Congratulations Roger. I know you will go on to bigger and better things and I am looking forward to reading about them in the hope that common sense and pragmatism can finally have a place in the climate debate.
Also, I am sick of how the University of Colorado treated you when you were harassed by congressional members. Colorado is my state and it is my school and I am extremely upset with the way you were treated and I have let them know exactly how I feel. These administrators must be held accountable for their non-action because the consequences can be life-changing as you are well aware.
About the football thing, you have been at Colorado long enough to know how poor the football team has been for the past 30 years. I was there for the good, the bad and the ugly for over 50 years. We have had nothing to cheer about until they took a chance and were able to hire coach Sanders. He has given us what we have been lacking for the last 30 years, which is hope. So please forgive us if we are going a little crazy with this football madness because it’s finally fun again and we haven’t felt that way for a long time.
Congrats on the retirement and I’ve been trying to follow your work more closely lately, and I hope to continue diligently reading what you put out; I love your articles I’ve been reading.
Best of luck this semester not teaching! Universities seem to be in a really weird place and I’m looking forward to more of your perspectives on how academia has changed in the last few decades.
Good luck in your new career direction Roger. I enjoyed chatting with you on your recent trip to Calgary & will continue to be a subscriber. Looking forward to the new books!
Best of luck to you. I count you among my favorites. On the football thing, is the contribution given by the school related to the implosion of the PAC 12? Most Div 1 schools are paid by the conference, not the other way around.
Mixed feelings. Happy for you if you think you'll be happier. Figure tho, that being an "insider" gave you some special credibility to moderate people. Perhaps the Emeritus title (if they give it to you) will serve almost as well.
Too many good people are leaving academia, imho. To invoke Patton, we need to make the other guy's die for their cause; not our guys. It may not matter in the long run. The inmates run all the asylums. I guess it'll just have to get bad enough that either moderate people say enough, or, it gets worse. History is littered with all sorts of different paths we irrational humans have taken.
Fantastic, Roger. I wish you all the best. Working with AEI sounds like it will be fantastic for you...and for the rest of us, who get to read your stuff. A better fit than CU.
Administrative bloat is inherently corrupt. It used to be that administration tended to view their role as facilitating the faculty in furthering the mission of the university (teaching and research). Now, it has changed and increasingly focuses on its own "projects," viewing the faculty as tools for meeting its own goals...not at all conducive to the primary mission. Morale is very low among a lot of faculty.
Good science is hard, and there are many ways for it to go bad. Politics is near the top of the list. And when it goes bad by this route, it goes very bad and very fast. Covid generated a wealth of examples. [Hotez is one: https://ddalthorp.substack.com/p/prof-peter-hotez-md-phd-and-the-dreadful]
I really like your book idea...it's similar to the book I've started working on about the easy corruptibility of science. I was originally planning three parts: covid, climate change, and gender ideology, but that scope is too vast for me. I'll be looking mostly at covid as a paradigm for the types of gross errors that can flood in when the focus shifts even slightly away from science.
Looking forward to your stuff, curious about the gender in sport thing.
Here in Alberta our sane Premier just announced a raft of policies including no mutilation of children and no biological men in women’s sports and was predictably accused of enabling genocide, very subtle criticism as usual.
But then I was in Pittsburgh last week and caught a news story that basically confirmed she is right. Who knew? I mean, besides all of that can read and think, always a bad combo for narrative control.
"...administrators take significant money from X to support unrealistic fantasies of Y glory?"
Seems a more universal phenomenon, not limited to academia.
Anyway, good luck and God speed in your new endeavors Roger! Your work inspired my first subscription here on Substack, for which I thank you. Looking forward to reading your work for a long time yet!
You gotta be a real SOB to thrive in a toxic environment - you are too nice of a guy. Glad you are moving onto a much better place. You will have no regrets and the change will add years to your life.
Congratulations Roger. I know you will go on to bigger and better things and I am looking forward to reading about them in the hope that common sense and pragmatism can finally have a place in the climate debate.
Also, I am sick of how the University of Colorado treated you when you were harassed by congressional members. Colorado is my state and it is my school and I am extremely upset with the way you were treated and I have let them know exactly how I feel. These administrators must be held accountable for their non-action because the consequences can be life-changing as you are well aware.
