ACTA's Must-Reads
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The father of Constitution Day
Absent from many obituaries about Robert C. Byrd, the longest serving member in the history of Congress, is the Senator's commitment to the teaching and promotion of American history. Senator Byrd, who always carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket, was responsible for the 2004 law establishing Constitution Day and requiring educational institutions receiving federal aid to teach students about the Constitution on the anniversary of its signing, Sept. 17.
In 2001, he had introduced legislation that lead to the creation of "Teaching American History" grants designed to improve the teaching of American history in public schools. And the year before, at ACTA's request, he, along with other Senators, submitted a resolution "expressing the sense of Congress regarding the importance and value of education in United States history," which cites and builds off our report on civic illiteracy, Losing America's Memory.
As we prepare to celebrate the Declaration of Independence which anchors our Constitution, we are grateful indeed for Senator Byrd's long-time commitment to American history.
Posted by David Azerrad on June 29, 2010 at 04:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
CLS v. Martinez: What now for student groups, trustees, and alumni support?
If student organizations are not allowed to have a coherent set of beliefs, can there in fact be intellectual diversity? That and other questions come to mind in the wake of the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, which found that colleges and universities can refuse to recognize student groups that exclude from membership those who do not share the group's foundational political or religious beliefs. As the majority sees it, the ruling declares that student groups may not make biased decisions about membership. As the minority sees it, in a passionate dissent written by Justice Samuel Alito, the decision means "no freedom for expression that offends prevailing standards of political correctness in our country's institutions of higher learning."
In the days ahead, there will surely be wide-ranging discussion--as there should be--about the court's finding. Already some groups are praising the decision, while others see it as an irrevocable blow to the diverse intellectual vitality of student groups. In the meantime, what should trustees do? And what about student groups themselves?
For trustees overseeing administrators, the answer is: "go slow." The decision is limited on the facts to the "all comers" policy at Hastings, which, by way of example, means that College Democrats must allow Republican students to be elected as officers. That decision is now on remand while the lower court determines whether Hastings in fact discriminates against religious groups in its enforcement of the policy. Under the Court's ruling, schools can--but are not required--to apply the "all comers" rule to student groups. And the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has suggested that schools can adopt alternative policies that balance free association and equal opportunity.
For student groups, the answer is: "be informed." When a college or university denies recognition to a student group, there are serious consequences. Groups lose the benefits of recognition--such as the ability to use the university's name and imprimatur, the right to use campus facilities for meetings and events, and, in some cases, the receipt of funding through student fees. The majority opinion acknowledges that unrecognized student groups are at a disadvantage, invoking social media such as Twitter and Facebook as alternative ways student groups might spread their message. Such options, FIRE rightly suggests, fail to compensate for the lack of official institutional recognition.
In this context, it's worth nothing that another avenue is available to student groups: Alumni support. For example, when Harvard refused to allow ROTC on campus, alumni created a special fund to support students' travel to and from ROTC training at MIT. ACTA's Fund for Academic Renewal gives alumni a potential vehicle for supporting worthy groups on campus. For further information, contact info@goacta.org.
Posted by Anne D. Neal on June 29, 2010 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Kudos to CUNY!
What happens when a strong chancellor and a strong board pursue innovative efforts together? Students succeed! That is indeed the news coming out of the City University of New York, where, as Inside Higher Ed reports today, CUNY's Accelerated Study in Associate Program has surpassed its goal of graduating at least half of its initial 1,000 student cohort in three years. This associate program is serving as a model for a unique CUNY community college initiative due to be launched in 2012--and featured in ACTA's most recent Essay in Perspective--offering community college students a core curriculum, full time class schedule, and intensive advising. This, and an impressive freshman first-year experience program at Catholic University, were the focal points of ACTA's panel, "Want Fries With That?", at the EPI Retention conference this month in Chicago, where we argued that student learning outcomes and student retention cannot be viewed in isolation. Kudos to CUNY!
Posted by Anne D. Neal on June 23, 2010 at 04:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It's contagious!
Solid curricula contribute to student success. That has been ACTA's message for some time, and it's catching on. At a conference this morning at the New America Foundation, Stan Jones (president of Complete College America), Jamie Merisotis (president of the Lumina Foundation), and others drilled down on the unacceptably low graduation rates in community and four-year colleges and how student achievement and timely graduation can be enhanced through sound curricula that direct students' choices in positive ways. Evidence increasingly shows that the "do it yourself" curricula on campuses across the country -- seen clearly on ACTA's college-guide website, WhatWillTheyLearn.com -- are contributing to high dropout rates and leaving students without the skills and knowledge they will need for success after graduation. One especially promising experiment is underway at the City University of New York -- as Stan noted -- and it is showcased in our latest essay for trustees across the country. The potential cost savings offered by focused curricula in these tough economic times will also be covered in our next trustee guide, due out next month. Stay tuned!
