Using “Equity” For Personal Gain

Another University President Given A Golden Parasite Award

Claudine Gay served as President of Harvard University until the public discovered she was a serial plagiarist who couldn't think for herself. She was forced to resign. It doesn’t end there.

Gay is likely being paid almost $900,000 annually for resigning from her administrative position. The DEI hire returned to a faculty position as the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and Professor of African and African-American Studies.

It’s called a Golden Parachute. Getting $900K a year for teaching a handful of classes and sitting around doing nothing in meetings isn't bad for a proven cheater. It should be called the Golden Parasite Award.

That’s the problem with DEI, losers win while everyone else loses. The “E” in DEI stands for Equity. It’s often confused with–as the Left intends it to be–equality, but it’s far from it. In the DEI world, equity means equal outcomes for winners and losers. It’s like a track meet where everyone who runs the 100-yard dash is awarded a blue ribbon.

DEI destroys excellence by promoting mediocrity. It undermines civilization by promoting losers to positions of power and thereby ruining the institutions needed for society to function.

When less than stellar university presidents catch wind that being bad at your job is good, they demand the same equity granted to Gay. Who says you have to come from an Ivy League school to be bad at what you do?

Podunk University President Receives Golden Parasite Award

Western New Mexico University, situated in the rural town of Silver City (pop 9377) is living up to its nickname “Harvard on the Gila.” Ousted President Joe Shepard has been paid a $1.9 million dollar buyout for resigning from his post. That doesn’t include the $200,000 per year for five years to teach part-time online, presumably from his new house near Taos.

That makes the buyout about $3 million. It doesn’t equal Gay’s Harvard deal, but it is equitable. WNMU is in a mining town adjacent to the Gila Wilderness. The average income of a Silver City resident is $21,320 a year. The tuition for a full-time in-state undergraduate is $3,947.76.

Tuition at Harvard is $56,550. The average salary in Cambridge, MA is $98,000.

WNMU and Harvard obviously aren’t equal but they are, apparently, equitable. Shepard’s Golden Parasite Award, based on his location, is a similar outcome to Gay’s.

On a side note: the fact that Shepard is married to former CIA spy Valerie Plame does give him a bit of a claim to fame, and he’s cashing in on it.

Jet-Setting Joe

While president, Joseph Shepard and the regents “authorized 47 taxpayer-funded trips to 12 foreign countries in the last five years. Shepard and his wife, former CIA officer, and congressional candidate Valerie Plame, went on many of the trips,” writes Milan Simonich of the Santa Fe New Mexican. Some members of the regents also jet-setted at public expense.

Dr. Mark Donnel, who regularly attended WNMU Regent meetings told the regents, “You may not realize it, but some of you have been played by Dr. Shepard in a manner that the CIA would highly endorse. What better way for Joe to avoid criticism and oversight by his regents than to involve as many of them as possible in his corrupt activities.”

Shepard and crew traveled to Greece, Nepal, Spain, Zambia, and eight other countries, and then described the trips as a “catalyst for intellectual growth.”

“What happens is when you go to these places and start to interact with other cultures and other ideologies and so forth, you yourself gain tremendous knowledge, and you yourself begin to do research,” Shepard said.

Shepard claimed another benefit of international travel is that it helps attract foreign students to Silver City. The reality is that the university’s enrollment is about 3,500, and international students account for 1% to 2% of that total over the last five years.

Fun Facts:

• WNMU’s enrollment before Shepard was around 3,400. After his many trips and bonuses, the enrollment increased to 3,536.

• Almost 70% of WNMU students never graduate from the college.

• The WNMU regents have given Shepard “contract extensions, a yearly base salary of $365,000, annual bonuses of $50,000, a taxpayer-funded presidential residence, and a generous retirement plan.”

• By comparison, the Governor of New Mexico makes $110,000 per year. A U.S. Senator makes $174,000 per year. The President of the United States makes $400,000 a year plus a $50,000 expense account.

Three million dollars over five years comes in at $600,000 a year. Is Shepard worth it?

Should his Golden Parasite Award stand–the severance package is being challenged–Shepard would in effect be given a raise–counting the $200,000 per year for five years for teaching part-time–for the next half-decade for promoting mediocrity that translates into failure.

That’s the nature of DEI. Losers win. Everyone else loses. Claudine Gay and Joe Shepard are losers who have used DEI’s idea of “equity” for personal gain.