Saturday, June 17, 2006

Faculty follies - a metaphor for organisational skills

Interesting quote sourced from Maggie's Farm (they in turn sourced it from elsewhere - if I could be bothered I would track down the original).

I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.
William F. Buckley, Jr.

It's an interesting quote because it lends itself to paraphrase, viz:

I'd rather entrust the government of Australia to the first 400 people listed in the Brisbane telephone directory than to the faculty of Griffith University.

or... to put it more bluntly and with a particularly Australian vernacular touch...

The academic management of an average Australian university couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.

Unfortunately I can't source this last aphorism. Much more pithy than the William F. Buckley quote.