Tuesday 3 January 2012

Poll Result (updated)

The result of the three-month long poll on Dr Kamali's role as Vice-chancellor of HCT was almost entirely predictable, given the recent worsening of salary and conditions and the well-publicised deep dissatisfaction of HCT faculty. However, the fact that Dr K only managed to garner the support of a shade over one in ten indicates that his lack of popularity is more widespread than previously thought.

Do you have confidence in Dr Tayeb al-Kamali as Vice Chancellor of HCT?

Yes 48 (11%)

No 381 (88%)

Votes so far: 429 - [Poll closed]

Equally importantly, how are his acolytes faring, over on the unofficial HCT village stocks? Not too well either, it seems.

Dr Evil, a.k.a. Farid Ohan, the Beast of Sharjah, has attracted a mighty 72,700 blows to his repulsive head, making him the most despised HCT Goon - at present. However, his vulgar crown is likely to be stolen by the inimitable sociopath SiJo, Dr Simon Jones, the Ogre of Ebbw Dhabi Mens College, whose vile visage has been biffed almost 62,500 times thus far.

King Tubby himself is deemed worth a mere 38,800 whacks, and following closely behind him in the unpopularity stakes is Dr Robert 'RaK' Moulton, with just over 37,000 assaults on his ugly mug.

Other popular punchbags are Ged Ryan, who has collected a healthy 26,400 smacks in his unattractive gob, and the much-loathed Christine Luscombe-Whyte (The Claw!), with a very credible 23,000 gouges. Well done to the two of you!

Now, the big questions is: who is to feature in the next poll?

Suggestions below, please!

Update:

An anonymous follower has recently offered the following plausible explanation for Dr Evil's deep unpopularity.

"Apparently, Farid's father passed away when he was very young, some 9 or 10 years old, and the matter, quite understandably, had a very hard effect on him. As a result, Farid became a very nosy little brat and started to bully younger kids, on the grounds that he had information on them and would threaten to report their purported activities. Before long he had really become a top flight jerk.

Reportedly he only became very bright at the secondary and college levels of his education. However, he was never well liked, and he continues in his petty and spitefully moronic ways, being mostly without friends. Clearly though, he obviously has plenty of authority and credibility with HCT's powers that be, who are most likely to be relatively mentally challenged themselves. As I said, he might be smart, but he is certainly not brilliant - otherwise, why work in the Emirates?"

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

The really sad thing is that while there are SO many deserving HCT villains on the village stocks site, there are many more who should be there.
Shame on King Kamali for creating such a toxic atmosphere that only nastiness and brown-nosing is rewarded. But even he will meet his 'Waterloo', sooner rather than later.

Anonymous said...

I used to believe in "what goes around comes around" but not any more. There are so many bad and selfish actions taken by incompetent people yet they end up getting promoted. A case in point is the new Associate Dean of Sharjah Colleges.

Anonymous said...

Is this a case of perform poorly and get promoted!

I just came across this blog, is this person otherwise qualified? Long tenure within the organization perhaps, or an accomplished outsider?

Has a relevant doctorate degree though right?

Anonymous said...

"what goes around comes around" but not any more

"The wheels of G-d grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small."

Anonymous said...

Doesn't have a doctorate but knows how to suck up to the wonderful doctor. Takes credit for pushing her faculty to the limit. Gives unrealistic deadlines.

Anonymous said...

Who are we talking about (above)? The Claw? Or the wunnerful LauraLee?

Tayeb Kamali said...

You people really know how to hurt someone! I've only tried to bring the most talented and best to the HCT.

And, you...YOU have the audacity to call it the "Festival of Wankers".

These people don't come cheap you know! First, we have to convince that we're a real school, then, fly them in, put them up at the Emirates Palace Hotel (that's real gold in the lobby, you know! I've licked it!), coddle them, make them still feel relevant when it's obvious that they've passed their prime, make you wait around for hours doing nothing to wait on them hand and foot...

