I'm Back!

Hello everyone!

I hope that you have had a refreshing and productive summer. I've had a quite successful summer of research, but now I am back in blogging mood.

Unfortunately, the dominant story I find is a bad one: The legislature is battling over UW funding. I thought that we were in good shape as Spring semester ended. Instead, Steve Nass intervened and convinced Republicans in the Senate to cut, cut, cut. . .

Today, the papers report that the Regents voted a 5.5% tuition increase, based on the budget that the governor has promised.

On a more positive note, Chancellor Wells is touting our reaccreditation (did anyone really think it wouldn't happen??). We aren't under any significant pressure to change our ways from the accreditors.

What will be the big issues for 2007-8?

Will another round of ugly financial crises arise?
What will happen to the Freshman experience project?
Will there really be general education reform?
Will the Chancellor head for greener pastures?

Let us speculate about the year ahead. . . .

Student Evals in the NYTimes

I read this article in the NY Times magazine on Sunday. It is from a journalist who apparently takes his negative comments a bit too seriously.

We have discussed evaluations here before, but this guy gets carried away feeling the pain from a few negative words. I almost always have someone who writes something negative, but only one person. I don't take them seriously and I don't know why the author here does. . .

UWO bashed across state

If you looked at the Oshkosh in the News email, you'll find that we are reaping bad publicity across the state for our US Bank deal:

Journal-Sentinel editorial

Letter to the editor in Madison

I suppose the administration hopes it will all blow over, but they should break the cycle of bad press and bad decision-making and get out of this deal!

Northwestern publishes defense of US Bank deal

In a strange article, the Northwestern published the responses by Chancellor Wells and Tom Sonnleitner to the Journal-Sentinel article from yesterday (in post below).

The article is strange in that it is attributed only to "staff." No one wanted to actually do any research for the story, I would guess.

It also presents the weak defense from the two administrators that this was a process that was open to bidding. Because US Bank was the only one who bid, it is okay to choose a bank that profits by exploiting students.

Wells also argues, as Lammers does in the comments, that this policy is not our fault. If we had more money from the state, we wouldn't have to cheat students. I guess no one ever wants to take responsibility for their own ethical behavior.

UWO in news again for financial misdeeds

The Journal-Sentinel reports on our deal with US bank for ID cards (Thanks Oshkoshnews.org!). From the article, we find out that Wells sits on some sort of local US Bank board. The company pays the university tens of thousands of dollars to have this access to students.

As the article points out, it is another weak deal for our students, since US Bank charges some of the highest fees in the industry. Instead of pairing up with an institution that would help students and protect them from predatory banking fees, we encourage them to use a company that will really make them pay if they make a mistake.

There was a minor controversy about these cards when they were introduced a few years ago, as faculty members did not want to be tied to this company. Once again, it looks like faculty were right and the administrations attempt to raise a little money on the backs of students is going to give us another public black eye!

Lets get out of this deal ASAP and try at least to pretend the administration cares about the students . . .

Private loans hurting students

The NYTimes ran a story yesterday, describing the problems that students get into by taking out large loans from private companies.

The companies apparently charge exorbitant interest rates, leaving students with huge burdens when they graduate.

It is another reason why we need to recommit ourselves to keeping the UW system affordable for every student who deserves to be here!

The Unwelcoming Atmosphere on Campus

I just received an email from the leader of the Voices of Africa group that became part of the discussion of the A-T april fools editions.

If you remember, Miles Maguire noted that one of the group members had been cited for smoking marijuana on campus when they were performing here. He used this as an example of how our campus was unfriendly to people of color.

It appears that the result of Miles publicizing the behavior of that member (and my blogging about it) led to her resignation from the group. The group itself was not very welcoming to violations of the law while on tour.

Here is the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Please Post

9 A.M. EDT, Thursday, May 31, 2007
VOA RESPONSE TO UWO POLICE REPORT: CASE # 07073-1
PLEASE POST
IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT A UWO POLICE REPORT WAS ENTERED IN RESPONSE TO A CITATION THAT WAS ISSUED TO ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF VOA WHILE ON CAMPUS AT GRUEHAUGEN HALL ON MARCH 14, 2007. THIS CITATION WAS LISTED IN THE TITAN ADVANCE APRIL FOOL’S EDITION AND BECAME THE TOPIC OF SUBSEQUENT MEETINGS ON CAMPUS, ALONG WITH BEING POSTED IN THE LAKE WINEBLOGO ONLINE BLOG.
IN RESPONSE TO THIS CITATION AND THE SUBSEQUENT DISCUSSION THAT ENSUED VOA ISSUES THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT.
1. At the time of that this citation was issued, VOA was on tour in the Appleton, Neenah and Oshkosh cities of WI and were housed as guests in the North Gruenhagen Conference Center, 208 Osceola Avenue, Oshkosh, WI.
2. VOA was not aware of any infraction made by any of our Members until May 6, 2007 approximately 7 weeks later when we received an email from Muriel A. Hawkins, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor, Center for Academic Support and Diversity, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
3. The Ensemble member in question, Okomfo Nyo Agyiriwah, AKA Regina Cantave was performing with VOA but did not alert us to the full extent of the situation or the investigation of her room, nor did she tell us of her impending citation.
4. VOA investigated this matter further, contacted the OWU Police Department and requested a written report which it received on May 10, 2007.
5. From the inception of VOA, we have had a harsh and stringent policy pertaining to any member participating in any illegal substances while performing with us; in housing provided by us or our event producers; or in their private lives. Once this knowledge becomes available, VOA policy is to suspend the member indefinitely or until appropriate rehabilitation has taken place.
6. Ms. Cantave, has voluntarily resigned from the group. Her position is that she has been falsely accused and will pursue legal measures to resolve this matter in the not too distant future. We have accepted her resignation entered on May 8, 2007.
7. We sincerely apologize for any problems this incident may have caused for the campus residents, staff and administration of UWO, the employees at North Gruenhagen Conference Center, the UWO police department and any other parties known or unknown.
8. We further hope that this will play no part in any future engagements that may occur between our Ensemble and the community of Oshkosh, Neenah, Appleton or there about.

Submitted: May 29, 2007
By: Nana Akosua Baakan Agyiriwah, Managing Director & Founder
The “Voices Of Africa” Choral & Percussion Ensemble
Contact: Nana Akosua Baakan Agyiriwah, tel. 215-386-0088 email: nanabaakan@voicesofafrica.net

We may get more funding.

The Journal-Sentinel reports that the Joint Finance committee has agreed to most of the proposals for increasing funding to the UW system.

I was also unaware that the Chancellor wants a new dorm on campus, but that is still being discussed in Madison. The Northwestern reports.

UWO is going to have a good biennium financially!

High flyers flee UW-Madison

The LaCrosse Tribune is running a story today about the low salaries that are driving profs away. It notes that the momentum is increasing, as prominent professors get huge salary increases at other institutions.

The turnover here at UWO is quite high, as well, though I don't know how big a role salary plays in that. It would certainly make the job more attractive if the pay were more in line with the national averages!

Friday Fun

A museum revealing the "true" history of the earth is scheduled to open this week. Read all about it in the NY Times!

Sandra Gade and her bunch of Christianists will surely be flocking there this summer! Why go to Disney world when you can see a dramatization of Noah's flood wiping out the dinosaurs and creating all those fossils??

Google Bans Cheating Sites

The BBC reports today that Google will no longer accept ads from companies selling term papers.

One company says that 80% of its business comes through those ads, so it may be forced to go out of business.

I wonder if it will really make a difference. How many students actually buy an essay when they turn to the internet to copy content? There are plenty of opportunities to plagiarize without paying. The ethic of the internet has stressed sharing of even copyrighted material, so it is hard to imagine much of an impact. It is nice to see google make it a tad bit more difficult, though.

