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DON'T BE A SHEEP
UT's Officially Disapproved Information Source and HISTORICAL ARCHIVE. The only source of truth, where Paradox Manifests: Hundreds of thousands of visits. Yet No One Admits to Reading It. Welcome to the "Grey Area" where "Unethical Utterances," i.e., criticisms of administrators, are commonplace. Make U.U. here where genuine civility still reigns, a.k.a., freedom......................... UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO'S EQUIVALENT TO RADIO FREE EUROPE
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Hard Eight: Auto-Ethnographic Essays on Academic Culture Featuring the End of the Arts & Sciences College, University of Toledo, 2010
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Do you agree or disagree that University of Toledo suffers from administrative bloat?
How do you feel about the proposed UT Degree Guarantee program? (Reposted to allow more people to vote.)
How do you feel about the proposed UT Guarantee program?
How would you grade the overall performance of the Jacobs' administration on running the University of Toledo?
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
Bloggie applauds this perspicacious observer:
"The administration is in a panic mode to implement controversial and irreversible structural and curricular changes campus-wide by early February fiscal plan deadlines with only the vaguest notions of their impacts. The plan is, according to an interview with a top administrator published in the most recent Independent Collegian, to cast out many seeds and "see what grows." This experimental garden, as most senators articulated in many different ways, seems a costly recipe for disaster. Utter madness. Stay tuned."
Print Version of Dictionary of Academia Available on Amazon.com
The profound ruminations of the goaty Sage are now available in this 119 page satirical masterpiece. See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1480292494/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B009RC0SJA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1JV8N5BYAYY9WC9SJWD2
"Dictionary of Academia" Read it While it's Hot
A MUST READ FOR ALL ACADEMICS! Now on Amazon Kindle. Click on Professor Goat above to be directed to the book.
Comment of the Week
"This is that old tension between the corporate way of doing things and the academic way of doing things. In the corporate world, you sweep everything under the rug to make your b.s. as shiny, pleasing to the nose, and profitable as possible. In the academic world, you operate with a higher moral standard. Veritas and all that."
Comment of the Week of August 13
Re UT academic posers and hypocrites:
Have their checks calculated in units of postmodern theoretical currency and issued in photocopied legal tender notes signed by Walter Benjamin with a photo of Karl Marx and a seal stamped “In Derrida We Trust”.
Comment of the Era
Wow! Ain't that something.
-Anonymous
Comment of the Week
Mention goes to the the anonymous commentator of Feb 7, who, regarding UT President Llloyd Jacob's "Investing in Faculty" letter, stated: "If we could use the same criteria for 'investing in administrators' we could cut most of those positions."
Comments to HLC
Make sure you address your comments to HLC to the email address listed below in the "Higher Learning Commission Wants to Know" post. This may be the only chance you have to be heard. Bloggie hears that UT administration has discussed giving faculty "training" so that faculty members know how to "properly" talk to the HLC folks. How's that for stacking the deck? Does everyone get a little script to read? Make sure you practice before a mirror at being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Comment of the Week!
Definitely, the Comment of the Week award goes to Anonymous 12:14 pm, Dec 3, under the "Higher Learning Commission Needs to Know" posting by Diogenes. Pithy and pointed!
--Love,
Bloggie
MESSAGE OF THE DAY:
DON'T BE A SHEEP
Independent Collegian Article on Dicey Administrative Spending
IC reporter Casey Cheap looks at bow ties, apartments and movie tickets purchased by UT administrators at university/public expense. See
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Letter and Petition from Foreign Languages Faculty Member
A couple weeks ago, at the beginning of summer break, we in the Department of Foreign Languages were informed that our secretary's position was being eliminated and that while she will not lose her job (she'll be transferred), that position is not to be filled. We apparently will be expected to do our own jobs plus what we can of the secretary's. That is clearly not acceptable, and so one of the steps we in FL are taking against it is an online petition now available for any who want to (including those who for whatever reason--not a registered Ohio voter, not a US citizen, etc.--cannot sign the petition against SB5), to read and sign.
I know not everyone on the blog will be interested in this; I'm not asking anyone who doesn't want to, to sign or even read the petition. I do think that there are many who would be interested and would want to sign it--if they knew about it.
It's scary to post this under my own name; I'm as afraid as anyone of repercussions. But this is simply too important to keep quiet on, and we have to do something! FL is not the first department that this has happened to, and it's almost certain not to be the last if we don't speak up in a way that the administration will hear us and in a way that makes clear that other people are seeing that it's going on.
