John Dyson's remarks at the press conference today are fascinating: We learn a couple of things: -- The announcement has been close to seven to eight years in the making. -- There was a very serious initiative from the Provost (and presumably, backed by some members of the Board of Trustees) to peel AEM out of the Ag School and presumably place it into some more logical arrangement with Hotel, the Johnson School, and perhaps ILR. -- Trustee Stephen Ashley wrote an eight page paper trying to convince Day Hall on the reasons why Ag Ec (e.g. ARME, AEM, and now Dyson) needed to stay in CALS. I imagine many AgEc alums feel this way even though there's no compelling reason as to why a business program can't stand outside of the agricultural college and still offer comparative advantages in food management and agribusiness. -- Long phone calls and conversations ensued between Day Hall and Dyson as to whether or not AEM could be taken out of the College of Ag and Life Sciences. -- Apparently money talks more than eight-page papers. And something must have happened within the last couple of weeks to prompt the announcement. But the announcement had to be postponed as to not compromise state funding for CALS. -- No word yet on whether or not more walls will go up around admissions and advising within the Dyson School vis-a-vis the rest of Ag. -- John Dyson seems a bit too keen on rankings. -- But the Dyson School is to stay in CALS. For now.
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