Grzyb wants to talk ratings

Gerry Grzyb is trying to get the COLS list to discuss our low ratings in USNews & World Reports. In order to generate interest (I hope) he suggests we should go back to 4/4 loads to lower our class-sizes and hence, do better in the ratings. Here are his posts:

Since the subject was so clearly in mind the past few days, here's is a link to excerpts from a book entitled The Professor's Guide To Getting Good Grades In College: link

I could only wish that our incoming students understood all of what is contained therein before first plopping down in our classroom seats.

I came across the link while browsing the US News site after quickly perusing the latest ed. of their college guide at the Pick 'N' Save. Do we really suck as bad as the ratings suggest? Among the top 100 institutions of our type in the Midwest, you'll see La Crosse, Eau Claire, Platteville, Green Bay, Whitewater, Stevens Point, and River Falls (I may have missed others--I had to check out before the frozen vegetables started thawing). In the "third tier" (not a good place to be), the only UW campuses seem to be Superior and Oshkosh (at this point you should be saying SUPERIOR??? WE'RE ALONE IN THE BASEMENT WITH SUPERIOR????). Maybe this has been brought up before, but given US News' criteria and weightings, what exactly brings us to this far-from-superior-yet-close-to-Superior position?

And his own follow up:

Ron Hardy tipped me off to recent articles in the Chronicle regarding the US News ratings (thanks Ron!). One common feeling about the ratings seems to be similar to how many feel about the SOS scores, or the brother who thinks he's a chicken in Woody's joke at the end of Annie Hall. The ratings are flawed, even deeply flawed. We're not at all sure if they measure the right things in the right way. But, dammit, they're all we've got and besides, we need the eggs! So perhaps we do have to be at least somewhat concerned about the fact that we're down in the Great Unranked Third Tier with Superior.

Here's just one issue, but it may be one of the most important. The Chronicle notes how class size is a big factor in the US News ratings. As I recall, most departments "paid for" reduced teaching loads with larger classes. If that's the case, and our classes are now significantly bigger, have we "bit ourselves on the butt" by trying to pay for something worthwhile with money we really didn't have? I know the issue is perhaps the most sensitive one on this campus, but I have the feeling that one of these days a business-oriented regent is going to look a little closer at us after seeing the ratings, and raise the same question.

College Prep Courses Don't Prepare Students

The NYTimes reports today that only 26% of high school students who took the required college prep courses (4 yrs English, 3rs of math, social studies, and science) were prepared to do college-level work in all areas.. They reported that 19% were prepared in no areas.

I don't know exactly what their methodology was, but this is consistent with our pattern here. The statistics for DFW rates in intro courses are even higher here.

I am not sure exactly how we deal with this, but as I grade my finals, the inadequacies are obvious. . .

National Cheating Scandals on the Rise

There have been a series of cheating scandals that have been making national news of late--Duke University Business School was in the NYTimes and Washington Post last week. Insidehighered.com writes about the implications of cheating in professional school today.

It is a depressing thought as I sit here grading exams. Have my students been using their cell phones to send answers to one another? How much did they copy on their take-home assignments?

The stigma against cheating seems to be evaporating. How can we explain it and how can we deal with it?

COLS has just subscribed to turnitin.com, so we will now be able to check written assignments against a national database. I suppose it will help, but was a sad use of scarce resources!

Laptops fail in high schools

Although not a technophobe personally, I have often complained about the use of technology in the classroom just because it is available.

The NYTimes ran this article on Friday, reporting on several school districts that gave laptops to all students are giving up the initiative. The data showed no real improvement in student learning, but provided lots of headaches for teachers and administrators.

I think the same thing is applicable for us. If you have ever snuck behind a student using a laptop in your classroom, you are likely to see a rousing game of solitaire or emailing. It may be true that I am just boring, but the university is often providing the resources so that they can physically be in class, but technologically, be miles away. . .

P.S. Last week was a busy one, and I was slow on the blogging front, but as the semester is coming to an end, I imagine the pattern will continue. For those of you reading, please send along information or comments and I'll be glad to post them!

Do we fail minority students?

The Northwestern this morning ran this article on the front page, about the report about failure rates among minorities in gateway courses. The A-T ran a story on it a few weeks ago.

The data presented to the board of regents showed a very rate of D,F or W among minorities that was significantly higher than other segments of our student population.

First, does anyone know what the actual data looks like? It is hard to judge this information without more information. Does anyone know if this is similar to other institutions?

This data and its reporting raise a lot of questions for us. Is there bias in the way we teach our gateway courses? Why are the very few minorities on campus doing poorly in classes?

There are many other questions that need to be asked and I hope we can begin thinking about the implication of this data?

Right to Unionize Chopped from Budget

Anonymous e-mailer lake flambe let me know that the legislative leaders have decided to remove the right for us to unionize from the state budget.

Here is the message, as lf commented about the loss and the more general failure of union politics:

Egad let us mourn the demise of collective bargaining out of the budget.
http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/04/21/0704210279.php

It really tees me off that this basic human right can't be granted the faculty and staff.
sheesh! However it is very strange how this effort is/was not marketed. You can't dig up any people to come forward and claim some union did something for them. Despite unions do lots of things for their members all the time.

Unions have very noticeable defects IMHO like that perennial fraud and embezzlement problem they have, their cult like top down structure, and lack of democratic principles amply supported by the crazy convention system most of them have, no term limits to office, highly paid career staffer yes-persons, and last but not least high dues and constantly hitting the membership up for more money and endless activities.

Unfortunately unions are unwilling to change any of these problems. Thus overcoming the deservedly bad impression from those problems and the fact that society is so conservative these days would take a massive PR campaign on every front. Actually I personally do think collective bargaining and unions have overall benefits to the membership despite the union culture's extreme resistance to improvement. (This was not a position the unions were willing to tolerate, I found out by personal experience. You're either in the cult or you're not. They didn't accept "yeah I like unions but X,Y,Z should be changed".I think that rigidity is _the_ major reason why unions are declining.)

And I would love to see the prolific labor history industry get shelved permanently. The eternal obsession that unions have with the past has IMHO a toxic effect, makes them even more resistant to change, and is just plain depressing. I for one am totally fed up with stories of the
30's and pictures of long-deceased union leaders. No more history profs setting union policy! The policy has to be shaped by the people the union is trying to organize, meaning unions have to find out what they want and how to communicate with them
about it.

Where should I park?

The discussion list has been crackling with a new, non academic discussion about parking here on campus. Last week, a survey was sent out, asking whether faculty and staff would be willing to pay $350 for a reserved parking spot. Most interestingly, the conversation has been led by non-faculty members. It is nice to see some other employees getting involved in this question.

Since then, the discussion has blossomed from a few nay-sayers who asked everyone to say they were not interested to a much broader discussion of the real price of parking.

Mike Lizotte has presented a quite convincing case that parking fees here on campus do not nearly represent the real cost to the university. He estimates that the true cost of parking on campus could be as high as $1500 per space per year. The maximum fee is $165.

Others have pointed out that as with just about everything else, the only reason we are talking about fee increases is that the state has so drastically cut our aid. They suggest that free parking should be part of providing a decent working environment for employees.

I haven't posted because I am ambivalent about the parking issue. I know that I should use my bicycle and public transportation more than I do. However, convenience outweighs my conscience. If the fees were higher, I suppose I might reconsider.

UWO says no more bribes from EFP

I could have posted this a couple of days ago, but UWO administrators announced that we will no longer take bribes from Educational Finance Partners.

They insist that they did nothing wrong, but I am waiting for the evidence that the EFP loans were as good as loans from other lenders. We have heard that EFP got lots of special treatment, including being the only lender mentioned in a few mailings.

Gordon Hintz, among others, has called for hearings, so we may be hearing more about this in the future.