Here's the link to the online petition:For those who can make it, there will also be an informational meeting--including lunch and petition-signing--next Friday, May 27 in FH 2420, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
I know not everyone on the blog will be interested in this; I'm not asking anyone who doesn't want to, to sign or even read the petition. I do think that there are many who would be interested and would want to sign it--if they knew about it.
It's scary to post this under my own name; I'm as afraid as anyone of repercussions. But this is simply too important to keep quiet on, and we have to do something! FL is not the first department that this has happened to, and it's almost certain not to be the last if we don't speak up in a way that the administration will hear us and in a way that makes clear that other people are seeing that it's going on.
Here's the link to the online petition:For those who can make it, there will also be an informational meeting--including lunch and petition-signing--next Friday, May 27 in FH 2420, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Katherine Best
Wave of the Future or Merely Sometime Later This Week?
The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a deeply fascinating article called, "When to Dissolve a Faculty Senate." Apparently this is any time that it becomes "adversarial" to administration.
The online comments to the article are priceless.
Nemeth on Mammon in IC
David Nemeth's most recent tour-de-force
Professor Nemeth has another fabulous and timely article in the new and increasingly wonderful Independent Collegian. See http://www.independentcollegian.com/forum/the-kraken-attacks-1.2340091
Nemeth Does it Again
See the forum article in The Independent Collegian at:
Nemeth's New Article in Collegian
The Independent Collegian has run another of Professor Nemeth's fine and provocative articles in its latest edition. This one discusses the double-talk by mouthpieces for the current UT administration concerning the effects of and reasons behind so-called strategic reorganization. Make sure you get the latest version of Newspeak 5.1 if you want to decode what UT administrators are really saying.
UT Ranks 13th Nationally on Administrative Bloat
See Appendix B of the Administrative Bloat report posted on 8/28 for evidence, but UT now has a higher proportion of administrators to students than all but 12 public universities in America. President Jacobs has finally put University of Toledo in the top tier. With Strategic Organization he may be aiming for number one.
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Recent Letters from The Blade
Jacobs' arrogance is astonishing
Recently, President Lloyd Jacobs of the University of Toledo stated that bonuses were justified because his administrators "took all the risks."
As a professor at UT, I am outraged that President Jacobs claims that administrators take all of the risks. What risks do they take that the other faculty and staffs on campus do not?
Administrators are protected by state and federal employment laws and by their contracts.
When ex-President Vik Kapoor was terminated, he remained a professor with a salary near what he was paid as president.
As president emeritus, Dan Johnson retained a salary greater than his pay as president.
In the recent layoffs, exceptionally few administrators were terminated. It seems to me that low-level personnel at UT have far more risks because the greater proportion of the layoffs have come from their ranks. And they did not have continuing salaries.
President Jacobs' answer to questions on two occasions regarding relinquishing part of his bonus was to the effect that he earned his bonuses and what he did with them was his business.
Administrators do not risk their personal money in their duties: they use taxpayer money and funds collected through donations and grants to the university.
Administrators take home salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and then add bonuses for longevity and whatever else the president decides is fitting for their contracts.
However, the lower-level personnel have much lower salaries and no such bonuses. Where is the risk?
It seems to me that these bonuses are convoluted: The lower-level personnel are taking the greater risks with no bonuses while the administrators with very rewarding jobs with little risk receive large bonuses.
Am I missing something here?
WALTER W. OLSON,
Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing
Engineering,
University of Toledo
It's the same old, same old at UT
I could hardly believe the arrogance of Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of the University of Toledo, when a reporter asked if he would be willing to forgo his bonus in light of the layoffs, raise in tuition, etc.
His comment was that he worked for it. Is that to say that the ones being laid off did not work for their pay?
All I can say is, business as usual at UT. Some things never change.
SANDY FLICK
Rose Acres Drive
UT also has checks, balances
In response to letter titled "Professors must focus on teaching," I would like to point out that the University of Toledo operates on the basis of shared governance.
This means that faculty members participate in the administration of the university.
A focus on teaching requires faculty to address administrative issues such as policies, procedures, and yes, finances, because these all affect classroom outcomes. A university with solid and equitable finances benefits everyone, including and especially the students. Just as the U.S. government is constituted to have checks and balances, so is our university government.
The UT-AAUP is one of those checks against UT administrators who most recently have displayed more concern for their own profit rather than a concern for the common good.
