professors and other faculty are now gone for . . . what? You can defend and spin your way anyway you see fit but it does come down to the almighty dollar and that's sad. Just like in the music industry, PBA is looking more like any other secular business out there!

No wonder you think the admission numbers were bel...

2008-09-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

No wonder you think the admission numbers were below... That wall hasn't been updated since early summer 2007 and as another admissions employee YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS...! When you have time on your break RUN an access report then talk facts sweetheart!

With all this talk of each of the admission counse...

2008-09-11T10:09:00.000-04:00

With all this talk of each of the admission counselors not meeting their goals this year, and thus, being fired, one important factor has been overlooked. After the change in regime in the admissions office, counselors no longer had the trust of their supervisor, and thus, became worried of their job security.

What Dr. Searle creates as a "leader" is not an environment of empowerment and motivation, rather one of micro-management and fear. Therefore, while admission counselors should be focused on helping students choose to attend PBA, they were forced to spend their time looking over their shoulders to see who was watching them, or attending one of the many meetings Dr. Searle requires them to be a part of. She tends to love committees, which, last time I checked, takes admission counselors OUT OF THE OFFICE, significantly cutting into their time they should have been spending with prospective students. So, it should come as no surprise that admission counselors didn't meet their numbers this year, because the very person who decided to fire these individuals for "not meeting their goals," was also a major contributor to the lower numbers because her priorities are skewed. For some reason, she likes to have meetings to talk about having meetings, so committees can be formed to "talk" about doing things, rather than "actually" accomplishing something.

Just curious, but why are we putting so much value in what these consultants are saying? Do these people have an incredible track record in private higher education recruiting? It seems that what they are doing is taking what they know, and just changing PBA's admission procedures to reflect what they have done at their respective schools. While they may have been somewhat successful in their respective schools, none of them have worked in a Florida school, specifically a destination school (in which most students come to school, graduate, and then move elsewhere). So, while I can respect the fact that they want to improve the admission process at PBA, I don't know if reinventing the wheel as the consultants suggest is the best idea here.

The good news is that the "new" admission staff has amazing job security. Dr. Searle loves the people that she hires, because they are all like-minded. Former admission staff should not be surprised about what happened. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, since she took over in student development, there is only one person on staff that she didn't hire. Congratulations to Eric Powdersilk on somehow transforming to fit the mold of student development.

In closing, we can only hope that someday Dr. Searle will take over the few departments she doesn't currently "oversee" (control), and take her rightful place seated at the right hand of Dr. Clark Almighty (and we can all get a visit from HR and start looking for new jobs).