And, all we asked for was you lousy annual increment, the flash-in-the-pan incentive award and your gratefulness.

And, what do we get? …this ungrateful & disgraceful behaviour?

Well, wait until the end of semester when all of the next year's hirings are done...

Anonymous said...

Has to be the "wunnerful" Lauralee

Delma said...

Does anyone have a photo of this godawful Lauralee? I feel it's time her cruel countenance was added to the HCT village stocks!

Anonymous said...

Too late! Beat you to it already!

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/punch/hct-sharjah-uae/lauralee-kilgour

Anonymous said...

Sorry (to above) but I tried it and it doesn't work. Can't you add her to this site Suede? Anonymous above I did like your reason for adding her though. Second that!

Anonymous said...

If you have the wunnerful Lauralee you would also have to add her sidekick Brown Noser Chris. He has been found several times standing behind office screens listening to people's conversations so that he can report back to his mistress. Now what we do is change the subject when he comes around or stop talking altogether.

fat freddy's cat said...

Suede, we need a poll about the despicable Dr Evil himself. It would do his pride and ego a world of good to know he has been considered at the same level as King Kamali!

Anonymous said...

I would still like to see the wunnerful L on the punch bag

Zeena said...

Almost everybody in Sharjah knows this story about Dr Evil, but it's worth repeating here for those who don't know it.

When Farid was studying all those years ago at the AUB, he had his sexuality sorely tested by being fornicated by a Lebanese cab driver.

Maybe that's why he's so keen on taking people for a ride these days?

Suede Oasis said...

OK, there's a Dr Evil poll coming soon. Watch this space! Or rather, the space in the left-side margin!

Anonymous said...

I have to be honest I haven't had any personal problems with Farid. I believe that a lot of the supervisors at Sharjah use his name as a threat and get their staff to do things that they (the supervisor) don't believe they have the management skills to get them to do. From this point of view I do believe that Farid has poor recruitment skills as far as his supervisors and other management staff go. Cases in point are the lovely Anne and the wunnerful Lauralee. Suede you asked for nominations for the next "punch" poll here's two nominees for you. Please add them, I know that a lot of Sharjah people (if they have the guts) would love to give them an electronic punch on their oh so supercilious noses.

Anonymous said...

WOW! The 'wunnerful' Ms Laura Lee has attracted more than 700 hits already!!

Sure does seem over-popular ...

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/

Anonymous said...

Last time I looked she was well over 800 - catching up on the Claw

Anonymous said...

900 and rising now!

Anonymous said...

Suede what's the criteria for being on the HCT Hall of Shame list? Looks like the wunnerful Lauralee could be an aspiring applicant

Suede Oasis said...

I really need a story first. No more, no less.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure that won't be a problem, Suede!

Bart Simpson said...

My favourite little tale about Dr Evil is from a very close source to the family. He is a sad and unloved creature who was dumped by his first wife and totally ignored by his second wife who regards his as a leper to be avoided. Even his kids do not have a kind word about their dad. That is to say if they have had a word with him in the past five years. Now this might seem a rather low kick into the genitalia of an HCT provost but you can easily check it out by sending him an email. Maybe that's the way to go. Annoy these cretins with a barrage of emails.

Anonymous said...

That may be true about his first wife - did hear some rumours about that but have seen him out at the shopping mall with his second wife and they seemed perfectly happy together.

Noura said...

Are you sure it was his wife and not one of his supervisors who happen mainly to be women?

Anonymous said...

Actually, hadn't thought of that. And you are right - they are mostly women. I have heard too that they all tend to flirt with him and stroke his ego. And there have been and still are some pretty awful female supervisors too.

Delma said...

I see that Ms Kilgour has been busy accruing hits (3000+)and comments on punchinthefacebook.com.

The latest remark states: "This really is a very loathsome person who has absolutely no brain, sacks those people who are more competent than her and knows how to suck up - total bimbo."

Surely not?! Can anybody confirm the above assertion?!

Anonymous said...