Posted by Anne D. Neal on June 18, 2010 at 11:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Not a parody
Stanley Ikenberry, who returned to his old job as president of the University of Illinois when when institution found itself between presidents due to a scandal over politically influenced admissions decisions, has called off a plan by the university to honor him with a $100,000 statue, the Chicago Tribune reported. While plans for the statue were set and an artist has been selected, but when the Tribune started looking into the statue, he killed the project. The university is facing deep budget cuts and a spokesman said that Ikenberry "didn't want to generate any ill will toward the university or put the university in an embarrassing situation."
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 18, 2010 at 08:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Keystone State...or the innovation state?
There's change afoot in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, as it copes with budget woes. According to Bill Schackner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
State System leaders, meanwhile, say they intend to encourage more of the system's 117,000 students to enroll in collaborative degree programs that would rely on courses and instructors based on more than one university.Leaders entered Monday's meeting with plans to develop a number of "shared programs" in foreign languages and in physics. The programs potentially would use software that enables distance learning.
Kenn Marshall, a State System spokesman, could not elaborate on the planned collaborations across the system, but on Monday word about one of them emerged: a bachelor of arts in physics to be offered jointly by Clarion, Edinboro, Mansfield, and California University of Pennsylvania.
Details are being worked out, "but the assumption is faculty members have different areas of expertise, so if someone is an expert in, say, applied physics, that person would bring that strength to the table and teach that," said Angela Burrows, a spokeswoman for California University.
Burrows said the fact that professors could be more than 100 miles away from some of the students they teach would not harm the program. She said the program would continue to attract students because of its quality and tuition rates that are below that of other public or private campuses in the state.
"Their curriculum needs will be met, even if they are not met physically on any given campus," she said.
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 16, 2010 at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Avalanche!
ACTA friend Mark Bauerlein, along with a host of co-authors, has a provocative piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled "We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research." The basic gist is that there are too academic publications these days that are cited by no one and contribute less to knowledge than to overburdened reviewers' and researchers' workloads -- and to a decrease in quality. The authors suggest limiting the number of papers candidates can submit, giving greater weight to the impact of articles (or at least the extent to which they are cited by others), and limiting length. Their criticisms and prescriptions are well worth reading.
Of note, though, they conclude as follows:
Best of all, our suggested changes would allow academe to revert to its proper focus on quality research and rededicate itself to the sober pursuit of knowledge. And it would end the dispiriting paper chase that turns fledgling inquirers into careerists and established figures into overburdened grouches.
This is fair enough, and would certainly be an upgrade from the status quo. But the thought comes to mind that if Mark and his merry band are right, the best outgrowth might not be a greater focus on quality research but on excellent teaching. After all, one important reason faculty members often have little incentive to prioritize their teaching is that their careers depend on cranking out lots of publications, not making sure their students are actually learning something. If a different set of incentives resulted in graduates who know more -- well, what could be better?
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 16, 2010 at 10:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Foreign languages, Arkansas, and America's future
Largely forgotten but for its title, the 1958 novel, The Ugly American, vividly depicted, among other gaffes, the diplomatic and military consequences of ignorance of foreign languages. The ineffective overseas diplomats in the novel are not even aware that their inability to comprehend the language is a weakness. Our need to do better in foreign language instruction has not gone away. This century has notably seen a new term -- "critical need language" -- rise to crucial importance in national security. Moreover, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills reports in its study, Are They Really Ready to Work?, that over 60% of the employers surveyed see knowledge of foreign languages as "increasing in importance" more than any other basic skill. In a globalized economy and an increasingly diverse America, gaining at least intermediate level of skills in a second language is an imperative for undergraduate education.
Hence ACTA's profound concern about the plans, currently underway at the University of Arkansas, to eliminate the foreign language requirement and instead let individual departments decide whether to make the study of foreign language a requirement for their majors. This is the moment that tests academic leadership: the vision of a great institution would transcend departmental goals to ensure that undergraduates are prepared for 21st century America and the global competition they will face. Senator Fulbright would have winced at the contemporary witticism, "if you speak three languages, you're trilingual; if you speak two, you're bilingual; and if you only speak one language, you're American." That the college that bears his name now wants to be part of the problem by dropping the language requirement is tragic indeed.
Posted by Michael Poliakoff on June 15, 2010 at 04:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Rigor at Bard
Our friends at the National Association of Scholars have published a new report on freshmen reading programs. According to their analysis, virtually none of these programs assign classic texts -- and many assign books that, whether new or old, require precious little from students intellectually. One exception, though, is Bard College, whose president, Leon Botstein, has an excellent essay over at Minding the Campus today. Do take a look.