A few people have tried to defend this action by claiming that state budget cuts drove the financial aid office to it. I don't buy this excuse at all. The university should act in the best interests of higher education and our students, regardless of financial hardships. The burden of proof has to be on us to demonstrate that the way we handle cuts is the least harmful way possible.

Taking funds from a private lender to increase their profits serves only the company and a few workers in the financial aid office. It gave the rest of us a real black eye.

UWO caught taking 'bribes' from student loan companies

The Oshkosh Northwestern is reporting today that the administration cut a deal with Education Finance Partners. They paid the university over $10,000 to be put on the list of preferred loan providers.

This scandal has been sweeping the country, as it turns out many universities and loan administrators have been taking payments to put companies on the loan list. Several people have been indicted in New York for taking these payments, which smell like bribes. Links here and here.

The article notes that our institution used this payment to help with administration costs, but it stinks to me. Letting companies buy their way on to the list makes it look as though we are not interested in finding the best deals for students. Instead, the administration is looking to take care of its own needs.

What a sleazy process! It pains me to hear that we have been ill-serving our students like this!

Female Profs don't feel integrated

Speaking of campus culture, does UWO drive away female faculty members? A study of Cornell University showed lower levels of satisfaction for female faculty members and a higher likelihood of leaving the profession at every point in their career. The significant variable was integration. Women were much less likely to feel satisfied about their integration into their departments and the institution in general.

I don't know what our retention rates are like, but I know of many women who have left the university over the last few years. How about it, do we create an environment conducive to helping faculty engage with our institution?

Another attempt to defend the A-T

I haven't been posting things from the discussion list, but I was driven to post this. A person from the journalism department posted a letter this morning asking why there wasn't more outrage on campus when a non-student was arrested, cited, and fined for marijuana possession. I am not quite sure I get the parallel. I guess we were supposed to be upset that the university police did their job because the victim was black. Apparently, he sees this as differential applications of justice.

I don't see this at all and most of the responses on the list pointed this out. Even if this were an outrage (which it is clearly not), it doesn't lessen the hostile attitude of the A-T's April Fools Issue.


Here is the letter:

Last week many colleagues used this forum to register their opinions about the April Fool’s issue of the Advance-Titan. I am writing to bring to your attention an item that appeared in a different issue of the A-T, an article that appears to have gone largely unnoticed even though it seems to me to say a lot about campus climate.

In its March 29 issue, the A-T reported the following (based on a police report):

March 14, 2007. (1:15 a.m.)--During a routine building check, an officer detected the odor of burning candles and incense coming from a guest room in the North Gruenhagen Conference Center, in violation of university fire regulations. The female guest was contacted and identified herself as a Philadelphia resident who was performing in the “Voices of Africa Choral and Percussion Ensemble.” She consented to a search of the room where candles and incense were found. The officer noticed her trying to conceal something in a suitcase. The officer seized a cosmetic case containing a marijuana joint and roaches weighing 2.2 grams. The female admitted it was her marijuana but denied smoking it in the room. Nonstudent Regina Contave (sic), 46, was cited for possession of marijuana.

As you may know, Ms. Cantave (the proper spelling of her name) belongs to a group that was a guest on this campus in January 2005 for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. dinner. She performs under the name of Akusua Nyo Agyiriwah, and she was back in the area last month because Voices of Africa was performing for Neenah school students as part of the group’s mission to foster multicultural awareness and understanding.

Without question the officer was doing his or her duty to protect the lives and property of the university community. Asking Ms. Cantave to extinguish any candles or incense was completely appropriate. But the officer should have stopped there. Searching the room was an unnecessary intrusion.

I encourage you to read the police report carefully and apply your powers of critical analysis. How credible is it that a person with illegal substances in her possession “consented” to a search of her room? If that person had consented to a search, why would she then try “to conceal something in a suitcase”? For those of you who have lived in urban areas, how likely is it that you would allow a police officer into your bedroom in the middle of the night absent subterfuge or threat?

I’m sure the rejoinder from the UP would be that the officer had an obligation to investigate a crime. But officers have great discretion in how they choose to enforce the law (if they didn’t we would all have speeding or jaywalking tickets for what we do on Algoma Boulevard). The fact is they exercise their discretion according to the parameters that are established by those in their chain of command.

What message do you think that Ms. Cantave took away from her encounter with the UP? That UW Oshkosh values an environment that is “inclusive” and “tolerant”? Let’s not forget that her offense was not a crime, in a narrow legal sense. Possession is a civil offense and in the scheme of things not a lot more serious than driving a few miles an hour over the speed limit. But it cost her $375 and spoke volumes about how welcome people like her are on our campus.

I invite you to reflect on the difference in our reaction to this incident and to the April Fool’s edition of the A-T.

As part of that reflection, I urge you to consider the difference in agency, on the one hand a uniformed (and armed) employee of this institution who is paid to carry out its mission and support its values and on the other hand students, who pay us to be formed and instructed in the value of knowledge and inquiry.

We appear to be far more tolerant of the actions of people invested with formal authority than the ones who are here for an education.

Storm on the Horizon: General Education Reform

Word about town is that we are about to see the beginning of a sustained effort to fix the general education component here at UWO. Apparently, the accreditors were upset by the lack of any coherence to our general education requirements. They told the administration that we need to deal with this fairly quickly.

The chancellor wants to start with a general discussion about the goals of a liberal education and then dive into the specifics. I imagine that we will be able to find agreement on a basic definition about what we think is important for college students to learn. I think most of us can also agree that the gen ed requirements are a mess.

However, can you imagine the hornet's nest that will be stirred up when we have to talk about what this means in terms of courses? The last time that this was attempted, apparently just before the last accreditation visit, we got TBIS and PBIS courses. Going any further was stymied.

What will happen this time around? Do the Chancellor and the Provost have the willpower to battle all the constituencies and transform the university?

My feeling is that this can only be good for us--I have long been a proponent of a liberal education, that stresses critical thinking and analysis ahead of practical job skills. It will, however, be an ugly fight. Can the faculty put their own interests (and their departments' interests) aside and think about the good of the university and education? We shall soon see!

Here is what I have found on the web: The website mentioned in the alumni magazine that may serve as a starting point for the change

The A-T issue: Joke or Symptom of bigger problems?

The April Fool's Issue of the AT continues to generate intense discussion on campus. As you can see from the previous post, over 30 comments have been posted here. On the university discussion list, there have been 60 emails. In my more ambitious days of blogging, I would have posted all of those.

In general, there have been several lines of debate (represented here as well):

1: Did the April Fools issue have any significance?
1: can faculty understand the humor of the younger generation?
2: is criticism of the AT akin to censorship?
3: is this a mistake/misunderstanding or a sign of broader institutional racism/sexism/agism at UWO?

The various defenses of the A-T seem to be quite hollow, from the lack of awareness of the impact of such writing to the argument that negative stereotyping has no real effect.

In various discussions around campus, it has become clear that in addition to our reputation as Sloshkosh, UWO is already known as a place unwelcoming to people who are different.

The AT controversy seems to cement that reputation. The A-T staff's protestations that they never meant to hurt anyone suggest that the hostility is unconscious and unexplored.

This should be an eye opening moment for our campus. What can we do to make something good come of it??

Did the A-T go beyond the bounds?

A student posted this letter to the university discussion list about the A-T April fools issue. I have not really looked at it myself, but the headlines on the website suggest that several of the "stories" might be ugly, if not down right offensive. Here is the letter:

As a

nontraditional student on campus, I am voicing my concern regarding the annual Advance Titan's April Fool's edition (http://www.advancetitan.com/) that came out yesterday. In my opinion, this yearly tradition serves no purpose other than to degrade the image of our campus and offend numerous parts of the student body, as well as faculty, staff and administration. I personally feel that what may be intended to be sarcasm, humor or an “April Fool” has gone too far and should no longer be condoned on this campus.