LINDA M. ROUILLARD,
Associate Professor
of French,
University of Toledo
Quote of the Year (so far)
The following is excerpted from the recent UT AAUP newsletter concerning the official university response to news of the bonus scandal:
. . . . Either Jacobs is misleading the media or he has misled the Board of Trustees. President Jacobs objected to "the general tone" of the UT-AAUP Newsletter. Many persons on this campus object to the "general tone" of the Jacobs Administration. During his tenure as President, he has introduced an administrative culture of fear and intimidation. . . . A point of logic must be raised here, with all respect to UT AAUP, the conclusions that President Jacobs has (1) misled the media and (2) the Board of Trustees are not mutually exclusive. Both would seem likely given his considerable talent at spinning "visions." |
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64 comments:
The applause is merited.
and a strange Provost search, look to bring two candidates back to campus for a 2nd time, only one accepts, so either end up with that hire or start all over again, since other 3 candidates are already out????
What a wonderful photo to start this thread, a picture that truly captures of the promise, the hope, the vision, and the spirit of the impending merger between two collegial colleges
I recognize the photo. It was taken in 1968 at first shareholder meeting of the Penn Central Railroad.
Three collegial colleges.
All I've heard and read, at meetings and on this forum, are the impressionistic and personal opinions of various people based on their individual experiences with a few students. However, there are numerous studies going back decades that have quantifiable data supporting the value of learning foreign languages. The counter argument being advocated here at UT, so far as I have heard and read, is that these studies are outdated and don't reflect the 21st century and/or don't reflect the kinds of students UT caters to, i.e. "stupid" ones.
I attended (or worked) at five colleges before coming to UT and none of them had a foreign language requirement, and their programs were well ranked - certainly higher than UT. And again I ask do our peer competitors in Ohio and S. Mich have a foreign language requirement in their A&S or similar college configurations? BGSU, OU, Kent, etc...??? I do believe that for many students and programs a foreign language requirement should be strongly encouraged or even a program requirement, but across dozens of majors within a college?
I find it alarming that the prevailing attitude in the NSM College, now that they have "unburdened" themselves of a mandatory foreign language requirement, is "good riddance." They share with apparent pride this parochial, Neanderthal attitude with student, staff and faculty readers of this blog site, not realizing they might just as well wear a bumper sticker on their foreheads that reads "I heart Dogpatch." If President Gaber seeks to advance the academic stature of our university she will restructure Arts and Sciences College as it was ten years ago; fold in NSM, CoCA and LLSS Colleges like the splendid intellectual A&S College omelet it once was, and ensure that foreign language learning is again mandatory for all diligent A&S College undergraduates. That intelligent merger tells the entire world that our students and faculty are intent on going somewhere worthwhile in the world and can speak the languages of their myriad destinations with fluency. Aspire to academic greatness! Learn a foreign language: Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Chinese . . . Does President Gaber speak a foreign language? Of course she does, and it has served her well during her climb up the academic ladder. Why would she deprive most if not all of UT students the same opportunity?
Anon 7:59 AM:
How is *ANYONE* being denied the opportunity to take a forgein language by not making it mandatory? Students may still elect to take a language if they desire.
No one id being denied the opportunity. I actually agree with you that students should take a foreign language. We should encourage it, but not by making it mandatory, and not by forcing colleges to merge.
She is not depriving UT students of anything, faculty in NSM and COCA(who make the curriculum) have decided not to make two years of foreign language a requirement of all their majors. Are A&S at OSU all required to take two years of a foreign language? Have our excellent graduating students from Business and Engineering been harmed in their efforts to secure careers or graduate programs without it? Other academic programs can continue to require it, strongly advise, and many smart students (aware of the career benefits and opportunities) still take foreign languages.
UT has already experienced one failed search for a top executive—the VP slot for finance and administration. If the provost search fails and has to be started over and another academic year is lost, I will be deeply disappointed.
How many folks in U. Hall have the word “interim” in front of their job titles?
Frankly, the Gaber presidency appears to be having problems gaining traction on any number of issues facing UT.
