[Vision2020] Statesman weighs in on ISU

[Joe Campbell]

Great advice! Maybe they should just shut up and stick to the news!

On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Ron Force <rforce2003 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> February 22, 2011 Our View: Memo to ISU faculty: Just shut up and teach  - Idaho
> Statesman Seventy-six percent of Idaho State University’s faculty senators
> have a problem with Arthur Vailas. Earlier this month, they cast a
> no-confidence vote and urged their embattled president to step down.
>
> And 100 percent of State Board of Education members have a problem with the
> ISU faculty Senate. On Thursday, the board voted unanimously to disband the
> Senate — at Vailas’ urging.
>
> Well, that’s one way to try to make a crisis disappear. Who needs allies on
> campus when you have a compliant State Board in your pocket?
>
> The message, for faculty and staff at ISU and other campuses, could hardly
> be more clear. If you have a complaint or a criticism, the State Board
> doesn’t want to hear from you or help solve problems.
>
> Of course, that’s not how the board spins it. “The impasse between the
> leadership of the senate group and the administration has reached a point
> where the prospect of any kind of progress was simply non-existent,” board
> President Richard Westerberg said. “It’s time to start over.”
>
> Starting over? Sure. But only after the board made sure to give Vailas all
> the leverage, and marginalize his faculty critics.
>
> Oh, there will still be a place for the faculty to have a say. Just on
> Vailas’ terms. The board ordered Vailas to set up an interim advisory
> structure and come back in April and propose what the board calls a
> “reconstituted faculty Senate and a new faculty governance model.”
>
> How’s that for even-handed?
>
> It’s remarkable that the State Board chose to choose sides, especially at
> this advanced stage of unrest.
>
> Vailas has been on the job since 2006, providing ample time for tensions to
> degenerate into grudges. The problems aren’t likely to just go away. It’s
> naive for the State Board to act as if that’s even a possibility.
>
> Faculty members have aired some serious issues that warrant more active
> attention from the State Board — including complaints of closed-door budget
> decisions and high staff turnover.
>
> These concerns should resonate under any circumstances — and especially
> during a funding crisis that requires university leaders to make tough
> budget decisions, explain policy publicly and clearly and get and keep
> buy-in from key faculty and staff.
>
> “Sometimes we have to stand up and make our voices heard,” said ISU Faculty
> Senate chairman Phil Cole, according to the Associated Press. “The internal
> strife at ISU is killing ISU.”
>
> Turns out Cole was worried over nothing. The State Board of Education has a
> foolproof plan for handling “internal strife.” Just tell all the naysayers
> to shut up.
> “Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an
> unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial
> board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, e-mail
> editorial at idahostatesman.com.
>
>
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