5 PhDs gone since she took over the business dept. One did a runner (after about 5 years working there), 1 didn't get renewed (after having been there for 6 years)1 didn't pass probation even though all the students liked him and so did his colleagues and his results were good, 1 was hounded and his life made miserable until he resigned, another (and you can read his story in the article below) did not pass probation. Now his students certainly didn't like him at first because he actually made them work but after a while they started to, believe it or not, respect him. He made the great mistake of saying that the office ran smoothly whether she was there or not. Also, he refused to change marks so the wunnerful LK got her lap dog Chris to remark the papers and consequently increase the marks so that the gap between exam and course work was within the "äcceptable range"

Poodle Pelham said...

Wow! I wonder if that's a record?

Rommel said...

Double wow! LK is now NUMBER ONE on punch-in-the-facebook!

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/punch/hct-sharjah-uae/lauralee-kilgour

Give her one for me, please!!

Anonymous said...

So a friend of mine in florida has been staying on top of Dave Pelham's wish to join American Academia as a community college president. For those of you who think you are building your resume, you should know that Pelham was asked about this blog and many other accusations floating on the internet about the institution known as HCT. My friend works at one of the campuses. Not only that but Florida Institute of Technology has an agreement with Brevard. They are familiar with HCT in the UAE. THe people at FIT waved a bunch of flags. So I guess you will be able to get into the mix, but once they shine the light on you forget it. Either find another career or stay in the UAE. Cuz ain't nobody want u.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120121/NEWS13/301210018/BCC-trustees-put-job-candidates-spot

Got Milk?

Raja Karma said...

Just can't BELIEVE that this is still on Sheikh Nahyan's wikipedia page...

Despite his role as an academic leader and representative of research institutes, Sheikh Nahyan has no academic or scholarly achievements himself. However, according to Emirati tradition, anybody with the appropriate beard and expression may informally refer to themselves as a 'professor' and undertake representative duties in scholastic and academic settings.

LOL!!

Anonymous said...

What can he do about it, he has no control over Wikipedia.

Suede Oasis said...

Ms Kilgour has been added to the 'HCT Hall of Shame' section in the gutter alongside. How appropriate!!

Anonymous said...

In re: Pelham's failure to remove the slime of working for Tubby the Kamal and assume the reins of the BCC:

Dear Dave, we are all Devastated for your Dismal Duty to Disavow your professional Demeanor and Destroy more lives in your Disappointing career!

Dickhead!

The student body of BCC are the victors!

Khalifa Exile said...

HCT goons be warned (and wannabe goons too) - your prospective future employer will immediately find your record on these pages, and you'll be very lucky to make ANY shortlist indeed.

Welcome to HCT - the Elephants' Graveyard of education!

Anonymous said...

Dave has a history that pre-dates his HCT work---
The college has been absent a permanent leader since David Pelham resigned in November 2009 after he declared he wasn’t the best fit for the college.

His tenure was marked by a wave of heated board meetings about state budget cuts eventually coming to a head with public backlash over a proposal to eliminate the executive director of the fundraising Cuesta Foundation.

Pelham’s tenure, which began in March 2008, was the shortest of any of the five presidents in the college’s 45-year history.

Anonymous said...

I have not seen Rudi in the Chronicle of Higher Education for some time. Did they dump him after our comments?

Anonymous said...

I was told by an acquaintance that a couple of the PhDs that were not reinstated, in their opinion, deserved to lose their job. So maybe an apology is necessary. Does anyone know of this? Is it true? If so, perhaps she doesn't belong on the HCT Hall of Shame

Anonymous said...

I professionally knew both PhD holders both in the business department - they were worth their weight in gold. Both had standards, both had professional expertise way beyond HCT (SWC)knows. They didnt deserve to go. Unfortunately in the business department unless you are a lapdog you are out quicker than you are in. I too are one of Farid's disposed of people - it doesnt pay to be in the same department as one of the women he has licking his crown jewels...! He has many of these women...a counselor,a supervisor, and a newly returned counselling faculty. Lick Lick women... be careful not to get his disease!