I am outraged by the sentiments expressed in the AT. The statements go well beyond those of an “April Fool” and I am deeply concerned about how no action about this impacts our faculty/staff of color, our students of color, our

LGBTQ students, our non traditional students, and allies. When so many are asking 'why am I here?' and 'Is it worth it?'...this may be the last straw for many.

Our campus is already a 'difficult' environment to work and study in. The tone of the

AT's articles only adds tension to our campus community, if not outright saying who belongs here and who does not. The tension increases as the minutes of silence and no response tick by. No action is action!

I feel that the longer we are silent about this, the further we

systemically institutionalize racism, homophobia, ageism, and sexism. I hope you will stand behind me in supporting ALL members of our campus and community and what we stand for as members of the University Wisconsin Oshkosh campus and community!

The time to be heard is now!

Signed,

Rieckman is now pro-UWO?

Although this topic has already gotten plenty of play in the blogosphere (Tony, Babblemur and Miles), I wanted to add my two-cents.

After all, it is striking to see Rieckman endorse a "Jeffrey Dahmer" to be on the city council. (I really do hold a grudge!!) After Rieckman's ready use of the university as a whipping boy in his columns, to see him write that it might not be so bad to have three people associated with UWO on the council is quite a change of heart.

For Stew, Palmeri is a great addition to the council. As someone devoted to open records, the Northwestern will surely benefit if Tony insists on opening up the cozy world of city government. Perhaps he also recognizes that continually attacking a significant percentage of his subscribers is not the best way to build his newspaper.

I, for one, don't really understand the town and gown split here. On the other hand, I don't understand the north/west split either . . .

Famous Academic Quotes

In this article, you can learn who said "Academic fights are so vicious because the stakes are so low," and other quotes from academia.

It is a nice relaxing read for the weekend!

John Koker is the new COLS dean

Yesterday, it was announced that John Koker was offered and accepted the position of Dean of COLS on a permanent basis.

John seems to have done a fine job in his last nine months as acting dean. Lets hope that the pattern continues.

Beyond John himself, this would seem to be an approval of the status quo for us. There will be no fresh perspectives to bring change. I didn't get involved much in the search, so I can't comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the other candidates. However, do you think that this was the right decision from the perspective of continuity?

Generally, COLS continues to function decently, but would a more radical shakeup have been beneficial? I can't decide, how about you?

UWS to extend control off campus

I am back and recovered from spring break. Thanks to those who posted in the discussion over the last week!

Today, the Journal-Sentinel is reporting that UW system is rethinking its rules of student conduct. They want to make it possible for students to be punished for off-campus offenses that would be punishable if they took place on-campus.

The article raises a few concerns about double jeopardy, but I wonder if we are seeing a return of an attitude of 'in loco parentis' that dominated the mindset in the last century. Besides, would it really help change the state-wide culture of drunken abandon?

Goodbye Unionization for us!

The faculty union for California State System voted to give union leaders permission to call a strike today. They are striking over pay--especially since administrators have been giving themselves big raises as they claim a financial crisis.

I think this significantly lowers the chances of our right to unionize being approved by our own state legislature. If they settle before a strike, there might not be too much of an impact. Doyle will jettison us in a hurry if the union in California has success forcing the state to give them a reasonable pay increase.

It will also open the floodgates to the anti-faculty rhetoric from our favorite Republicans down in Madison.

Let's hope they reach a reasonable accomodation in California, which is what should happen anyway. You will note, however, that without a union and threat of a strike, the administration was content to keep reducing faculty pay and benefits.

Light Reading: Socrates' teaching evals

As we relax a bit over spring break, here is a look at Socrates' teaching evaluations from Philosophy 101. Enjoy!

Sloshkosh is not alone: Wisconsin Awash in Booze

This is really not a new story, but data once again shows that Wisconsin has one of the highest drinking rates in the country.

According to the survey, 39.5% of underaged Wisconsinites admitted to drinking in 2005. It also had the highest rate of alcohol use among people 18-25 at over 75%.

This might not be so bad if the drinking occurred in moderation, but we know it is coupled with one of the highest binge drinking rates(28%, up from the 2004 survey).

I suppose it could make us feel better to know that college students across the whole state take part in such behavior. However, as St. Patrick's day approaches, we know that we have a particularly bad reputation as a party school.

Why are we the worst in the country? Is it the northern clime? The German heritage? Unfortunately, it affects our students and their academic success profoundly. If you have ever paid attention to how empty classrooms are on Friday mornings, you know students are putting their drinking far ahead of their studies.

Tech College Teachers make more than we do

The Journal-Sentinel reports on a LAB report that shows that full-time faculty at Tech Colleges here in Wisconsin make more on average than those at the 4 year campuses. For us, the average salary at Fox is 73,100, while the average here is 65,100.

The administrators complain that it is comparing apples to oranges to compare the two. One might note that the biggest difference is that the teachers there have a union!

Problems at elite colleges

The New York Review of Books has an article addressing the elitism of the wealthy private schools.

The gist is that rich kids get into elite institutions, and it is getting worse. A couple of books criticize liberal academia for worrying about political correctness and not poverty.

It is an interesting review. I can't help but think that all this really benefits an institution like ours. Lets make sure we are high quality and affordable, so that those who aren't legacies at the big schools can find a place here!

Collective Bargaining for us

Another anonymouse like myself (highcharge is the nickname) wrote with the suggestion that I mention the collective bargaining provision of the Governors budget. She has even provided links in the message:

Well Lake, aren't you going to say something about
the collective bargaining for UW system thing?
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=121929&ntpid=3

as far as I know, this is the same concept as floated in
in SB 452:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2005/data/SB452hst.html

I have been in favor of collective bargaining for faculty for a long time. (see my post from 2005)

The faculty voice in decision-making at UWO is weak, our pay is low, and we are systematically being replaced by part-timers and adjuncts. An actual union could only help on all of these fronts. TAUWP is a toothless tiger; we need something stronger to defend our interests.

It seems as though there is little debate about the issue at the moment. I hope it stays below the radar.

We can have a real conversation about the implications of organizing if we are actually give the right to do it.

Intellectual Diversity in Madison?

On the left, there was Kevin Barrett, now from the racist right, law professor Leonard Kaplan??

Kaplan has been accused of anti-Hmong statements in a class on February 15. A Student email circulated claiming that Kaplan said that Hmong men were killers and Hmong women were better off if the men were dead.

It led several students to file a complaint that claims that he was creating a hostile environment.

I've looked back at this story, so here are few links:

From Madison on Feb 22

A Badger-Herald editorial from Feb 26

An account of a meeting in Madison

Today's story about Kaplan's response in the Journal-Sentinel


I imagine Steve Nass will be denouncing the protesters for being too sensitive.

Library continues to be starved of resources

In what is now an annual tradition, the library announces its plans to cut more periodical subscriptions and reduce acquisitions.

The budget for acquistions did not increase. Because of increasing costs of subscriptions, $125,000 worth of reductions must take place. They are being forced to cut, cut, cut.

Where is the library in all of this talk about the growth initiative? Why is the library being starved when their resources are at the core of what we stand for?

It is not worth the effort to even check to see if our library has any recent new titles or significant periodicals. They can't afford it. Off to Universal Borrowing I go, which reflects terribly on our academic priorities. Why should resources be instantly available to students here? Instead, send them off to wikipedia. . .

Here is the memo:

Good Afternoon,

Below is the text of a memo that is being sent today to deans, department chairs and departmental or college Library representatives. Let me emphasize one point of the memo. Ron Hardy and I really need the input of colleges and departments on the proposed cancellations in light of current and future curricular trends, accreditation needs and other relevant information known to your department or college. Ron and I will be happy to talk to colleges, departments, the faculty senate or other groups about these issues. Please let Ron or I know if you have any questions.

