Below are a few news items about the May 6 town hall meeting and challenges from A&S students. By my reckoning, the recent "Re-engineering the Undergraduate Experience" speech is (at least) the third major attack on the A&S College and the Liberal Arts at UT launched by Jacobs. Of course, there have been other attacks and slights along the way and many may consider three to be way too small a number. Students are becoming ever more involved in protesting his continuing assault on A&S.
The first major attack was before he actually became president when he floated the idea of splitting the Natural Sciences and Mathematics off into either a new college or merging it with the college of Engineering. Of course, this sent A&S faculty scurrying to defend ourselves. This meddling also sabotaged the Dean search going on at the time. After the airport interviews, four of the seven initial candidates were chosen to be invited beack to campus for the full two-day interview process. At this point, there was a three week delay in inviting the candidates while Jacobs mulled the fate of the Sciences in A&S. Finally, the go ahead was given to arrange the campus visits, but out of fairness the candidates were of course told of the potential split and informed that the job they applied for (Dean of A&S) might not be job they actually get (Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences). We lost one candidate with the delay who ended up taking another position before he could visit us. We may have lost him anyhow, but without the delay he would have at least visited our campus and he may have decided against the other job if an offer had been made by us, who knows. A second candidate was actually scheduled to visit UT but informed the chair of the search committee that he was withdrawing, specifically because of the prospect that the A&S college might split. So two remained, had the campus interviews, and both names were going to be forwarded to Provost. At this point, the man who wasn't even president yet, cancelled the search saying the choice of candidates was too narrow -- a situation he in large part created. Later, after he finally decided to drop the idea the splitting the college he stated that it was "just an idea" and was surprised that we took it so seriously!
The second major assault was the "straw man" "white paper" he provided to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee in which the liberal arts were non-existent in terms of priorities for funding or growth and the only doctoral program in the Humanities was to be terminated. Again, Jacobs denied any attempt to denigrate the liberal arts but we care about the actual consequences of his proposals, not his intentions. Fortunately the final document was far less noxious and provided some role for the liberal arts at UT.
The third major attack is now underway with the "Re-engineering the Undergraduate Experience" proposal that threatens to "restructure" A&S departments, majors, and programs, to reform the general education core curriculum, and to make more general education courses "computer-assisted," "distance learning," "peer-instructed," and "purchased from outside the University." And yet again, he denies that any detriment to the liberal arts or to the A&S college is intended. How stupid does he think we are?
Anyhow, with the recent online petetion and the student unrest it seems that finally others beside the A&S faculty are realizing the permanent damage he is doing to our college. Continue to speak out.
MyFox Toledo | UT students protest arts and sciences dept. changes
toledoblade.com -- UT students protest changes to arts and sciences department
toledoblade.com -- UT president says he backs liberal arts
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2 comments:
Speaking out is great, though I stutter and turn brilliant shades of red when called upon. I want to rattle some cages, if you take my meaning, but am not sure where to start. One gentleman at the meeting encouraged us to take our passion/anger and direct it at our representatives in congress; to address issues with budget cuts in higher education. This sounds like a good idea, and I would like to contact my representatives but don't even know where to begin! Still, doing so wouldn't stamp out the fact Dr. Jacobs is serpentine, which is something that needs addressed at a more local level.
In other words...I guess I'm looking for guidance. I've never been involved in university goings-on before, much to my regret, now, but I need to start somewhere. Where do I begin?
I think a fine place to start would be with contacting the Ohio state representatives and Ohio senators at the following website which shows you how to find their names and addresses by zip code:
http://www.ohio.gov/how/government.stm#4
The goings on at UT have really been an issue of Ohio state government since the early 1990s when Voinovich and the Republicans took over and begin to systematically "re-engineer" higher education in their own image. Keep in mind that for a long period of time that Thomas Noe, a convict, was head of the Board of Regents for years even though he himself could not complete college. This was accomplished simply by the fact that he had money to donate to the Republican coffers. He and other republicans, in my opinion, systematically continued the "re-engineering" process by installing people of the same bent around the state on university colleges and boards of trustees. At UT we have had people with no degrees sit on the board, which can be a good thing, but generally they have been anti-education and probably more interested in the prestige of the appointment and in ramming through the republican agenda of disembowling higher ed rather than strenthening it. Hence, we had people like Langenderfer who threatened to fire any employee who spoke negatively of the UT. Then there was Tuschmann who was more interested in strengthening football than real education. This was the group that led the disasterous charge to install Kapoor and then just as fast back-tracked and called it a "terrible mistake."
Now, in the same way, we have the "re-engineering" process continuing with the Medical College of Ohio performing what should be called a "hostile takeover" of the University more than a "merger." Along with this comes the installation of Lloyd Jacobs, MD, as the lone initiator of the "New Entity" that is clearly, at least to me, a destructive force to the university as a whole. I feel as if he wants to turn UT into a very large vocational school. He allegedly said, "China didn't get where it is by reading Shakespeare." Is that his model for UT and our nation? Will he be happy when our nation contains a cowed and repressed population? Will he be happy when we have the filthiest air and water in the world? When we have child and forced labor as does China?
Anyway, much of the blame resides with the current UT board of trustees. This is not to blame Strickland or Fingerhut since they did not appoint this crop, but we should write our State of Ohio Representatives and Senators and let them know that for two decades UT has been "re-engineered" to death and now needs a board that has a more comprehensives, lest political, less "business oriented" view on higher education.
Universities are not businesses. They should not be run like businesses. State universities's original missions were not to cater to and be the hand-maiden of business and business interests or to provide a "product" to the consumers. Their goals should be to educate leaders in a well-rounded and comprehensive way to serve the state of Ohio and future generations, not merely to help people "get a job."
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