Enabling their mediocrity is the same as depriving them of opportunity in this case. What we have here is a slippery slope where students are no longer being challenged by their university faculties and administrators to take the high road to a higher education learning experience by EARNING their degrees. NSM and CoCA anti-intellectuals and other shallow-minded enablers enamored of the business model in higher education now promote a low-road to buying a degree that promotes mediocrity in character and performance standards for students. This can only harm the academic reputation of the University of Toledo. Mandatory foreign-language for all undergraduate students requires student diligence, discourages self-destructive student multi-tasking, builds character and improves academic performance across the disciplines. If you did not achieve fluency in a foreign-language and reap the satisfying rewards and self-esteem for having done so yourself, your opinion on this matter is worth less than you might imagine. Enabling mediocrity and depriving others of opportunity is your sorry, simple task in life.
Do the Ivy League schools require foreign languages for all their majors, or for those in the Arts& Sciences?
So I guess there will be layoffs. Any specifics?
I hear it will be a “worst first” massacre; with relict Jacobs Inc. sycophants and vacant-eyed glad-handers at the head of the line, followed by notorious double-dippers and then redundant bean-counters. High on the list should be the Clueless One who suggested that our students each borrow a Carlson library book to take with them on their Spring Break. Duh! Thanks to John and Ben there are no longer sufficient books in Carlson Library to make that possible. Insanity.
Anonymous 11:29 is wrong on the picture identification.
It a picture of the UT faculty cheering the president for selecting clueless PSC staff members for layoff firing squad.
PSC staffers can pick up cigarettes and blindfolds in midnight blue and gold next week.
Who needs books in the Carlson library?
There's no damn place to sit down and read 'em thanks to the outstanding renovation planning that basically took the second floor offline.
Actually the university is going to receive a bigger hit in terms of budget shortfall this coming Fall... Let's say that this will not be a "worst first" massacre and if it continues like this it will end up affecting also instructional personnel (obviously it is never going to affect adminifuckers !)
What are the complications, if any, of laying off people very close to retirement?
If they don't want to retire? What a morally repugnant suggestion: "Thanks for your loyalty! Now go be a greeter at Wal-Mart for a fraction of your current salary and no benefits. Go Rockets!"
Job ad in the Toledo Blade: "Wanted. Wal-Mart Greeter. Must be a retired senior citizen and demonstrate fluency in English and at least one of the following foreign languages: German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian. Must work weekends."
Well, I am within 6 mos of retirement and my supervisor is saying things to me that make nervous....
Upon what is everyone basing this talk of imminent layoffs?
Better to be laid off six months before retirement, than six years before. CWA members have job bumping rights, so when the music ends those with the least amount of service are the ones without a job. What job protection or seniority rights to PSA have? Also keep in mind that with thousands of job positions, first easy step is simply not to fill those (including faculty lines). With salary and benefits for many workers at $80,000 to $100,000 you can save millions simply but not hiring replacements (of course leaving staffing shortfalls and same work to be done by fewer).
Just curious about his severance agreement...Why is Jacobs still here? What is this deadwood "faculty member" doing and how much is he earning?
You as asking about Jacobs today? This is old news as in June 2014 Board allowed him to continue his existing contract and added one year, then he could return to College of Medicine as faculty member. Sweet deal, yes and one that many criticized the Board for in June 2014 as his total severance cost was in order of $1.2 million. See Blade article from June 2014 that includes copy of his amended contract. He is currently paid $392,700 until June 30, 2017, after which can continue as faculty member at re-negotiated salary.
CWA bumping rights are pretty restrictive. They are only within classification. So, if you are the only one in your classification then you are out the door.
How many CWA staff are the only one in their classification?
More than you would think.
All this speculation about layoffs is total BS, just more sky is falling nonsense. The president has already sent to the deans the amounts they will have cut from their budgets. None of it involves any layoffs. Furthermore, the budget for next year will not include any farcical projections based on increased enrollment, which has been the way its been done at UT for ages, even prior to Jacobs.
Building a FY17 budget based on 0% increase in enrollment is a wise approach, but the resulting no net increase in tuition revenue, while other base budget costs go up (salaries, benefits, utilities etc...) means cuts from somewhere and when 90% of UT base budget is salaries and benefits, unfilled vacant positions or layoffs are still in play.
Layoffs as a last-resort possibility are one thing, the fevered hyperbole in some of these comments another. You'd swear somebody for reasons unknown was trying to stir the pot. (I know, that never happens. What, never? Well, hardly ever.)
interesting to see recent local media interest, NBC12 and the Blade, running the merger story
C'mon folks.
With personnel costs--salaries and benefits--making up 60 to 70 percent of UT's budget, do you think reducing paper-clip usage and dousing the lights at 5 p.m. will make up a $13 million deficit.
Layoffs are just around the corner.
