You asked for it, now here is the whole story, the text of the Waco Tribune-Herald post-Apocalype account of the McClennan Community College incident (it hardly seems worthy of being called a "confrontation"). In defense of the good folks of Waco, Bill's presentation (actually both of them, for there were two shows at 1:30 and 7:00 on April 5, 2006) seems to have been received rather well.
I'm also including a much more recent story about the demise of the state-funded lecture program that brought Bill to the MCC. Bur first, the original story: The Science Guy is entertaining and provocative at MCC lecture Thursday, April 06, 2006 By Tim Woods Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer Audience members who expected to see Bill Nye The Science Guy conduct experiments and wow their children received quite a surprise Wednesday when Nye spoke at McLennan Community College. Nye instead addressed such topics as Mars exploration, global warming and energy consumption, particularly oil and gas. He even ruffled a few religious feathers along the way. The scientist with a background in stand-up and sketch comedy kept spectators interested, entertained and at ease with his funny, sometimes hilarious, delivery. Speaking as part of MCCs Distinguished Lecturer Series, Nye spoke to two audiences, one at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., of about 600 each. He said the first audience, though littered with young children listening to some rather adult scientific topics, was very supportive. The second group also was rapt from the beginning, greeting the scientist with a raucous standing ovation upon his introduction. You havent heard the presentation yet! Nye told them. Opening with a discussion of Mars and his hopes for further discovery on the neighboring planet, Nye encouraged the audience to take interest in discovery and change the world, a mantra he repeated throughout. Nye indicated that the presence of water in Mars atmosphere - evidenced by the planets ability to form frost - leads him to believe that there is a strong possibility that the planet once supported life. The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. He pointed out that the sun, the greater light, is but one of countless stars and that the lesser light is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light. A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence. We believe in a God! exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children. Nye also was critical of what he said was governmental agencies lack of action, even lack of understanding, in protecting the Earth from global warming and wasted resources. Nyes educational science show won 28 Emmy awards during its television run from 1992-98. It seemed most in attendance were pleased to hear Nye speak, and some were even awed by the presence of a childhood icon. How cool is that, to be face to face with the man, Bill Nye? said Jared McClure, who worked sound and video for the event. And hes funny, too. And Now, the Other Story MCC board mulls tough options to handle state funding cut 798 words 20 July 2007 By Tim Woods Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer The McLennan Community College board of trustees met Thursday to discuss their budget options following Gov. Rick Perry's June 15 line-item veto, which will take $2.7 million in funding over the next two years from the school. After looking at six budget proposals presented by MCC's administration, the board agreed on two things: They have no good options and they have no interest in raising taxes. In considering the proposals, the board discussed making up for the lost funds through raising tuition, which would hit students in the pocketbook; not giving faculty and staff their standard raises, which could anger MCC employees; or raising taxes, which would come on the heels of a $74.5 million bond McLennan County voters approved for the school in November. Whatever route the board decides to go, budget cuts will be part of the formula, officials said. Currently, the school has the seventh-highest tuition out of the state's 50 community college districts, and the 34th-highest tax rate. "There are no good choices here," MCC president Dennis Michaelis said. "Raising taxes isn't a good choice, but neither is raising tuition." Board members ultimately appeared to agree that they want to avoid raising taxes if at all possible. "I don't want to raise taxes for the citizens of McLennan County, after all they've already done for us," board member Randy Cox said. "I don't want to heap any more on them." While acknowledging that he agrees the taxpayers should not be further burdened, board member K. Paul Holt said, "I just don't know if we can get there without doing it." One possible option that came out of the meeting was for tuition to be raised by $3 per credit hour and the school to cut $1.17 million from the budget, including $400,000 from the $800,000 slated for the technology. The school also would give faculty and staff 2-percent raises and then another one-time 2-percent payment that would come out of the reserve, which currently stands at more than $5 million. In that scenario, the school would not have to raise taxes. Board members agreed, though, that the reserve should not be spent to temporarily solve anything that could be a recurring problem. Michaelis lamented some of the programs that would almost certainly fall victim to the budget cuts. They include the Distinguished Lecturer Series, which has brought such figures as "The Science Guy" Bill Nye and Nobel Laureate James Watson to the school to talk to students and community members; a number of 40th anniversary activities scheduled for the fall; travel money; postage; technology equipment, such as computer and telephone system upgrades; and parts of the Kids' College, in which children from the community come to MCC for various activities, such as learning to swim. Faculty Council chairman Mike Campenni attended the meeting and said faculty are still in a state of shock following Perry's veto. He said morale remains high, as they hope the board will find a way to make the finances work. "I would say that most of the faculty and staff expect (the board) to pull a rabbit out of a hat," Campenni said. Throughout the discussion, board and administration mem- bers had sharp words for Perry and pondered aloud his reasoning for the veto, which cut about $154 million in health benefits funding to community colleges statewide. Perry essentially accused community colleges of fraud in their appropriation requests. Michaelis, however, pointed out that the matter has been brought before the Legislature three times since 2003, and each time, the Legislature has sided with community colleges and how they fill out their appropriation forms. "In effect, he's saying that we're guilty of fraud," Michaelis said. "Well, if the Legislature has been approving it, is he saying they're guilty of fraud, too?" Michaelis and his administration will take the board's input from the meeting and develop a new budget for the upcoming school year, to be approved or rejected by the board at a later meeting. Whatever the outcome and despite the palpable frustration about the college's predicament, board members and Michaelis acknowledged that somehow they must find a way to balance the books for the upcoming year. They just worry about who will bear the costs. "The very unfortunate part, for me, is that the economically challenged people of Texas, a lot of this rolls right down and hits them," Cox said. "I can't even express my frustration with this situation and the governor of Texas right now." [EMAIL PROTECTED] 757-5721 Dan :-) ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? 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