Get Off The Stage

The hammer came down on the Social Work program this week. Four tenured faculty members were "reassigned" and an associate professor appointed as the new, permanent program director. To judge from the discussion on the News-Leader's online forums (which has been extensively edited at least once), the controversy is far from over. Obviously the University is going to take a huge salary hit, as will the overall reputation of the University faculty: we'll all be regarded as asshats and looters now. On the other hand, I don't see anything else the Administration and the interim director could have done. The Social Work program's fabled toxicity had been festering well before the changing of the guard at 901 South National. A quick, painless, surgical fix was out of the question. As best I can tell, the next best option was cutting the program's losses and moving the project forward, and that is what the University did.

The hammer also apparently came down on the Academic Development Center this week. In her Spring Semester update to faculty and staff, the Provost included among positions "reorganized, with a savings of 50% or more" the Director of the Academic Development Center. If I have interpreted the handwriting on the wall correctly, the Director has returned to the Education faculty, where I wish him the very best. It also means that the University is serious about developing a Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning. It will be interesting to see how a director is selected: there doesn't seem to be time for a nationwide search, which means the lucky person is already here at 901 South National. How I hope it's not a looter and/or an asshat; I'd hate to keep saying that the language they constantly prate says nothing to me about my life.