. — ISU ignoring better options to weather crisis
In a memo to deans at ISU, Provost Maynard “suggested” that it “might” be necessary to impose across-the-board teaching loads of four three-hour classes, increase class sizes, and have faculty teach outside their immediate areas of expertise. Oh yes, sabbaticals were summarily suspended. Some faculty felt that Maynard deserved the Legree leadership award, but the provost made it all better by stating “I wish we had other options.”
Help from the ISU Foundation is an option. The Foundation receives funding only because it collects money on behalf of the university. In a time of crisis, millions of dollars should not be going to new Foundation offices, a college baseball league, new sports stadiums, or other peripheral projects. Foundation (ISU) money should support the core mission of the university.
Cutting sports or changing divisions are options. Yes, we cut tennis, but football received more money, and the sports program is not slated for any cuts in the current crisis year. A Division I sports program is not part of the core mission of the university, and it should not be sacrosanct in the current environment.
Eliminating high-level administrators is an option. ISU recently hired three new administrators: a Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning, an Associate Vice President for Student Success, and an Associate Vice President for Experiential Learning and Community Engagement. Why hire a new strategic planner? Is the president surrounded by a cabinet of dim bulbs incapable of strategic planning? Are we wasting another $200,000 a year in salary and benefits just so we can roll out another self-important document filled with unattainable goals?
Why hire a Vice President for Student Success? Did the idea to place struggling students in even larger classes come from this new vice president? Until the university actually focuses on undergraduate education (rather than entertainment), this vice president is little more than a decoration. Why hire a vice president for community engagement. Faculty members happily interact with the community on many levels. Do we need an expensive engagement czar? Elimination of any one of these positions would allow the university to hire many adjuncts or two to three new faculty members.
If enacted, the proposals “suggested” by the provost would hurt the university. The graduate program would likely show the earliest decline. In science (and likely in most areas), a 12-hour course load each semester would all but eliminate the time needed for independent research, directing student research, writing grants, and publishing papers. And, the undergraduate program would not be immune to the effects of the cuts. Larger class sizes and more heavily loaded faculty would translate into less time for individual students and likely into poorer retention.
I have no doubt that the first response is going to be “look, Maude, the lazy professors are whining again.” Contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of the professors at ISU are already overextended. I taught 14 hours in fall, and I am currently teaching 15 hours. I chose an overload so that critical courses could be covered. Others have chosen overloads in directing undergraduate and graduate research (experiential learning) or in advisement and other service.
Thus, the provost’s proposal simply redirects time already devoted to students into less beneficial channels. The ultimate administrative solution; rob Peter and Paul.
The bottom line is that the president could have used the crisis to re-make ISU and foster the emergence of a stronger academic institution. Instead, the president simply nibbled around the edges of the status quo, and settled for a more tattered version of the university he inherited.
— Jim Hughes
Terre Haute
Academic cuts will have adverse effects
Criticism has been raised because ISU faculty have voiced concern about Provost Jack Maynard’s announcement that teaching loads will be raised in order to offset current university budget cuts.
The matter was framed in a Tribune-Star editorial as a matter of teaching loads versus cutting into valuable research time, and most sabbaticals. What the editorial fails to address is the inevitable effect such cuts will have on faculty and students, and the unfortunate manner in which the announcement was made.
The announced teaching assignment increases will not only eliminate time for research, but also for many public service and community outreach projects administered by university faculty. Less research time also means a likely change in overall status of ISU.
Presently, ISU is one of five research universities in the state, but the most likely to lose this designation should research drop below present levels. University prestige is something that benefits many parties — students, faculty and the larger community. A university’s research status is something that distinguishes an institution from smaller campuses and the community colleges.
Shared governance is a revered practice among U.S. colleges and universities. Despite what apparently took months of consideration, however, the Provost chose to make his announcement with virtually no involvement from ISU faculty. The upshot is that the administration has chosen to approach one of the worst financial crises in our time by removing faculty from planning and institutional decision making. Thus the question is not about willingness of faculty to help, but the arrogance of the administration to manage its workload policies without proper consultation.
There is no question that education everywhere is in danger and sacrifices must be made. Nonetheless, ISU does not need critical teaching load policies that have been made behind closed doors, and whatever we do must take into account the long-term implications that undoubtedly will affect the university for many years to come.
— Richard C. Vincent
Professor of Communication
Indiana State University
Election proposals accomplish little
Concerning Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita’s recent letter headlined “Keeping Indiana’s ballot box secure”:
Mr. Rokita, how is a vote center convenient? What about the people who don’t have a car? Who work long hours and don’t have much time? How could a vote center be less crowded, with more parking than our current system?
If the idea was to get more people to vote you’d be opening more polling places. Also, vote fraud is more likely with the people who count the votes than the people who place them. It’s pretty difficult to rig an election with 20 polling places; one would make it easier.
Of course, computer voting makes it even easier, so I imagine that will be your next recommendation.
— William R. Epp
Terre Haute
Biblical prophecies becoming reality
We thank God for the wonderful blessings he has caused to come our way. Food, clothing, transportation, lovely families, and we could go on and on of his endless bounty.
On the other hand, God being the loving Father that he is has to correct us sometimes. The world is full of sin and God has warned us about the awful things that will come upon the earth: mud slides, forest fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes and the like.
If you will remember about 2004 there was a tsunami in the Sri Lanka Islands where hundreds of thousands were killed. And the floods of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans killed almost 2,000 people in 2005. Now in Haiti there was an awful earthquake that killed thousands. Also in Chile this year there was the biggest earthquake in history.
But let me tell you it is not over yet. There is a little book in the Old Testament called Zephaniah. He speaks of the prophecy of the earth and I quote: “I will consume man and beast; heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land saith the Lord.”
— Charles Moothery
Terre Haute
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