About the football thing, you have been at Colorado long enough to know how poor the football team has been for the past 30 years. I was there for the good, the bad and the ugly for over 50 years. We have had nothing to cheer about until they took a chance and were able to hire coach Sanders. He has given us what we have been lacking for the last 30 years, which is hope. So please forgive us if we are going a little crazy with this football madness because it’s finally fun again and we haven’t felt that way for a long time.
Thanks Steve, appreciated.
No CU has not been great to me, but that's OK, I had a great run.
Football craziness is forgiven, but all true Buffs will need to be on deck for the rebuild!
Congrats on the retirement and I’ve been trying to follow your work more closely lately, and I hope to continue diligently reading what you put out; I love your articles I’ve been reading.
Best of luck this semester not teaching! Universities seem to be in a really weird place and I’m looking forward to more of your perspectives on how academia has changed in the last few decades.
Good luck in your new career direction Roger. I enjoyed chatting with you on your recent trip to Calgary & will continue to be a subscriber. Looking forward to the new books!
Thanks David!
Best of luck to you. I count you among my favorites. On the football thing, is the contribution given by the school related to the implosion of the PAC 12? Most Div 1 schools are paid by the conference, not the other way around.
Yes, we do not know the exact details but a drop in payouts from the PAC-12 is a part of the shortfall.
I do not know if you are familiar but the SEC and Big 10 are challenging the NCAA. I think over NIL and portal issues.
Mixed feelings. Happy for you if you think you'll be happier. Figure tho, that being an "insider" gave you some special credibility to moderate people. Perhaps the Emeritus title (if they give it to you) will serve almost as well.
Too many good people are leaving academia, imho. To invoke Patton, we need to make the other guy's die for their cause; not our guys. It may not matter in the long run. The inmates run all the asylums. I guess it'll just have to get bad enough that either moderate people say enough, or, it gets worse. History is littered with all sorts of different paths we irrational humans have taken.
All the best to you, in any event.
Congratulations!
Thanks everyone for the incredibly kind and generous comments! And thanks for your support, it really means a lot.
Congratulations, Professor Pielke!
Fantastic, Roger. I wish you all the best. Working with AEI sounds like it will be fantastic for you...and for the rest of us, who get to read your stuff. A better fit than CU.
Administrative bloat is inherently corrupt. It used to be that administration tended to view their role as facilitating the faculty in furthering the mission of the university (teaching and research). Now, it has changed and increasingly focuses on its own "projects," viewing the faculty as tools for meeting its own goals...not at all conducive to the primary mission. Morale is very low among a lot of faculty.
Good science is hard, and there are many ways for it to go bad. Politics is near the top of the list. And when it goes bad by this route, it goes very bad and very fast. Covid generated a wealth of examples. [Hotez is one: https://ddalthorp.substack.com/p/prof-peter-hotez-md-phd-and-the-dreadful]
I really like your book idea...it's similar to the book I've started working on about the easy corruptibility of science. I was originally planning three parts: covid, climate change, and gender ideology, but that scope is too vast for me. I'll be looking mostly at covid as a paradigm for the types of gross errors that can flood in when the focus shifts even slightly away from science.
A toxic colleague with friends at UPenn
No idea what that reference is about🙄.
Looking forward to your stuff, curious about the gender in sport thing.
Here in Alberta our sane Premier just announced a raft of policies including no mutilation of children and no biological men in women’s sports and was predictably accused of enabling genocide, very subtle criticism as usual.
But then I was in Pittsburgh last week and caught a news story that basically confirmed she is right. Who knew? I mean, besides all of that can read and think, always a bad combo for narrative control.
https://acpeds.org/press/pediatricians-release-position-statement-reviewing-over-60-studies-on-mental-health-in-adolescents-with-gender-dysphoria
"...administrators take significant money from X to support unrealistic fantasies of Y glory?"
Seems a more universal phenomenon, not limited to academia.
Anyway, good luck and God speed in your new endeavors Roger! Your work inspired my first subscription here on Substack, for which I thank you. Looking forward to reading your work for a long time yet!
You gotta be a real SOB to thrive in a toxic environment - you are too nice of a guy. Glad you are moving onto a much better place. You will have no regrets and the change will add years to your life.
I have a Ph D in physics from CU (1970). I have enjoyed reading your articles very much; and I wish you well.
Ben
Congratulations, and best wishes as your adventures continue!
Congratulations Professor! May your Emeritus appointment follow in short order
Leave those university bureaucrats in the dust! Onward! And good luck in your new adventure.