While other, more obviously important things have been going on (the presidential election, Hurricane Sandy, the bizarre twists and turns of the Petraeus Affair — now with extra-added shirtless FBI agents, glamorous twins and shattered political daydreams), two sides have been fighting for the future of this University. I think the administration wants to remake the University into a more corporate university, along the lines of the University of Phoenix: more part-time faculty, bigger class-sizes, more online classes, higher enrollments and higher tuition.
The faculty are fighting for a different vision: a University where your education matters most — not because it is a product that (with the right packaging) can be sold in the marketplace at a very high price, but because of the impact it can have on your life.
The course of the corporate university is clear: it ends in the smoking ruin of the Phoenix, without any magical resurrection — the end of this University as a responsible institution of education and a benefit to the community.
The steps the University has already taken along this road have caused our rankings to slide steadily downward in recent years: demoralizing faculty, increasing class sizes and raising tuition turn out not to be good for your academic standing.
Why would administrators pursue this path, so obviously destructive to the University?
Maybe they don’t expect to be here to deal with the consequences.
Top tier administrators are like football coaches. Not in their rate of pay, of course; that would be crazy. But they tend to move on to a new high-paying assignment after a few years.
Faculty who have made their careers here, students who’ve taken degrees here, families that have sacrificed a lot to send their children here might have a different idea about what makes this University great and what can make it better.
We’re not moving along; we have a permanent connection to this place, this University. Maybe it’s time to stop the revolving door for our top administrative posts and pick leaders for this University who are of this University.
The BGSU Faculty Association is part of the fight against the failed corporate model of the University … but only a part.
Not all the relevant issues can be settled in the contract negotiations that the administration has stalled and evaded for so long.
Students and families have to speak out for the kind of university they want; the kind of university they need.
Fight for your falcon.
You don’t want to wake up one day and find it’s just a phoenix — an imaginary bird with an all too real price tag.
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