[Vision2020] ISU could see serious ramifications

[Kenneth Marcy]

Idaho State Journal --  Pocatello, Idaho

Posted: Saturday, March 19, 2011 8:23 pm

ISU could see serious ramifications from national group’s investigation

    Idaho State University Faculty Senate Chair Phil Cole says an 
investigation by a national group of professors and academics into the 
decision to suspend the Faculty Senate could have serious ramifications for 
ISU.

    Cole says the worst-case scenario is that ISU would be sanctioned by the 
American Association of University Professors, which is investigating the 
Idaho State Board of Education’s Feb. 17 suspension of the senate.

    The State Board made the decision at the recommendation of ISU President 
Arthur Vailas, who offered the solution as a way to resolve the long-running 
dispute between the university’s administration and faculty. The suspension 
came one week after ISU faculty had given Vailas a resounding vote of no 
confidence — the third faculty vote against his administration in less than a 
year.

    The AAUP investigation could lead to ISU being censured, which could 
hamper the university's ability to attract quality professors.

    But Cole says of far greater concern is the possibility that the AAUP, 
which has about 47,000 members around the country, would add ISU to the list 
of institutions it has sanctioned.

    “Being on the sanctioned list is much worse than being on the censured 
list,” Cole says. “This is serious business.”

    Making the AAUP’s “censured” list means the group feels a university is 
not following principles of academic freedom and tenure.

    Sixty of the nation’s roughly 4,600 post-secondary colleges and 
universities are on the AAUP’s censured list. Only four are on its 
“sanctioned” list, which includes institutions the AAUP feels have seriously 
departed from generally accepted standards of governance endorsed by the 
association.

    The censured list serves in part as a warning to professors around the 
nation that the administration of that university is violating these 
principles, which could affect the quality of faculty that institution can 
attract.

    But Cole says being on the sanctioned list is a warning to employers that 
the degrees issued by that university are suspect.

    Being on that list is a red flag to employers, academia and the public that 
“there is a fundamental flaw in a university and it could collapse,” Cole says. 
“It would be a disaster for ISU because it would say, ‘Really watch out for an 
ISU degree; it doesn’t mean much.’”

    AAUP representative Greg Scholtz told the Journal that an investigation 
the group has launched into the ISU situation will lead to a report being 
issued before the group’s annual conference in early June. If the report 
recommends ISU be sanctioned, delegates at the conference would vote on that 
proposal.


More on the story at the following link(s):

http://www.journalnet.com/news/local/article_18e531da-5299-11e0-
b48f-001cc4c03286.html

OR

http://tinyurl.com/48w36k3 


Ken