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President voices support for liberal arts, welcomes student input |
| By
Jim Winkler |
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May 12, 2008
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President Lloyd Jacobs told students attending the May 6 town hall meeting that he was delighted they were there to voice their concerns about the quality of education at UT, despite several contentious questions.
He noted to the approximately 12 students who turned out for the forum that education is “the single most important pathway to fulfillment, prosperity, good health and longevity.”
“Your input is very important,” he said. “Your concern about your education is very important. It is not inappropriate, and I’m delighted to receive it.”
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| Leah Mullen, a sophomore majoring in geography, asked President Lloyd Jacobs a question at last week's town hall meeting. |
Jacobs emphatically assured faculty members and students that he is firmly committed to strong liberal arts, humanities, social sciences and performing arts programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I have no intention of eliminating, decimating or getting rid of any of the arts, performing arts, visual arts, political science, social sciences or any of them,” the UT president stressed during a town hall meeting on the Health Science Campus attended by some 125 faculty and staff members and students. “I have not espoused that. I don’t intend that.”
Jacobs said if he wanted to weaken the college, he could underfund its programs, but he has no plans for doing that and asked faculty members and students to closely watch the University’s budget process for the 2008-09 academic year to see his support. Senior administrators, Faculty Senate Executive Committee members and college deans met Thursday to review preliminary proposals for the upcoming academic year budget.
Jacobs’ remarks came after a dozen students gathered before the meeting to protest proposed department mergers and curricular changes in the University’s largest college. The students, who were interviewed by several print and television reporters about their concerns, carried signs reading, “Don’t allow the curtain to fall on UT theatre,” “English is not a foreign language,’’ and “We want a well-rounded education.”
Meg Sciarini, an art and film student, said she was worried that merging departments would lead to cuts in faculty, while Evan Morrison, a junior majoring in history, said that students were not happy and wanted to establish a dialogue with the president.
Jacobs said he is keenly aware of the importance of striking a balance between the humanities, the arts and the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics at a time when the rapid expansion of the latter, driven in large part by state funding, threatens to make the rest of the disciplines feel left behind.
Proposals for merging departments “have not been finalized,” he underscored, adding that he and other administrators welcomed faculty and student recommendations and feedback. The proposed changes include combining Sociology and Economics, English and Foreign Languages, and Philosophy and History.
He explained that the central theme of his community address in April, when he unveiled his proposal to retool undergraduate education at UT, was the need for faculty and staff to see the University “through the eyes of the students,” which reflected his philosophy of “extreme student centeredness.”
He cited the University’s freeze on tuition during the last two years and efforts to develop more student-related shops and eateries along Dorr Street as examples of UT’s new student-centered philosophy.
The newly renovated Memorial Field House will have 54 classrooms where many liberal arts and social science courses will be held, and the building will house many College of Arts and Sciences faculty offices, he said. The $30 million renovation is being financed entirely with institutional funds.
UT’s arts and humanities programs also have been strengthened by the arrival of new faculty members. Of 18 new faculty members who recently joined the University, 10 professors and one instructor are in the College of Arts and Sciences.
In response to a question about the resolution passed last month by UT’s Arts and Sciences Council saying it has “no confidence” in the leadership of College of Arts and Sciences Dean Y.T. Lee, Jacobs said he was concerned, but that the vote was “one input of data, not the entire picture.”
The Board of Trustees has the ultimate authority over the University personnel matters and delegates much of its decision-making power to the president, and thence to provosts and other senior administrators who get feedback from many sources before making decisions, he explained. Main Campus Provost Rosemary Haggett is gathering more information, he said.
Dr. Lee Woldenberg, professor and chairman of radiology, said the arts helps produce better engineers, better scientists and better physicians, and urged students to register their protests with state legislators to make sure they provide enough money to fund humanities programs at state universities.
Addressing the issue of deferred maintenance that has been mounting for years, Jacobs told a student who complained about leaks and other problems in the Center for Performing Arts that his administration inherited a backlog of maintenance problems and that “a lot of people are working very hard to get and stay ahead of maintenance problems.”
“We are way behind and have real problems,” the president said, “but please don’t assume bad intentions or negligence on our part.” The University recently spent $100,000 to fix leaks and spruce up the facility.
About 25 roofs have been replaced or repaired in the last two years, and the University will continue “to fix roofs as quickly as possible,” he added. He said he has spoken to Gov. Ted Strickland about the problem.
Jacobs said Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, will visit UT in the future to get an update on University initiatives.
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