Number of layoffs will depend on number of vacant positions (retirements and departures) left unfilled.
It is all making bricks without straw. Unless the constituency demands affordable quality public education it will be the same thing until we are no longer viable.
So it will really all depend on what the deans have offered up and what the president takes.
March 18th deadline (and March 21st board academic committee meeting) quickly approaching and to date no updates from the CLLSS and COCA Deans on their compromise merger proposal....hmmm "Inquiring minds want to know"
Also seems pretty quiet on the Provost front as well, nothing since the one remaining candidate was on campus for 2nd time a few weeks ago, perhaps we learn more this week?
What's the deal with the provost search? Why no announcement?
So, asshole faculty member comes sauntering into the office indignantly declaring how terrible it is that the "little ones on the bottom" are in the plan to eliminate the deficit, even naming names and pointing to me personally. Thank you once again state of Ohio, governor, stat senators, constituency, administrators and faculty for outdoing yourselves in making the most committed, hard working, and yet vulnerable people amongst you, after multiple decades of service, feel as valuable as used toilet paper... it is a great state we live in and work...what a great future and vision we all have here with each other...good luck with yourselves....
If you were the Last Man Standing and presently in the catbird seat, and you knew the urgent importance of your hire to move The Beast forward, might you not ask for the sun and the moon and a thousand stars plus benefits and a new GMC Denali in exchange for your signature on the dotted line? Otherwise it would be back to square one, and another year lost before President Gaber can begin to make UT great again. Say . . Does UT really need to buy itself another provost? . . And where is Ben "he's-a-magic-man" in our time of need?
UT names San Jose State dean as its next provost
It seems only fitting that the Toledo Rockets would select an aerospace engineer to lead its academic enterprise in the years ahead.
And with a rich research background and a passion for helping first-generation students enroll and succeed in higher education, it was clear to UT President Sharon L. Gaber that Dr. Andrew Hsu, dean of the College of Engineering at San Jose State University, was the right fit to be UT’s next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
Hsu’s appointment, which is slated for July 1, is contingent upon approval by the UT Board of Trustees.
“Andrew Hsu will be an incredible advocate for students and faculty, and a tremendous leader who will play a crucial role in elevating The University of Toledo on the national stage,” Gaber said.
Hsu’s arrival at UT will return him to a familiar state. Earlier in his career, he served as a research engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. He also was associate vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at Wright State University, and he spent a year at Ohio State University as an American Council on Education Fellow.
“I am excited by the opportunities The University of Toledo has to offer its students, its employees and its community,” Hsu said, “and I’m excited to help further the momentum President Sharon Gaber has already created in such a short period of time.”
During the interview process, Hsu spoke to the campus community about his passion for helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds succeed.
“As we push our academics and our research to new levels of excellence, it is the students for whom college was not a foregone conclusion that add so much to our campus community and remind us of why we have chosen higher education as a profession.”
Hsu also was a staff scientist at Rolls-Royce North America and a faculty member at the University of Miami and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He received his PhD in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Gaber also took a minute to thank Interim Provost John Barrett for his service.
“John has spent countless hours during the last 18 months leading the academic arm of The University of Toledo and creating an opportunity for a seamless transition upon Andrew’s arrival. I want to join so many across UT in thanking him for his efforts.”
Why wasn't Barrett considered?
Just what we need more stem gearheads.
Scarborough Watch: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/03/former_head_of_university_of_akron_press_sues_college_for_defamation.html
Can someone explain "the momentum" of the Gaber administration that Dr. Hsu referred to in his quote?
"Momentum" may exist in all directions.
I interpret this as the change in climate, a sense of hope that UT will once again be an institution of higher learning, rather than an institution of higher earning for Jacobs' cronies.
merger done deal
CLLS and COCA to merge into new college with 11 departments, current CLLS and Communication, plus a School of the Arts, decision has been made, look for letter to faculty from President soon
And what do any of the department's who object to the FL requirement intend to do when the college council takes up curriculum and decides that all departments in the new college will require a FL? Comm and the former COCA departments will be a minority at college council.
This non-COCA rep will stand with COCA colleagues to vote against the FL requirement. The social sciences faculty need to work against rules that push people to business, criminal justice and social work.
Saw it all the time as an adviser: Students struggled with FL and then changed their major to criminal justice.
