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Policies and politics like these, made the University of Florida kill its Computer Science program [http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz] - almost. So wh

Policies and politics like these, made the University of Florida kill its Computer Science program [http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz] - almost. So when you "Go Gators", perhaps its time to look at the UF contracts for hiring faculty.

Clubber 5y ago
I remember that. I believe it was pushback that the state government was cutting funds and UF wanted to make a media splash to bring light to the situation. UF has a CS department as seen here: https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS/ https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS...
- chrisco255 5y ago
  No it was purely a university political issue, not a state funding issue. The UF CISE was a revenue a producing department and more than made up for its costs in tuition and grants.
Spooky23 5y ago
Florida has uniquely toxic politics for a variety of reasons.
- swarnie 5y ago
  Because their representative is a drugged up pedo? Edit: I'm sorry to whoever flagged this, Matt Gaetz is fucked. Just like those underaged girls he molested.
  - HumblyTossed 5y ago
    Because the worst examples from every other state move to Florida.
- dkdk8283 5y ago
  The only state worse off is California.
some_random 5y ago
There must be something about CS programs that makes Universities hate them, the one I went to was horribly underfunded and I've heard similar complaints from people from other schools.
- xmprt 5y ago
  In my (albeit biased) experience, the CS department has super high demand (everyone is trying to switch into it or apply to it) but to the university, it's just 1 out of 100 different departments so it feels underfunded compared to the demand it has.
- ModernMech 5y ago
  There’s a lot of politics involved. All the students want to take CS classes because they understand it can be a path to a high lying career. This leaves other less popular departments scraping to justify their existence. Basically the gap in demand is huge, but the gap in funding can never be proportionate because it would mean other departments barely get anything. So the CS department is perpetually underfunded, but e.g. the philosophy department probably has more money than it really needs based on natural demand (demand is artificially propped up by required courses)
- SteveGerencser 5y ago
  It's been that way since the beginning. I went to a small school in Northern Indiana in the mid/late 80s. The board refused to invest in any computer technology other than the DEC they had because they felt that computers were a passing fad.
mynameishere 5y ago
Here's his link in non-obfuscated format: https://www.vice.com/en/article/pggwv7/university-of-florida-gets-rid-of-computer-science-go-gators https://www.vice.com/en/article/pggwv7/university-of-florida... And here is a video of the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFiTXdq6UDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFiTXdq6UDo
rout39574 5y ago
Alumnus (of the CISE department) and staff (not of the department) here. I interpreted that move as more internal politics. The EE and CISE programs for "doing computer stuff" compete with each other for dollars and mindshare. The squishyness of the CS tracks (there's an engineering and a liberal-arts track both) also complicates the picture. My angle is, the reasons quoted to the press for any of these decisions is a deliberate fabrication. Don't make inferences about how the university functions from the press releases. It might be different at other multibillion-dollar businesses, but somehow I expect not.
hn_smarky 5y ago
They did not end up killing the CS program. In fact in recent years, CISE has really helped to propel UF. See: [https://news.ufl.edu/2021/06/top500-rankings/ https://news.ufl.edu/2021/06/top500-rankings/].
- chrisco255 5y ago
  That's a cool story about Chris Malachowsky donating $80M for the supercomputer. Chris is one of the cofounders of Nvidia and a UF alum. I met him in 2012 when I went to school there (he did a talk then). Very approachable, down-to-earth guy.

Clubber 5y ago

I remember that. I believe it was pushback that the state government was cutting funds and UF wanted to make a media splash to bring light to the situation. UF has a CS department as seen here: https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS/ https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS...

chrisco255 5y ago
No it was purely a university political issue, not a state funding issue. The UF CISE was a revenue a producing department and more than made up for its costs in tuition and grants.

Spooky23 5y ago

Florida has uniquely toxic politics for a variety of reasons.

swarnie 5y ago
Because their representative is a drugged up pedo? Edit: I'm sorry to whoever flagged this, Matt Gaetz is fucked. Just like those underaged girls he molested.
- HumblyTossed 5y ago
  Because the worst examples from every other state move to Florida.
dkdk8283 5y ago
The only state worse off is California.

some_random 5y ago

There must be something about CS programs that makes Universities hate them, the one I went to was horribly underfunded and I've heard similar complaints from people from other schools.

xmprt 5y ago
In my (albeit biased) experience, the CS department has super high demand (everyone is trying to switch into it or apply to it) but to the university, it's just 1 out of 100 different departments so it feels underfunded compared to the demand it has.
ModernMech 5y ago
There’s a lot of politics involved. All the students want to take CS classes because they understand it can be a path to a high lying career. This leaves other less popular departments scraping to justify their existence. Basically the gap in demand is huge, but the gap in funding can never be proportionate because it would mean other departments barely get anything. So the CS department is perpetually underfunded, but e.g. the philosophy department probably has more money than it really needs based on natural demand (demand is artificially propped up by required courses)
SteveGerencser 5y ago
It's been that way since the beginning. I went to a small school in Northern Indiana in the mid/late 80s. The board refused to invest in any computer technology other than the DEC they had because they felt that computers were a passing fad.

mynameishere 5y ago

Here's his link in non-obfuscated format: https://www.vice.com/en/article/pggwv7/university-of-florida-gets-rid-of-computer-science-go-gators https://www.vice.com/en/article/pggwv7/university-of-florida... And here is a video of the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFiTXdq6UDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFiTXdq6UDo

rout39574 5y ago

Alumnus (of the CISE department) and staff (not of the department) here. I interpreted that move as more internal politics. The EE and CISE programs for "doing computer stuff" compete with each other for dollars and mindshare. The squishyness of the CS tracks (there's an engineering and a liberal-arts track both) also complicates the picture. My angle is, the reasons quoted to the press for any of these decisions is a deliberate fabrication. Don't make inferences about how the university functions from the press releases. It might be different at other multibillion-dollar businesses, but somehow I expect not.

hn_smarky 5y ago

They did not end up killing the CS program. In fact in recent years, CISE has really helped to propel UF. See: [https://news.ufl.edu/2021/06/top500-rankings/ https://news.ufl.edu/2021/06/top500-rankings/].

chrisco255 5y ago
That's a cool story about Chris Malachowsky donating $80M for the supercomputer. Chris is one of the cofounders of Nvidia and a UF alum. I met him in 2012 when I went to school there (he did a talk then). Very approachable, down-to-earth guy.