Pat

****************************************************************************************************
Periodical Review 2007
Patrick Wilkinson, Director of Polk Library

The goals of Polk Library’s Periodical Review 2007 are twofold:
¨ to discontinue a sufficient number of less-needed print journal titles to stay within the library’s material budget for 2007/08
¨ to expand if possible the number of high-quality, peer-reviewed journals available online for student and faculty research.

To meet these goals, the Library needs to evaluate its current collection and restructure its budget. The staff of Polk Library requests your help and asks for your response no later than April 9, 2007.

What Your College or Department Needs to Do By April 9

Attached is a list of the print journal subscriptions currently supporting your college or department curriculum. This list has an “X” next to titles proposed for cancellation and gives the journal’s cost, percent assigned to your department, total use observed from three studies, and full-text availability. The journals proposed for cancellation generally had low comparative use, high overall cost, a high cost per use ratio, or full-text available online.

Your department or college is specifically requested to respond to the proposed cancellations in light of current and future curricular trends, accreditation needs and other relevant information known to your department or college. To assist in your evaluation, we have attached a list of relevant titles with full text currently available online.

In addition to commenting on proposed cancellations, you may recommend the acquisition of new journal titles or online options. Please note that any new titles added would need to be done in the context of an overall reduction in the number of titles that the library receives.

All comments on the proposed cancellations or requests to add a new title must come officially from the department chair. In Business Administration, Education and Human Services, and Nursing, the library asks that the comments come officially from the chair of the college library committee or dean whichever is most appropriate for the college. These official responses should be sent to Ron Hardy, Polk Library’s Head of Information Resources, no later than April 9, 2007.

Final decisions for cancellations and new subscriptions will rest with Polk Library. If a department or college does not respond by April 9, Polk Library will assume that the titles proposed for cancellation can be cancelled without further departmental or college comment.

During this process, Ron Hardy and I are happy to talk with colleges, departments, the Faculty Senate and individual faculty about the Periodical Review 2007 in general or about specific titles. Please feel free to contact us.

Background

The challenges that the library’s materials budget faces are clear. Polk Library’s total materials budget was $944,978 in 2001/02 and is $888,227 for 2006/07. This represents a decline in real dollars of $56,751. In addition, based on a conservative estimate of price increases of 6% a year, the purchasing power of our materials budget has declined approximately $330,000 since 2001.

In response to these challenges, the staff of the library has worked with faculty on how best to allocate its funds to provide educational and research material. Working together, we have already cancelled less-needed print journals, reference materials, online databases and microforms. We have reduced the amount of content that the library provides in multiple formats.

To minimize the impact of the necessary cancellations of print resources, Polk Library has expanded the number of periodical and journal titles available online to 15,420. It established the Ingenta Table of Contents service that covers over 30,000 publications. This service allows you to get the current table of contents of important journals or trade publications e-mailed to you, often before they physically arrive in libraries. Now, journal articles from other libraries are routinely delivered to your computer desktop in 3 to 5 days. If necessary, the library will purchase an article and deliver it to your desktop in less than 48 hours. In addition to Interlibrary Loan for books and videos, Universal Borrowing allows you to directly checkout materials from other UW libraries.

The Library would now like to take advantage of some of the new opportunities to expand the number of high-quality, peer-reviewed journals online. For example, the library currently subscribes to Academic Search Elite. This online service provides access to 1,500 full-text, peer-reviewed journals and is heavily used. If the library can restructure its budgets in this periodical review, it could upgrade this service to provide double or triple this number of peer-reviewed journals covering a wide range of academic disciplines. The trend is for students and faculty to look for information online; in 2005/06, there were approximately 800,000 uses of the library’s online databases.

Based on the library’s best budget projections for 2007/08, the library faces a shortfall of over $125,000 in its collection budgets. This projection assumes a flat budget and a 6% to 12% increase in the cost of journals, databases, etc. The library will need to make decisions by mid-May so the changes can be implemented for 2007/08.

Guidelines for Decisions

After April 9, Polk Library will review comments and make final cancellation and addition decisions using the following guidelines. All ten guidelines below will be used for cancellation decisions. The last eight guidelines will be used for addition decisions.

· The publication has received low use in the use studies.
· The publication has a high cost per use.
· The publication is indexed in an index owned or licensed by the library.
· The publication fills an information need not covered by other titles.
· The publication is expected to support student research.
· The publication directly supports the department’s curriculum.
· The publication is available from the library online in full text or full image. See http://qh9xe5ap4v.search.serialssolutions.com/ for a list of journals that are available online.
· The publication is reasonably priced, and its publisher does not have a history of inordinate annual price increases.
· The publication is owned by another library within UW System.
· The publication is available through interlibrary loan or document delivery.

Final Decisions

Final decisions will be communicated to colleges and departments by mid-May. Cancellation decisions must be made in May so that savings will occur in the 2007/08 fiscal year.

Thank you for your cooperation and input. And I would like to repeat that Ron Hardy and I would be happy to talk with you or attend a meeting. Please feel free to contact us.

Pat Wilkinson Ron Hardy
wilkinso or 2147 hardyr or 2097

More Lovin' for the Profs

In honor of "A Day without Feminism," I bring you a throwback to a worse time. A professor at UCLA wrote an article today arguing that romance between faculty and students should not be completely banned. He claims the codes that ban such liaisons violate the "right to romance." For him, as long as the issues of status inequality and favoritism are addressed, profs and students should have the right to go at it.

Seems kind of creepy to me. Is he one of those aging professors (probably with carefully quaffed hair) out trolling for gullible undergrads? I have seen many of this type in my travels. I can't imagine giving them free reign to abuse their status and demean the profession . . .

Narcissistic College Students

As if we didn't already know this, a recent study shows that current college students are more narcissistic than ever before.

Narcissists are "are more likely to have romantic relationships that are short-lived, at risk for infidelity, lack emotional warmth, and to exhibit game-playing, dishonesty, and over-controlling and violent behaviors," according to the article.

It seems to describe many of my students too well . . . .

What is College Worth?

The NYTimes Magazine section ran an opinion piece about a college education this weekend that raises a series of questions about higher education--many of which we have talked about here:

1. Is is worth it? He argues that the fact that people pay higher and higher tuition prove its worth in the market.

2. What should a person major in? Outside of specialized courses like medicine, the author argues that college is mostly a signalling device for employers. Thus, being flexible and demonstrating the ability to excel in any course is all you need to do. One might call this the liberal arts, but the author emphasizes the elitist nature of this kind of training.

We have heard these arguments before, but it seems to be part of an oblique criticism of the idea that more people should go to college.

Is Wikipedia destroying college students' research?

The New York Times reports (reg. req.) that Middlebury college's history department has banned wikipedia in student papers.

The article raises the important point that students too often turn to the internet uncritically for information. It seems to me however, that bans are too extreme. Isn't the point to teach students to be able to critically analyze material they find on the web?

Nass goes national against wholistic admissions

The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story this week (reg. required) about Steve Nass's crusade against wholistic admissions. The article claims that UW has picked a fight with "Republican" lawmakers, but could only find Nass to talk to.

Does anyone know why Nass continues his assault on the UWs? Did he fail out and has held it against us ever since? Does he want a school in his district? Is he going to run for governor on an anti-UW platform?

The voters dumped Krebeich, with his UW-hating ways, this fall, but Nass seems to think that all this UW bashing is good politics.

How much power does he have as head of the legislative committee on higher ed?

What do your students call you?

Terry Caesar writes about how students address their college teachers over at insidehighered.com.

He discusses the various permutations over the years, institutions, individuals and job titles.

There are clearly issues of power at hand here. There are also important issues of gender in this as well.

