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Which is worse or better?

 
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lucreziaborgia



Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 177

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:48 am    Post subject: Which is worse or better? Reply with quote

Ha'l or PMU?
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Mia Xanthi



Joined: 13 Mar 2008
Posts: 955
Location: why is my heart still in the Middle East while the rest of me isn't?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Where's Brasscat? He could tell you. He has endured both.
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desultude



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We are English instructors here!

It is spelled H E L L.

And it is hard to say which is worse. As I have only been to PMU, and that is as close to hell as I ever wish to get!
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear desultude,

So, are you telling the poster to go to Hell?

Regards,
John
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desultude



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

johnslat wrote:
Dear desultude,

So, are you telling the poster to go to Hell?

Regards,
John


If it is a choice between there and PMU, it would be a toss-up.

One has to make up her own mind on such things, after fully investigating the options.
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trapezius



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is spelled Ha'il, or simply Hail.

Brasscat hated it and made several threads pointing out the many incidences of maltreatment, broken promises, and lack of professionalism. He went to PMU, and was singing their praises at the beginning. However, just a few months back, he was also pointing out negative things about PMU.

And if you look at the first 2 pages of the forum, you will see lots of highly negative threads about PMU.

From what I can glean from here, they seem equally bad, that is, the institutions themselves. If you take the cities into account, then PMU would be considered better by most people.

Send a PM to brasscat.
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cassava



Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 175

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

trapezius wrote:
It is spelled Ha'il, or simply Hail.

Brasscat hated it and made several threads pointing out the many incidences of maltreatment, broken promises, and lack of professionalism. He went to PMU, and was singing their praises at the beginning. However, just a few months back, he was also pointing out negative things about PMU.



People who rely on the views of Brasscat to form their opinions about the University of Hail are making a huge blunder. Brasscat had the curious habit of twisting the truth to fit his own biased perspective. Most of what he wrote about UOH consisted of wild exaggerations, unfounded allegations and outrageous prevarications. I would depend on Brasscat for the truth about UOH to the same extent that I would depend on a car mechanic to perform cardiac surgery.
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desultude



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cassava wrote:
trapezius wrote:
It is spelled Ha'il, or simply Hail.

Brasscat hated it and made several threads pointing out the many incidences of maltreatment, broken promises, and lack of professionalism. He went to PMU, and was singing their praises at the beginning. However, just a few months back, he was also pointing out negative things about PMU.



People who rely on the views of Brasscat to form their opinions about the University of Hail are making a huge blunder. Brasscat had the curious habit of twisting the truth to fit his own biased perspective. Most of what he wrote about UOH consisted of wild exaggerations, unfounded allegations and outrageous prevarications. I would depend on Brasscat for the truth about UOH to the same extent that I would depend on a car mechanic to perform cardiac surgery.


Oh yeah!

On the other hand, I knew others from Ha'il (I'll skip my ironic spelling here) who corroborated a lot of bad stuff about the place.

I also met a married couple (Muslim) who had liked the place.

I would have to concede that being in the Eastern Province gives a small point in favor of PMU. Escaping to Bahrain on the weekend is much easier.
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Stephen Jones



Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would think Hail is OK if you are a direct hire, and don't mind living in the boondocks. The English department seems to have been better organized with the last two HODs.
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brasscat



Joined: 22 Jan 2007
Posts: 245
Location: Farpoint Mindstation

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:17 pm    Post subject: To Hail & Back to PMU Reply with quote

Heard my ears tingling, sure enough my name was mentioned.

Hail vs PMU. It is a tight comparison, but Hail still will win the skunk of Saudi Arbia award. True, true PMU has certainly established itself as a major skunk award contender.

Why Hail? In a nutshell: Wahabees & isolation.

Yes, I did in the beginning advocate PMU, that was in the first year. Things looked promising and I felt with time the foul-ups would decline. However, one event had a major negative impact on PMU, the notorious Inaugration ceremony. After that one event the place went downhill fast and never recovered.

For the female faculty life went to pieces after the transfer of the most competant Female Campus Director I have ever seen.

Not to be outdone, the Male faculty took major hits in its best qualified instructor group. Of the top 5 rated instructors PMU lost 4.

This post could go on for pages, but I think you have the idea.
brasscat
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desultude



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614

PostPosted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:30 am    Post subject: Re: To Hail & Back to PMU Reply with quote

brasscat wrote:
Heard my ears tingling, sure enough my name was mentioned.

Hail vs PMU. It is a tight comparison, but Hail still will win the skunk of Saudi Arbia award. True, true PMU has certainly established itself as a major skunk award contender.

Why Hail? In a nutshell: Wahabees & isolation.

Yes, I did in the beginning advocate PMU, that was in the first year. Things looked promising and I felt with time the foul-ups would decline. However, one event had a major negative impact on PMU, the notorious Inaugration ceremony. After that one event the place went downhill fast and never recovered.

For the female faculty life went to pieces after the transfer of the most competant Female Campus Director I have ever seen.

Not to be outdone, the Male faculty took major hits in its best qualified instructor group. Of the top 5 rated instructors PMU lost 4.

This post could go on for pages, but I think you have the idea.
brasscat


Trust me, it wasn't just moving the administrator- long before that the women had to bring their own toilet paper, board markers, and do a lot of copying at home as the copiers were always down. The women's side was a mess forever. The Saudi (male) admin entertained having a woman director say things, and having a female western director to trot out at functions. But for all of her true desire to rectify things and to improve the women's campus, there was no incentive for the male Saudi admin to do so.

The men got a solid dose of what the women had been experiencing for a long time before and after the Inaugural. There are lots of rumors about what went wrong then, but it appeared (as well as anything can appear within an institution with as much transparency as a Saudi sandstorm) that all of the availabe funds for everything were diverted to the inauguration. The meltdown of the Saudi stock market is also believed to be part of the problem. They had a choice in late September, 2008- either pay the instructors (and the Philippinos, etc) or hire a lighting and film crew from BBC for the inaugural. I got my August pay at the end of September- September's pay came much later. We were all borrowing and loaning to keep going until significantly after the inauguration.

There were real problems from day one, but they were clearer on the female campus (despite the putative "fact" that there was no gender equality, according to the dean). In the end, it was just a bad place for anyone. And I agree with Brasscat that the problems often were/are financial, I just disagree about when the financial meltdown began.
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brasscat



Joined: 22 Jan 2007
Posts: 245
Location: Farpoint Mindstation

PostPosted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:11 am    Post subject: All True Reply with quote

Yes, indeed the finances were at best a confused mess. Changes in pay dates and reluctance to make compound improvements were solid indicators of a deeper problem.

However, the lack of timely communication with the faculty was a constant source of irritation.
brasscat
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desultude



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614

PostPosted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:22 am    Post subject: Re: All True Reply with quote

brasscat wrote:
Yes, indeed the finances were at best a confused mess. Changes in pay dates and reluctance to make compound improvements were solid indicators of a deeper problem.

However, the lack of timely communication with the faculty was a constant source of irritation.
brasscat


Timely or any other sort of communication!
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