Anonymous said...

'I too are one...' - harted I hope you are not an English teacher!

Anonymous said...

harted of course means 'anon'

Anonymous said...

Sharjah HCTers will have a Faridathon today...wonder if he will be using his shape up or ship out motivational speech again....

Felix said...

Oh, keep us posted, perlease! We fellow HCT sufferers in AD love to hear of the agonies of our Sharjah colleagues!!

Anonymous said...

Looks like Dr. Kathie Hodge is back in the UAE working at ADVETI. I guess she could not get enough abuse. Josephine Farrell landed at the ADMC. I guess they kick her around but not out

Anonymous said...

I worked at HCT in Abu Dhabi back in 2002 and had a goon of a supervisor. After 8 days on the job, she told me she was not impressed with my work. She had spies thoroughout the HCT system gathering information on all of her employees. After five months, she sacked me and replaced me with one of her girl friends from Canada. In hindsight, I think she only hired me as a fill in so she could take her annual vacation.
This woman treated all of her employees like dirt, but fell all over herself when she was in the presence of King Tayeb. Now this dreadful manager is Qatar working her devious magic. Until I found the HCT Sucks! site, I thought I had done something terribly wrong bucause before and after the HCT experience I was also praised for my efforts. After reading this blog, I feel vindicated. Free at last!

Khalifa Exile said...

And what was the name of this vile but typical specimen of HCT goonery? I think I may know it, but I'll let you do the naming and shaming, lest I unfortunately nail an innocent.

The person, and the situation, described immediately above, is very representative of the HCT 'system', which functions along the lines of the old DDR's Stasi.

If you're considering joining HCT, think again. They will try to humiliate you if there is the slightest reason to do so, and, as the correspondent above has stated, there are many vile and unbalanced individuals there who take a twisted pleasure in undermining others' confidence and self-esteem

Anonymous said...

Who added AL Ain's Essam Hamdi to 'Punch in the Facebook'?

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/punch/al-ain-higher-colleges-technology/essam-hamdi

Well done, that man!!

Suede Oasis said...

Oh, that's great. I've added the avuncular-looking Mr Hamdi to the Hall of Shame sidebar.

Meanwhile, I'd be grateful for any stories of his gruesome doings. Just send them to the usual address!

suede.oasis@yahoo.com

Thanks very much!

Suede Oasis said...

At long last, 'The Lynx' has clawed her way onto the village stocks!

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/punch/admc-hct-abu-dhabi-uae/lynne-nicks-mccaleb

Enjoy this one, guys!!

Anonymous said...

Re:"The Lynx"

First of all, I'm not an HCT goon.

But I did work with Lynn and never had any problems. Most of her team liked her. The ones that didn't were The lazy whiners who thought they were teaching at Oxford or Harvard and were constant complainers.

She supported teachers who were doing their jobs as well as they could considering the circumstances, and stuck her neck out more than once for people who could easily been sacked for their offenses. That includes me who was very strict with attendance, lateness etc. and caused a steady stream of students complaining to the directors. Granted, conditions have deteriorated considerably in the last few years, so there is more to complain about. But there are always choices, and as more than one of my bosses in the middle east has stated:"If you don't like it, leave."

At a staff meeting when a whiner complained that some teachers always got the better classes, she replied: We give the better teachers the better classes ." Now I see how that might piss off some teachers, but it makes sense to me.

I'm personally familiar with many in "The Hall of Shame.", (I've even donated to these blogs) and most of them deserve to be there, but unless Lynn has had a schizophrenic change in personality, I just don't see it.

I shall now don my flame suit and let the games begin.

Suede Oasis said...

Thanks for your balancing comments, above. As you say, times are different now, and anyway, different people have differing opinions.

But quite how she would know which teachers are the better ones is beyond me. Even if she relies on feedback from 'Chairs', this can be notoriously subjective, if not downright deceptive, as observations are held so infrequently. Moreover, any teacher who is merely out of favor with a supervisor would be tarred as 'bad', regardless of classroom skills.

Perhaps she is referring to the teachers who get good assessments from the students, which is hardly a reliable indicator of a T's professional skills, but more their abilities in baby-sitting.

What we all need to bear in mind is that which passes for 'knowledge' and 'information' at HCT is tainted and corrupted beyond recognition. So, in short, any 'words of wisdom' from a Dean needs to be thoroughly analysed and treated with bullshit deterrent before any judgement is passed on its veracity.

Actually, the words "We give the better teachers the better classes" sound exactly like the dumb bullshit she comes out with. That, and the fact that her teaching skills were hardly known as stellar when she was at ADWC, tells us that her insight into the teaching process is next to zero. In contrast, her ability to decieve others is very well-honed, having been sharpened over many years as an HCT Goon!

Tayeb Kamali said...

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I'm now on facebook and will consider "friending" you.

Here's to looking for your requests, my "yet to be determined" friends!

Anonymous said...

Hey, congrats!

Lauralee's Numero Ono!!

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/punch/hct-sharjah-uae/lauralee-kilgour

Anonymous said...

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHY TESOL ARABIA WAS FORCED TO CHANGE CONFERENCE VENUE FROM DMC TO DWC AT A WEEK'S NOTICE? SOMETHING STIRRED IN HCT UPPER ECHELONS BUT NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW WHO OR WHY.

Anonymous said...

MAybe HESN had double-booked it for a private international intellectuals' conference?

Anonymous said...

From HESN's wikipedia page:

Sheikh Nahyan Mubarak Al Nahyan is also recipient of Pakistan's highest civilian award, the 'Hilal-e-Pakistan', which was conferred upon him by the President of Pakistan in 2005. This award gives the Sheikh the right to spend one night per year on Pakistani soil in the company of a dozen virgins with the purpose of deflowering them, an exercise that is highly revered and coveted by many parents of young virgins in the country.

Can this be true?!? No wonder he looks so tired sometimes!

Poodle Pelham said...

So he's a twelve-shags-a-night man, eh?
Never thought he had it in him!

Anonymous said...

Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?
Who's your Daddy?

All in monotone...and the emotion of a slug...

Anonymous said...

I see that numbers 10 to 20 here are all HCT Goon Squad members:

http://www.punchinthefacebook.com/

Well done indeed, Suede!!

Anonymous said...

Visit
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/board,53.0.html

to let them know what it is like to work at the HCT

Anonymous said...

To save you all a visit, I've posted here what the above link ststes:

Higher education, public higher education, in the UAE is in crisis. Search this forum and you will find many examples as to why you would not want to work at HCT. Zayed, once a gem, is also starting to decline. UAEU has gone over the cliff. See http://hctsucks.blogspot.com/ for examples of what it is like to work at HCT. See http://adwcamp.blogspot.com/ to learn about life at ADWC- HCT. Check Dave's ESL Cafe. Tayeb Kamali enjoys the support of HESN and as long as that is the case then HCT is a no-go zone for sane people. On the other hand, if enjoy working in constant fear, having your mail read, your telephone bugged, your Internet read, and never knowing when you will be dismissed on a whim, then HCT might just be the place for you.

Anonymous said...

I see this website is now finished. The owner got bored an moved on to something else. Guess he wasn't really interested in improving conditions, just expressing his anger at his personal misfortune.

HESN said...

Ah, spoken too soon, methinks!

Anonymous said...

Snakes have only so much venom in them!

HESN said...

Correction, my dear Anon (above) - your verbosity has gotten in the way of the truth!

You should have stated: "Snakes have SO MUCH venom in them!"

See ya later, Dude!!

Anonymous said...

Reposting something from Dave's is a rather feeble attempt to hold on to whatever tiny bit of relevance you may once have had. It's just as well. I hope next time you are better able to manage you anger.

Anonymous said...

Things at HCT are better than several of our neighbors.

Anonymous said...

Care to give some examples and proof of that, anon?