December 6, 2011, a day which will live in infamy for some

"one of the most honored and well paid professors on campus (over $98,000 according the information supplied me by UUP) is a gross plagiarist, that the administration has been informed of the facts of the matter for over a year, and that as of this moment, as far as I have been able to ascertain, there have been no repercussions. Indeed, almost no one outside a small group of individuals even knows of the scandal. [...] As a secondary charge, Schabel exposes Roberts as incompetent and amazingly ignorant in the material that he seems not to be plagiarizing. The mistakes Schabel points out are, to be frank, laughable to anyone who knows medieval documents.

"[...] Louis Roberts is presently chair of Classics and director of the Doctorate in Humanistic Studies. He's been chair of other humanities departments as well. He is a former chair of the UA Senate. He, as much as anyone on campus, should be held to the highest ethical and professional standards. Yet, he has demonstrably disgraced his colleagues, his university, and the scholarly profession. Nonetheless, as I said at the start, there seem to be no consequences to his shameful scholarly behavior. I did not ask to be the one to blow the whistle on Louis Roberts at UA, but no one else seems ready to do so."

Monfasani, John. "The Case of Louis Roberts." History News Network. July 8, 2002. http://www.hnn.us/articles/588.html

The shameful things UAlbany is willing to conceal for a year or more go far beyond plagiarism by a department chair, sadly, and include things far more criminal than that. What happened one year ago today... and they remain entirely unrepentant, as far as I know. Lack of remorse can be seen as additional cause for concern. As awful as it is for employees of public schools to endanger or risk endangering students at public schools, as staggeringly horrific it is for employees of public schools to think of turning to people possessing firearms when they learn the identities of whistleblowers who reported them at public schools, "lack of remorse" on top of that is still considered significant enough to note as well. For example:

"In May 2002, petitioner, a school bus driver employed by respondent Saratoga Springs City School District, was reported by another driver, Brian Winne, for driving her own bus erratically. A few days later, petitioner confronted Winne and verbally berated him. Petitioner also told another coworker that she was going to 'get a hit out on [Winne]' because he filed the report against her. [...] petitioner had erratically operated a school bus, had used threatening and obscene language against Winne and had threatened to 'get a hit man to take Winne out.' […] petitioner's poor judgment and lack of remorse, the disturbing nature of her comments".

In the Matter of Bottari v. Saratoga Springs City School District, 3 AD 3d 832 - NY: Appellate Div., 3rd Dept. 2004. http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1343002799337654656

It's awfully hard to understand why anyone would think any such people worth employing, worth even engaging in threats to keep such people in their jobs. Students' safety: where does it rank with them in importance? For Governor Cuomo, it's been said to be number one:

"the safety of our students and the security of our campuses is our top priority."

"Statement from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. September 14, 2012. http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/091412stmtsunythreats

Then again, what is it with the phrase "top priority"? Priority: "A thing that is regarded as more important than others; something which needs special attention" (OED). I would indeed like to believe that "the safety of our students and the security of our campuses" is a priority, though my ability to suspend my disbelief in the presence of evidence to the contrary is increasingly difficult.

"Top priority," one supposes, would be defined as: an important thing that is regarded as more important than other important things; something special which needs special special attention. One finds "a top priority," "top priorities," even "the top priority" - and politicians typically will have more than one thing they name as "the top priority."

"Since the start of my administration, I have repeatedly said that jobs are my top priority"

"Governor Cuomo Announces More Than 25,000 New Yorkers Have Been Hired in the Last Four Months Using the State's 'Jobs Express' Website." March 13, 2012. http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/3132012jobsexpress

"Over the past 18 months, Governor Cuomo’s top priority has been to revitalize the state’s economy to create jobs and restore New York’s reputation as a world-class place to do business."

"Creating Jobs." The Promise of a New New York: Progress Report. http://www.governor.ny.gov/anewnyprogressreport

"Through the New York Works program, this budget makes economic development and rebuilding our state's economy the top priority."

"Governor Cuomo Joins Local Elected Officials in Buffalo to Highlight Recently Passed Budget." April 4, 2012. http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/04032012-budgethighlights

What's the distinction between "economic development" and "rebuilding our state's economy," exactly? There's so many buzzwords like that in what politicians say; focus groups have probably determined that those phrases test well with audiences. I'd call "top priority" similarly empty rhetoric, but the phrase "empty rhetoric" is just about as redundant:

Rhetoric: "Eloquent, elegant, or ornate language, esp. speech or writing expressed in terms calculated to persuade. Freq. depreciative: language characterized by artificial, insincere, or ostentatious expression; inflated or empty verbiage" (OED).

December 6, 2011 was particularly instructive. From that day I learned that UAlbany's doing nothing for a year about a department chair guilty of plagiarism is hardly an isolated incident, and certainly not something they were only willing to do for a prominent member of the faculty. What would UAlbany do (or not do) regarding a mere visiting assistant professor who filed a false police report? At http://police.albany.edu/Request_report.shtml a FOIL (not FOIA) request can be made for Incident #23944-11, December 6, 2011, 1:10 PM, reporting officer Lt. Burlingame. Perhaps others might find that day worthy of infamy too.