COMMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS
12/8/01
My name is James Tichenor and I am a professor of psychology here at Truman
State University.
I am proud of this University for many reasons, but one of the most important
reasons is that I have always felt that the faculty and students at this
institution were highly valued by the administration. The administration’s
respect for faculty and concern for students have been valued assets to this
institution and I believe have contributed greatly to its development into a
liberal arts and sciences institution.
However, in recent months I have seen the morale of faculty decline
dramatically. In my 30-plus years at Truman, I have never seen faculty morale as
low as it is now.
I believe that this administration has made a well-intentioned attempt to
address concerns about the summer session, but the process and impact of their
decision is problematic to many faculty. The current summer session proposal has
alienated a much too large component of this university community. All decisions
displease some, but this proposal has generated more antipathy and distrust of
the administration among diverse faculty than any issue in my tenure at this
institution.
It seems to me to be at a very high cost to both students and faculty morale
and a high cost to the positive regard for this administration and university to
continue to pursue this summer session proposal. The reasons for this particular
summer session change proposal have never been clearly identified or
communicated to faculty and, in my opinion, any potential benefits of changes
are far outweighed by the negative impact of these changes on a large segment of
the faculty. This institution and its students cannot afford to alienate such a
large component of the faculty.
It just does not seem reasonable to pursue a course of action with such broad
negative consequences in faculty morale and thus teaching effectiveness when the
rationale for this action is unclear and the immediacy of this action is
unnecessary.
There are many arguments and alternative propositions as to why the summer
session enrollment has declined, e.g., from economic conditions in our society
to the possibility that enrollment may have decreased precisely because some
divisions have already gone to an eight-week session. The problem is that we do
not yet have the data to delineate an informed course of action in regard to the
summer session. The preliminary data that have been collected suggest that the
eight-week format is not a good idea from the student’s perspective and they
would not enroll in an 8-week session as readily as a five-week session. A
liberal arts and sciences institution should practice what it teaches its
students, that is, to keep an open mind and encourage free discussion of issues.
I would like to urge the president and vice president, as well as the board,
to reconsider the current summer session proposal. We are simply asking that the
current proposal be placed on hold for one year to allow an opportunity for data
to be collected and a more reasoned deliberative process occur on this campus to
be as certain as we can that any changes will be in the best broad interests of
this institution.
The simple postponement of these specific changes in the summer session will
demonstrate the administration’s respect for faculty and begin to restore
faculty confidence in the administration as well as help insure a true liberal
arts and sciences environment at Truman State University.
From my long-standing observation of this institution, spanning over 30
years, the postponement of the summer session changes appears to me to be very
small price to pay for such far-reaching benefits to this institution.
Thank you for your time and attention.