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 10, 2010 at 05:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The public interest in Connecticut
ACTA has been following for several weeks a controversy involving the Connecticut State University System. The gist is that on October 1 of last year, the system's chancellor received authority to "non-continue" any president of the system's four campuses with the prior concurrence only of the board chairman. Under the policy change, only after the chancellor has notified the campus president and then the board's executive committee of his intentions does the full board get a chance, at its next meeting, to overturn the decision by a majority vote. According to the minutes of the executive committee meeting in question, "only Executive Committee approval of the revision was required." Minutes of the next meeting of the full board indicate that the chairman "wished to share with the Board that the Executive Committee...approved a revision to Article 10.2 of the Human Resources Policies for the Chancellor and Presidents (noting that a CD containing an updated copy of those polices was in each Board member's folder)" but record no vote.
As Inside Higher Ed reported in April, CSU System chancellor David G. Carter promptly used this new authority to "non-continue" the president of Southern Connecticut State University, Cheryl Norton, in November of last year. But the full board never voted on the issue because -- according to a public records request and reporting by the Connecticut Mirror -- Norton signed a separation agreement on December 9, one day before the next board meeting. Carter went on to appoint an interim president from outside the institution -- a move many faculty members oppose, according to testimony at a recent legislative hearing -- and under the terms of the separation agreement, both Norton and the interim president will receive full salaries for a year.
Numerous voices have weighed in already on this dispute. The local AAUP leaders are understandably upset, and our friends at FIRE have rightly noted the due-process issues raised by Norton's "non-continuation." From ACTA's perspective, though, the main issue here is something a bit broader: the public interest.
This is clearly a moment when the CSU System Board of Trustees has not only an opportunity to do its job -- which includes asking tough questions and ensuring transparency -- but an obligation to show the legislature (which is quite concerned) and ultimately the taxpayers of Connecticut that it is, to quote from its own website, "oversee[ing] the universities and...guid[ing] them in effectively serving the public." That's what the public is, well, trusting these trustees to do.
In that vein, we are pleased to see the board has called a special meeting for June 14 to discuss the matter. We urge the trustees to hold a full and public discussion and to do their best to ensure the students, parents, and taxpayers of Connecticut are being well served by their state university system.
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 09, 2010 at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Pretty lousy in Louisiana
Oil, not higher education, is what has the nation's eyes focused on Louisiana right now. But the news today that the state's commissioner of higher education is resigning merits attention. Why? Just peruse last month's reporting by the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans. It's amazing:
When Sally Clausen made the abrupt decision to retire as commissioner of higher education last August, she kept it quiet from the 16-member governing board that hired her a year earlier for the $425,000 a year position.And when Clausen was rehired to the same job after spending one weekday as an official state retiree -- getting a substantial lump-sum payment in the process -- the move again was made without consultation with members of the board appointed by the governor to coordinate policy for the state's 19 public colleges, universities and professional schools.
Instead, the maneuver was revealed only to a small circle of Clausen's subordinates, according to e-mail messages and other documents obtained by The Times-Picayune through a public records request.
The records also show that while Clausen plans to sharply reduce her salary in the upcoming fiscal year in response to the state's budget woes, her compensation in the current fiscal year has actually increased as a result of the retirement.
Ouch.
When ACTA testified before the Louisiana Postsecondary Education Review Commission last December, we urged the commissioners to review administrative spending closely. But even we didn't see this one coming.
How do you say "wake-up call" in French?
Posted by Charles Mitchell on June 08, 2010 at 03:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Can basketball help stop grade inflation?
Since certain universities seem more concerned with their athletic programs than what goes on in the classroom, it makes sense for concerned academics to speak their language.
Last month, we pointed out Stuart Rojstaczer's Sweet Sixteen of non-grade-inflating colleges and universities. Now economist Eli Dourado is offering a novel solution to rampant grade inflation: make grading work like the RPI index used in college basketball, where schools are ranked not just by whether they win or lose, but by whether or not their wins were against tough opponents. Under his scheme, students who do well in difficult classes would get more credit than those electing to take creampuffs.
We're not certain that this is the best solution, but it's the kind of creative thinking that can't hurt. Now that the average GPA at private schools has reached 3.3 (it's 3.0 at publics), there clearly are major changes needed. And trustees have a key role to play in addressing the problem, as we outline in our guide on grade inflation. In the meantime, who knows? If Dourado's idea catches on, with a little luck someday ESPN might start covering math exams.
Posted by Eric Markley on June 04, 2010 at 02:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack