tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044792945653054348.post5629302998944646589..comments2023-08-13T06:56:50.760-07:00Comments on Arts & Sciences College Forum: Where have all the talking points gone?David Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12126067283016390050noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044792945653054348.post-58723807205503386302009-05-10T14:12:00.000-07:002009-05-10T14:12:00.000-07:00I think the problems with the university are a sym...I think the problems with the university are a symptom of a much larger problem with our nation that has been going on for quite some time. That is the sacrifice of what cannot be measured, that which is immaterial, for that which can be quantified, appraised, calculated with a computer and marked with a price. It is seen everywhere in the ever-desperate search for extravagant profits at the expense of people and ideas, values, traditions, and even the rule of law. The best way I can say this is the sacrifice of the ephemeral and the spiritual for the exclusive search for material well-being. That is why our nation, not just the university, is in such a predicament. However, our nation, our state, and our university continue to plunge headlong in the pursuit of purely materialistic and quantifiable goals at the expense of that which cannot be measured, and the result has been a disaster. The priorities are backwards. The "the human condition" has at least two sides, only one of which, and that the least important, can be measured with statistics, time studies, cost to benefit ratios, spreadsheets, computer forecasts, etc. The other, the more important, consisting of intangibles such as community, identity, purpose, the search for meaning, our context in history, our vision for ourselves as a nation, state, university as well as a thousand other unquantifiable ideas are the more important and are in fact the foundation that support the former and make its amelioration possible. The cart is before the horse and unless we turn it around, then I shudder to think of what kind of “human condition” we will all be in a decade from now, for I fear it will be neither materially nor humanistically the kind of condition I want to exist in. It looks like we will have to plunge into another Dark Ages before we can experience a Renaissance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044792945653054348.post-44862764978380263882009-05-08T08:43:00.000-07:002009-05-08T08:43:00.000-07:00Scarborough's talking points are not convincing. ....Scarborough's talking points are not convincing. .The administration needs to provide an honest account of just what they are doing with actual dollars, not snow us with unsubstantiated generalizations. I think that the key to present position cutting is provided in the babble about making a "stronger university " through finding more money to implement the "strategic plan." We all know that the plan excludes most of the programs in Arts and Sciences,. Departments in the Humanities and Social Sciences have already been hard hit by budget reallocations that transfer positions and other resources to the areas favored by Jacobs and company. We need to know how much money has been taken from those programs by way of non-replacement of crucial faculty lines and where that money has gone. We need to know how much more flesh and bone they plan to cut from the liberal arts to fatten STEMM. And we need an honest, objective assessment of the effect of all these "strategic " reallocations on students who, contrary to the favored myth, do care about quality and do want to be taught by tenure track or tenured faculty competent in their discipline. When will the Union and/or Senate force an honest assessment of the implications for students of the University's so called strategic planning? When will the Board figure out that "excellence " in academia cannot be achieved by just saying the word over and over again , like a mantra, while following policies that leave much of the faculty and staff angered and demoralized ?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com