I am ambivalent about the whole title thing myself. I avoid telling the students anything and leave them hanging. Thus, I get the whole gamut of responses, from first name, to Mr., to Prof. I think I present a very formal face to my classes and don't think much about my authority. At the same time, would a less formal introduction make the students more likely to speak up?

Do you encourage students to call you by an honorific or by your first name? What do student readers think?

$500 million from UWO to Oshkosh

The Northwestern ran a story on the consultant's report from last week about the positive financial impact that we have on Oshkosh.

Is it me, or has the Northwestern turned over a new leaf lately? It seems like the paper has consistently been running positive stories about the university in the last few months.

I am still holding a grudge over Stew's description of professors as equivalents of Jeffery Dahmers, but the editorial spirit has changed. Has Gannett changed its corporate policy?

Learn More about the COLS Dean

The schedule and CV for the first candidate are posted. I don't know if I'll have time to go, but feel free to post comments here.

Whiny Students Wanted the Day Off

I noticed that the AT complained this week that the university should have been closed on that cold Monday, February 5.

The editorial argued that it was too cold for the poor, little students. Some people, for god's sake, might have to walk outside to get to class. Others might have trouble getting their cars started. It almost made my heart break to think of the hardship.

I didn't know our students were so fragile and tender. I guess that if you are an adult and go to school you are weaker than those who had to go to work on Monday.

I have to get back to work, but first I'll wipe away my tears. . .

My opinion is better than yours!

The Chronicle is running a first-person essay this week bemoans the rise of the belief that all opinions are equal. The author begins with a story of a student who announces that he doesn't agree with Foucault before having read any of his work. The story really rings true for me in my teaching. It is always difficult to get students to come up with a reasoned "why" to justify their opinions.

The article goes on to connect this to appeals of tenure decisions and other faculty member complaints about administration.

His general argument is that reasoned and informed opinions are better than knee-jerk ones. I can't really argue with that point, but the paternalistic "I know better than you" demand that poeple just accept a greater wisdom from above seems problematic.

How can we balance the need for free-flowing discussion and engagement with the demand that opinion be grounded in logic and evidence?

Phoenix U under pressure for low quality

The NY Times ran a story today (Reg req.) about the problems faced by Phoenix University. They note that under relentless pressure to produce profits, they are busy reducing quality instruction and instructors.

This is an important story for us, in that the administration argued that we needed the Bachelors of Applied Studies in order to compete with this kind of shoddy educational experience. As the article points out, Phoenix is not accredited by the major accreditation organizations and has never even tried. They put profits before education, which suggests to me that copying them means that we would be headed down the wrong path.

As you also remember, the BAS hit so much faculty resistance for low standards that they went back to the drawing board.

This article reminds us why it is so important to resist using the for-profit model or trying to compete with Phoenix on price!

Regents set to approve 'wholistic admissions.'

The Journal-Sentinal reports today that the regents will probably be approving wholistic admissions at their meeting today. The article notes two interest facts: First, wisconsin law already prohibits making admissions decisions based on race.

Second, UW-hater Steve Nass is asking his Republican buddy, the AG, to investigate the policy. He also says he plans to sue.

As I have written before, it is hard to see how taking a broad range of factors into admissions decisions is a bad thing for us. It has been proven time and time again that success in college is not solely determined by grades and tests, so why should our admissions proceedures?

Dangerous Anonymity

A Professor at Bowling Green State U writes about his experience with IT after using an anonymity program called Tor. Someone came to his door to tell him that he was not allowed to use the program that is designed to shield his identity on line.

As an anonymous blogger, and I suppose a bit of a paranoid, I have thought about how easy it would truly be to track me down if someone really wanted to. Apparently, the network people at BGSU assumed that only a criminal would want to protect his identity through this software.

As the author is, I am troubled by the lack of real privacy there is for the internet. He insisted that it was within the purvey of academic freedom to surf the web anonymously and the IT person finally left him alone.

I wonder what the situation is like on our campus.

How closely does IT monitor our comings and goings on the internet?

How much history do they keep on web activities?

Can the chancellor just call someone up and have me outed?

Another Anonymous Academic Blogger in WI

I followed a link off of insidehighered.com this morning and came across Bardiac. As I looked at the thread about the policy toward faculty members accused of crimes, it seems likely that she is a fellow Wisconsinite.

She also criticized the background check policy.

What other state could she be in?

Although she writes on more general topics than I, it is good to find a compatriot in the dairy state.

COLS Dean Candidates

The search and screen committee announced the candidates for Dean of COLS. I was surprised to see John Koker on the list. He has often said that he was not interested in pursuing the position permanently. We'll have to see after the other candidates appear, but John seems to be doing a great job at the moment.

Any comments?

Dr. John Koker, Interim Dean, College of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Campus interview: Feb. 26-27.

Dr. Ann Marie Legreid, Interim Associate Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, University of Central Missouri. Ph.D. in Geography, University of Wisconsin Madison. Campus interview: Feb. 19-20.

Dr. James Moy, Dean, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Ph.D. in Theatre History, University of Illinois Urbana. Campus interview: March 7-8.

Dr. Jill Trainer, Associate Vice President, Office of Sponsored Programs, University of Northern Iowa. Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan. Campus interview: March 1-2.

Our Own Kevin McGee on Affirmative Action

The Northwestern Editorial page carried an article about affirmative action on Thursday. (I imagine it is part of their 'get community members to write editorials for free initiative).

In it, he argues that race is too blunt an instrument to deal with the problems of access to higher education. Instead, that category should be superceded by poverty.

He is makes a good argument, but I wonder if he is too facile in dismissing the discrimination that people of color face, no matter what their economic level. I am thinking about recent studies that have shown that women at elite colleges perform worse on tests when they are given negative cues like being told that women are worse at the project at hand.

It is these subtler means of discrimination that we need to be aware of. An economist has a desire to reduce all problems to simple economics, but discrimination goes much deeper.

Getting Rid of Textbooks

Yesterday, the Northwestern picked up on a discussion that had a short life on our list about using textbooks. The article leads with Michael Buryadi describing how he no longer uses a textbook in his classes.

The discussion on the list and in the paper mentions several others who do this. I was struck by the massive amount of effort that Buryadi put into it. I wonder if he got anything else done over break.

Textbooks are horribly overpriced, but I am not sure that converting to articles is going to solve the problem for most of my classes. Basic information is made nicely accessible in textbooks and is often not available in article format. Doing it myself seems a bit like reinventing the wheel. It is also a big investment in time that can be better spent doing research.

Chancellor Wells on the Good Budget News

Chancellor Wells sent out this message, expressing his happiness with the news stories this weekend. He adds a few details of specifics for our campus--perhaps an increase of 350 students in "high demand" majors. And, even better, no overall cut in support levels!

To: UW Oshkosh Community
From: Richard H. Wells, Chancellor
Date: January 29, 2007

Re: Governor's Budget Proposal


I have good news for you today regarding the growth agenda. In news accounts that appeared yesterday, Governor Doyle announced that his budget will provide $225 million of additional funding over the next two years for Higher Education and financial aid. The vast majority of that additional funding will be for the University of Wisconsin institutions. The additional funding will provide a significant portion of the money requested for the Wisconsin growth agenda that includes institutional initiatives to increase the number of baccalaureate degrees, workforce development, teacher training, nursing, and increased student enrollment. This represents a very positive step in the State budget process.

We in northeastern Wisconsin greatly appreciate the fact that Governor Doyle has listened to business and community leaders about the need to fund the Wisconsin growth agenda. President Reilly and the Board of Regents under the leadership of David Walsh are also to be commended for working with the Governor to highlight the need to reinvest in the UW institutions. I am also pleased to report positive initial reaction to the need for the growth agenda that I obtained in earlier conversations with members of our local and regional legislative delegation, including Senator Carol Roessler and Representative Gordon Hintz. I am quite optimistic that this part of the Governor’s budget can become a bi-partisan priority for the citizens of Wisconsin.

