Keeping you up-to-date: A&S council meeting

Editor's Note: The following article is based on the July 16 meeting of the University of Toledo Arts and Sciences Council. The meeting was informal and open to the public. The contents of this article reflect the thoughts and opinions that were expressed at the meeting — and those sentiments only. This is in an effort, on part of the Independent Collegian, to keep our readers informed on developments on campus.

The University of Toledo Arts and Sciences Council met for an informal meeting on July 16 to discuss the Committee on Strategic Organization's final proposal to change the academic organization structure of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The ASC also discussed a proposal for the administrative organization of the CAS made by the departmental chairs within the CAS. The plan centered on a system of associate deans — academic associate deans that are concerned with academic aspects of administration and "new" associate deans that are charged with dealing with issues of resources.

The meeting was based on comparing the 12-person committee's plan with the department chairs' proposal and allowed faculty members and students to address the issue in an open forum.

The CSO's proposed plan administers the CAS under one over-arching college, splitting the CAS into three colleges, including the College of Science and Sustainability, the College for the Study of the Human Condition and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

In June, UT President Lloyd Jacobs asked the CSO to develop "an organizational structure appropriate for the 21st Century."

The plan has been met with opposition from faculty members, particularly those in attendance at the July 16 ASC meeting.

Donald Stierman, associate professor of geophysics, said his differences concerning the plan are not so much about organizational structure as much as they are on the administration's failure to allocate authority, resources and responsibility.

"Just putting more bureaucrats in that line is not going to make any difference, unless there are some fundamental changes above us on how decision-making is permitted down here in the trenches," Stierman said.

Chair of the Arts and Science Council and associate professor of French Linda Rouillard said the CSO's plan, which is based on a definition of sustainability focused on social justice, violates its own mission because it adds extra layers of administration and does not address the financial situation of part-time instructors.

"I think the committee on strategic reorganization's plan adds layers of expensive administration and bureaucracy at the cost of the students who are going to pay for this and at the cost of the part-time instructors who represent an exploited class at this campus," Rouillard said.

Gerard Thompson, associate chair of the Department of Mathematics, said he doesn't think the university will be able to handle all the crises that each individual department faces if the administration follows through with the CSO's plan.

"We should not be subsumed in a larger school," Thompson said. "When running a mathematics department is already an enormous task, if we are put into a school, then that is only going to complicate the issue."

Discussion at the meeting turned to addressing the level of student-centeredness in the CSO proposal.

Mike Dowd, chair of the Department of Economics, said he worries students will be left behind if the CSO plan is enacted.

"[The CSO] moved around the boxes based on what they perceived to be faculty research interests. That's fine, if that's their goal. The idea is that we have departments because it is focused on students. They're not focused on research primarily; they're focused on curriculum and instruction. And when you look at this proposal from the committee on strategic reorganization, there's no talk of students," Dowd said.

David Wilson, professor of political science, said he feels, with the reorganization plan, the administration has lost sight of the university's mission, which he says is to provide students with the best possible education.

"If we keep in mind that our main goal is to provide the best possible education for our students, that immediately directs our attention to what is really essential in the educational process, which is having an adequate number of well-educated faculty operating in departments who can develop good, intelligent curricula for teaching those students, working and reaching out to students as much as we can," Wilson said.

Ken Evans, a senior majoring in political science, said he is concerned with the effect the proposed changes will have on the role of faculty at UT.

"What these changes worry me about is that I feel as if it breaks down that fundamental structure that makes the fundamental unit of the university as a faculty member and [the CSO's plan] takes it away," Evans said.

Faculty members also discussed their concerns with the ability of the CSO's plan to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among departments and colleges.

Many faculty members said there is already a great deal of interdisciplinary work at UT, but there is a need for an administrative structure that can better facilitate research and instructional collaboration across disciplines.

One of the components of the alternative plan involves creating an office for an associate dean of integrative endeavor.

According to Sara Lundquist, chair of the English department, this dean would be a useful resource for the CAS to have and would serve as a central office to help faculty "iron out" workload issues across disciplines.

This proposed alternative plan was designed to offer "significant advantages over the CSO proposal with respect to the College of Arts and Sciences."

Near the end of the meeting, Dean of the CAS Nina McClelland addressed the faculty's concerns over Jacobs' willingness to heed to the ASC's proposal for the restructuring of the CAS.

"There is only discussion and a plea from the president for your ideas. This is not a closed issue. He is willing to accept alternate proposals. He is willing to consider any other opinions or proposals that you may wish to take to him," McClelland said.