It is up to COCA undergraduate advisors to articulate clearly why a mandatory foreign language serves to enrich their student learning experience while enhancing their self-esteem and career prospects. Assuming that COCA students will flee their academic challenges rather than face up to them is bad attitude. Please do not enable COCA students to become slackers and whiners and then consider yourself a teacher. To encourage their worst tendencies does them no favors, and is not going to increase the academic reputation of COCA and the University of Toledo.
If college bound students in high school took a FL, which they should all be advised to do (top academic high schools make it a requirement), than they should not struggle with FL while at UT. They do not need be be experts but should be able to complete the requirement. The core of the problem is UT staying with an open enrollment policy, while the decline in public high school education with FL just like math and writing graduating unprepared college students. And for all those changing to criminal justice, good luck getting decent jobs. I find it stunning that communication faculty actually fail to understand the value of a second language, especially Spanish, in a job market for their graduates that is dropping fast and how a 2nd language would be such a benefit, and much the same could be said for many Arts majors as well. Why limit your already limited potential job and future careers, instead expand with a 2nd language?
Let's form the new college first, then work on curricular matters as a whole faculty.
To ANON 6:20 AM
I completely agree that a FL is beneficial to students. You are also correct in saying that if the students took FL in HS this would be less of an issue. The fact is that many of our students haven't. You have to understand our students. Many, if not most, are the first in their families to go to college. Many, if not most, graduated from middle of the road high schools. They come from working class backgrounds who struggle financially to afford even UT. These students are here for job training. They don't care about getting an education. Most don't care about being enlightened, they want to get in, get out and get a job. We have to serve the students we have, not the students we wish we had. UT is not Harvard. We are a metropolitan University serving the needs of our community. As it should be.
This doesn't mean we should lower our standards, but it does mean we need to offer more remediation than any of us would like, enhanced retention efforts, and top notch advising. For many of our students FL does not aid them in their primary goal of getting a job.
I think we all need to take a look at the demographics, backgrounds, and aspiration of our students along with the resources they have. Adjusted for inflation, higher education costs have more doubled in the past generation. Few of our students can afford to take a romantic, intellectual view of their time here (and that is a damn shame). They are much more practical and goal oriented.
FL should be offered, and highly encouraged, and better promoted, but it should not be required.
Anonymous 11:13. Your arguments justify the logic and appeal of every degree mill ever cooked up. You cut to the chase to reveal why the business model is the chosen model for any public and private institute of higher education that reduces its societal role to churning out cheap labor rather than educating a responsible citizenry who have earned their degrees and aspire to meaningful careers where intelligence is rewarded with excellent prospects for high pay and promotions. I appreciate your candor but despise your promotion of anti-intellectualism and betrayal of academia in America.
If the only purpose of a college education is getting a job, then we need to eliminate most of the courses in our university catalogue, since APPARENTLY studying art history, jazz, public speaking, philosophy, history, chemistry, sociology, psychology, will not appear in the job requirements for most of our students. What you and many employers do not understand is that the student who has some in experience in any of these disciplines can take a broader view of things, make better decisions, articulate the issues better, and so forth. As for the foreign language requirement, why would any good communications program want to send its students into the job market without a fundamental ability to understand global, cultural issues, and without the ability to even comprehend basic news articles in at least one foreign language?
To Anon 9:21
Offering improved remediation, working to enhance retention, offering improved advising, and understanding our students' background and aspiration while making FL optional IS NOT embracing a business model or diploma mill operation.
-Anon 11:13
The Day the Purpose of College Changed
The Chronicle of Higher Education
26 January 2015
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Day-the-Purpose-of-College/151359/
In response to Anonymous 12:09 PM
Which institutional mission best deserves the investment of scarce state higher education tax dollars?
1)The mission of The University of Toledo is to improve the human condition; to advance knowledge through excellence in learning, discovery and engagement; and to serve as a diverse, student-centered public metropolitan research university.
2)The mission of the University of Toledo is to offer improved remediation, to work to enhance retention, to offer improved advising, and to understanding our students' backgrounds and aspirations.
Is UT the last open admissions state university in Ohio?
To Anon 7:57
To Anon 7:57 AM
"Improved remediation, enhanced retention efforts, improved advising while understanding our students backgrounds and aspirations IS NOT EXCLUSIVE with the Mission Statement. I would argue that it fits right in with the "excellence in learning" clause as well as "student-centered public metropolitan research university" clause.
If the faculty doesn't see that, if the faculty can't buy in to that, and if the faculty can't live that, then this institution is in trouble and very little else matters.
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