We at UW Oshkosh and other campuses across the System need to continue to seek the support of the broader public including community and business leaders, as well as legislators, in order to see this funding through the legislative process. Governor Doyle will provide more details of his proposal during his State of the State speech tomorrow and on February 13 during his State Budget address.

What we know so far is that there will be full funding for cost-to-continue dollars for the UW System and all UW campuses. In other words, there will be no cut in State budget support. As mentioned above, it also means substantial funding for the campus growth agendas and student financial aid. For UW Oshkosh, depending on the level of state support, this means funding additional faculty to support the growth of about 350 students over the next two years in existing high demand programs and new programs.

As a reminder, the existing funding of our growth agenda is less than what we proposed in March of last year (see my memo of March 29, 2006 http://www.uwosh.edu/chancellor/documents/growthagenda2attach_000.doc, and the related power point http://www.uwosh.edu/chancellor/documents/NEWIgrowthagendaBOR.ppt), but should be a substantial portion of the 62% of the March total that was approved by the Board of Regents in August (see August 2006 press release in the UW Oshkosh University Relations news archives http://www.uwosh.edu/news_bureau_/releases/aug06/budget.html.

I will continue to supply you with more information as it becomes available. Again, while the budget process is not complete, we are off to a good start, and there is considerable hope that support of the northeastern Wisconsin growth agenda and financial aid is forthcoming.

Cc: Governor Jim Doyle
Senator Carol Roessler
Representative Gordon Hintz
Board of Regents
UWS Administration
Foundation Board
Oshkosh Council of Advisors
Milwaukee Council of Advisors
New North Board
NEW ERA Board
Regional Media Leaders

Doyle Suggests More Money for us!

Everyone reports today that Doyle has put the "growth agenda" on his list of priorities for the new state budget.

This is good news! Instead of talking about how big the cuts will be, we can talk about how a new infusion of resources can help us recover from the past few years. Even if we don't get all the money (which seems likely) at least it will be a better conversation!

Wholistic Admissions on a national scale

The NYTimes is running a story today (reg required) about the ways universities are dealing with the bans on affirmative action that are being passed in many state.

They are doing exactly what we are doing. They remove race as official factor and replace it with socio-economic level, personal achievements, etc.

The article goes on to note that the Ward Connerlys of the world are challenging those factors as well, claiming they are just a cover for racial preferences.

I have blogged about this before, but it is an issue that will be with us for some time.

Is it really unreasonable to use something beyond grades and (biased) standardized tests to determine college admissions? I don't think so.

How Christianists try to Rewrite History

Harpers magazine has posted a long article describing the way that Christianists envision American history.

It is a scary description of the certainty of the radical fringe who want to create a theocracy here. The reporter details the bizarro history of Christianist heroes, that demonstrate that America is god's country, chosen to dominate the world and lead to the rapture.

Check it out!

The latest on bias among faculty members

The AFT commissioned a study to refute/discuss other studies that claimed left-wing bias among university faculties. It is an old, repetitive story, but it is something to post today.

Do we have a problem with 'knowledge deficits'?

It would seem that conservatives are dominating the public discussion of educational reform. I found a review of E.D. Hirsch's new book (you remember him--Cultural Literacy, etc. from a few years ago.) He argues that problems in reading are really problems in knowledge.

Students' weak reading skills are because they have no context to help dig out the meanings of texts. They can sound out all the words, but they have little understanding.

His solution would be stronger core curriculum, heavily based on facts -- the standard E.D. Hirsch argument.

This thesis would grate against a freshman "toolbox" course. If the problem is based on lack of knowledge, providing more training on 'how' to read or study won't do much good.

I am sympathetic to the argument that the knowledge that students bring to campus is incredibly thin, and they often seem uninterested in going into detail.

Think of how easy it is to get kids to pontificate on current events, based on very little information--ask them to discuss something that requires some knowledge acquistion and see how far you get!

Quality and the Annual Report

I was perusing the colorful annual report that was sent to everyone last week. I am struck by the real contradictions in what the administration says and what they are actually doing.

In particular, if you read the Provost's letter, one would get the impression that academic quality was important. He stresses four new administrative efforts to raise quality.

If you look at the statistics in the back, the situation is much bleaker. How can you have a quality institution that has 8.5% percent fewer faculty, who are being replaced by academic staff (up almost 16%)? Even this doesn't seem to cover the needs of our campus, as student faculty ratio has gotten worse by 15.8%, teaching loads have increased, sections offered have decreased while tuition and enrollment has grown.

Student quality has basically remained constant over the time period, but it is hard to see how that can continue as we drop in all the relevant teaching statistics.

Why is there no worry about the basic function of our institution in the statements from the administration? Why are we worrying about administrative initiatives when we should be filling the myriad of vacant positions and increasing the size of our faculty?

The brochure is glossy and well-produced, but the data within paints a bleak picture for the direction of our institution.

Creationist "museum" opening soon

This is off the topic for normal blog posts, but I was taken with this story. The creationists have raised $30 million to build a monument to their own refusal to accept modern science.

I imagine Sandra Gade is probably already planning her trip!

Should First Year Experience Address Gender Gap?

Insidehigher.ed has been reporting on the latest survey of student attitudes. Today, they emphasize the gender gap in the ways students perceive education. Women come to college as more serious students who are more interested in reading and learning.

The article suggests that this may partly account for the increasing percentage and success of women in college. That is an interesting conclusion in itself. It also raises the question of whether we need to work on providing different kinds of orientation based on gender. Men apparently need more handholding. Should we take heed?

Do we need a stronger core curriculum?

I just read this article by a Hoover Institute Scholar who proposes that a liberal arts education needs to be premised on a very strict core curriculum. He argues that the academy needs to recover J.S. Mill's concept of "many-sidedness" needs to be restored to the curriculum. Mill is quoted as saying the goal of university should be:

that which it is the chief of all the ends of intellectual education to qualify us for — the exercise of thought on the great interests of mankind as moral and social beings — ethics and politics, in the largest sense.

The article then presents a very conservative vision of what a core should look like, focused heavily on western history and foreign language. He blames everyone for compromising their standards, but particularly picks up the old stereotype of liberal professors indotrinating their students.

I don't necesssarily agree with his conclusions, but it does raise some very important issues.

Professor jailed for jaywalking

I like this story that showed up on insidehighered.com (the link is to the Atlanta Journal). A Tufts professor was knocked to the ground and arrested for jaywalking outside his conference. He spent 8 hours in a cell before he made bail.

You can read all the serious commentary if you like, but all I'll say is that this was an amusing news story!

Problems when a CEO runs your university

The NYTimes this morning is running a story (reg. required) about the strife at Pace University in Manhattan. He has instituted all sorts of changes that have not helped and convinced the trustees to pay him almost $700,000/year.

The theme for the article is how university presidents are becoming increasingly estranged from the faculties.

It is an interesting read, and reminds of the increasing tensions between our own chancellor and the faculty here. I shouldn't have to remind everyone about the issues that we have faced since I started this blog, but Chancellor Wells has demonstrated quite an imperial tendency himself.

The vision of the head of the university operating like a business CEO has caused great tension for academia in many ways, but most importantly, in the structure of governance. Administrations, including our own, seem to be convinced that they don't need to follow the rules of governance and should have somethign akin to absolute power over the universities.

It is a problematic trend that reaches beyond our own discussions.

How to be a 'wired' campus

I just spotted this article from PCMagazine about the top 20 wired college campuses across the country. They only polled a few schools, but you can get an idea about what the computer people think is important.

Is it really important that students are given a laptop every 2 years? Does there need to be a computer lab in every building on campus? How wireless should a campus be?

I am not sure any of it is very important. It seems to me to often be,a distraction from the real purposes of education.

Is Free Tuition Plan Dead?

The Journal Sentinal reported yesterday that our good friend Steve Nass has declared Free Tuition dead on arrival. Does this signal the death knell of the plan? As the article points out, it is not much more than a clever idea at the moment.

Insidehighered.com ran an article as well, discussing both our and Indiana's plan. They interview a few people who claim that it won't help. The most substantial criticism is that only 25% of grads leave. Thus, most of the money goes to students who would stay anyway.

I like this as the basis of conversation, however. Instead of contemplating new ways to cut, people can talk about ways to increase access and quality.

College students claim they want novelty and risk

Happy New Year everyone!

My first post of the new year is a link to a Washington Post story today (reg required) about College students' definitions of fun.


It starts with a survey from a website, where students rate their definitions of fun in a pretty standard way -- booze and sex. They then interview a philosophy professor, who describes the "sophisticated" distinctions college students make.

In the end, the author makes her own conclusions that novelty and risk are the most "fun" for students.

The Semester Has Come to an End

It seems a good time to reflect on what I have been posting about over the past few months, as so many others are going as the year comes to a close.

The big story of the semester was, of course, the visit of Kevin Barrett to campus. We had a lively exchange of views in many different forums about both his views and the appropriateness of the invitation. I was even called a McCarthyite, which was a first for me.

The Barrett Brouhaha raised many important questions, but the most signifant was the question of academic freedom. I am left with more questions than answers. Tony Palmeri and Miles Maguire insisted that academic freedom must encompass all aspects of our activities at the university. I am inclined to see it as more limited, in that it should apply to our research agendas.

The other major theme running through the semester was our student experience. The furor generated by the adminstration's announcement of a new course for first-year students led to a broad discussion. If you include our sub-par scores on NSSE and the on-going question of grade inflation, these posts dominated the semester.

Again, big questions remain. How can we transform our institution from UW-zero to one where students focus on education? Is it even possible as our classes get larger and tuition increases? Can we overcome the societal pressures that see only the diploma and an appropriate job as what we stand for?

These are both issues that we need to discuss as a campus community. I hope that this blog has helped some in that respect. My counter suggests that about 60 people a day stop by.

I enjoy the blog, so I'll keep doing it next year. Everyone enjoy their break!

State Universities Price out Poor

The New York Times today reports (reg required) on the trend among flagship public universities to attempt to raise their national stature. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of the poor. To do it, many are raising tuition and focusing on the rich kids.

UWO doesn't fit the profile, but the entire state of Wisconsin is moving in that direction. The state legislature and governor don't seem to believe that education above 12th grade is a public good that needs public support.

Read on . . .

Next Big Controversy: Affirmative Action?

The Journal-Sentinal is running a story today about the brewing battle between the UW and legislators over affirmative action.

UW system is moving toward something called "wholistic" admissions that will take into account many different features of a persons situation during admissions decisions.

Ward Connerly, a Californian opposed to any differential policies toward admissions, will testify in Madison against the policy.

My own feeling is that it would be nice if society were race and class blind and we didn't have to worry about these things. The fact is that we are not. Racism and discrimination is deeply embedded in our society and history. To pretend that is does not exist will make it worse. In order to make sure everyone has a chance, a student's circumstances must be taken into account.

On top of that, standardized testing is a piece of junk. It has been shown time and time again that it is deeply biased in favor of rich, white kids. To base admissions decisions only on numbers is to create a highly distorted student body that will not serve the public interest.

I probably should say more on this controversial topic, but it is back to grading. . . .

Tenure is almost gone

The AAUP reported this week that the percentage of tenure track faculty in the U.S. is dropping like a rock.

Here at UWO, we already have lowest ratio of tenure-track to non-tenure track teaching faculty in the system. We are leading the way toward a system of education where over paid professional administrators make the decisions to be carried out by a large number of underpaid, temporary adjuncts.

It sounds like the Walmart model!

College professors still respected by public

College Professors are not losing public respect, according to a recent gallup poll. I was surprised to see that we did so well. The results show that we are given ratings for honesty and ethics on par with the clergy (though I have to admit there is some irony in that).

The figures show that 58% of those polled rate us very high or high for our ethics. Only 7% rated us low or very low. The charts also give a bit of historical breakdown, showing that these numbers are slightly better than they were in the early 1990s.

I would have expected that with all of the bad press that we have been getting from Horowitz, Nass, and others that our ratings wouldn't have held up.

This is definitely good news for our profession and higher education in general!

Faculty Advocacy Committee criticizes Northwestern editorial

This morning's Northwestern contained a letter signed by five faculty members, who call themselves the faculty advocacy Committee. In their letter, they make a very nice argument as to why the claim that the university's sick leave policy is not at all extravagant.

I looked in my email and discovered that the Faculty Senate created this committee and is looking for more people to join in its work. Their mandate:

1. to react to criticisms that are lodged against the state University or its faculty
2. to publicize the good things that faculty do.

This sounds like a very important job for our community. We have little public voice, so this committee can only help.

Anyway, here is the letter:

UW health benefits earned, not out of line

On Dec. 1 the Northwestern ran an editorial asking state legislators to stop their unfair attacks on the University of Wisconsin. We agree that this would be a positive step.

Unfortunately, this editorial also contained its own unfair attack.

You not only suggested that the UW's sick leave program was "overly generous" but you also stated that it amounts to us having our "hand caught in the cookie jar." Sadly, this language portrays all of us at the University, from maintenance people to professors, as cheats.

We wish the paper would tone down its rhetoric too.

If University employees get decent health care coverage, it shouldn't be used to stoke public resentment against them. And it shouldn't be used as an excuse to suggest that our benefits be scaled back. If anything it should be used as a model for what hard working people should be able to expect from their jobs. These are the kind of benefits that we hope our students can get with a good college education.

There are good reasons to be allowed to convert unused sick days to health care benefits. This is why many corporations offer this very policy. They recognize that it discourages absenteeism.

The "use it or lose it" policy the paper endorsed would encourage more frequent absences. So beware of what you wish for if you really think that we are cheaters.

There are no substitute teachers at the University. When we take sick days we have to make up the work on our own time and we lose a portion of our retirement benefits. That doesn't seem like an overly generous policy to us.

James Chaudoir, Don Hones, Tom Lammers, Al Lareau, David Siemers, Stephanie Stewart UW Oshkosh Faculty Advocacy Committee

Republicans will continue to attack UW system

Steve Nass, second to none in his venom toward the UW system, was chosen by state Republicans to chair the assembly committee that oversees colleges and universities.

This is an obvious signal that Republicans will continue to try to use attacks on higher education to further their election campaigns. Nass has been one of the most irrational UW haters in the state and has been given a prominent seat to continue his nonsense.

The Republican leader of the assembly says the appointment is because UW officials "gloated" over the loss of the other UW hater, Rob Kreibich. It is good to see that there is no pettiness among the losers.

The article then has the speaker of the house say that "suggestions that one party was better for the System were ill-advised."

How could any rational person come to any other decision? Instead of seeking to work with us to improve higher education by choosing some one who is less of an anti-intellectual, he picked the most outspoken crank in Madison.

Now instead of being able to ignore this crackpot, we are all going to have to deal with his ridiculous assertions for years to come!

Free tuition for 10 years in Wisconsin

The Journal Sentinel reports this morning that a state commission is considering a proposal that would offer free tuition to UW schools in exchange for a commitment to stay in WI for 10 years after graduating.

The argument is that Ireland instituted this kind of policy and has now become the most dynamic economy in the EU.

This does seem like a fun, radical way to help higher education here, but practically I can't see it happening. Would a large number of college graduates who have promised not to leave bring us additional high quality jobs? Or would we instead be caught with a large number of underemployed, bitter young people?

I think it might be a great way to reinvigorate our state before all the manufacturing jobs slip away. What does everyone else think?