tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post1650762377642010395..comments2023-08-25T05:18:29.312-06:00Comments on Madville Times: University Mission: Seek Niche... or Explore Universe?caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-48582064091026889362009-10-10T11:01:48.607-06:002009-10-10T11:01:48.607-06:00Each university has its own strengths. Closing any...Each university has its own strengths. Closing any of them would be a poor decision.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09957426938649195979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-72814030519880895712009-10-10T10:52:55.333-06:002009-10-10T10:52:55.333-06:00Northern is an example of what happens to educatio...Northern is an example of what happens to education by cost accounting. The bean counters came and ruled. <br /><br />The situation at NSU was created by a combination of administrative disasters. The first is that the Regental appointments are so shamelessly political. A few token regents have associations with higher education, but most have no experience or knowledge of the processes of higher learning. The second is that the regents appoint presidents on the basis of who will carry out their predetermined policies, not define and institute measures that will build the university. And the third factor is a strange animosity directed toward Northern by its sister institutions for which I have never been able to determine the reasons.<br /><br />After the mid-1980s, Northern had a series of presidents obviously chosen for their willingness to curtail programs rather than find ways to continue established ones and build new ones. While faculty over the last two decades have identified and pointed out the dangers of limited programs, the faculty is stringently ignored. Governance is centered in the Regents' office. <br /><br />Northern has operated under instructions to find its "niche" or "center of excellence" and whatever the current slogan is, but these efforts have all been the cover under which a comprehensive program has been systematically reduced. The result has been a diminishing of the arts and sciences to a level that barely meets the minimum for the granting of accredited degrees. The academic standards have slipped to the point that students have left because courses in the arts and sciences have not covered materials that they already had in high school. Faculty who have pointed this out have been systematically eliminated.<br /><br />One recent president had his Ph.D. in higher education marketing, and his tenure was marked by slick advertising and sloganeering and a steady decline in enrollments. <br /><br />Northern has a notable basketball program which it features, but demonstrates how disconnected athletics has become from academics. Its previous strengths were education and music with strong supporting programs. A symptom of decline is that Northern cannot sustain student publications commensurate with a college and its sister institutions have created noteworthy programs. <br /><br />In the past five presidential searches, I either served in some capacity in the searches or have had close associates who did, and candidates with strong academic credentials and records of performance were systematically eliminated by the Regents' agents on the search committees. It is almost as if the regents were building a history that will provide reasons for eventual elimination of the campus. <br /><br />When I was director of the Dakota Writing Project, it was a program begun by Northern, Dakota State, and Black Hills State. When USD and SDSU finally became part of it, we found that USD, in particular, was more interested in taking charge than in participating. The constant back-biting and under-cutting made it near impossible to administer a decent program. Eventually it devolved into a smarmy, self-promoting little clique which provided neither its fellows or the state education systems with the resources that it originally provided. <br /><br />Another problem is that Northern has allowed itself to be identified as a place that operates on a certain political ideology. SDSU had this problem a few years back, and there is quite a contrast between the way SDSU dealt with the matter and how NSU deals with it. It demonstrates how political considerations filter down and control a campus. <br /><br />I have made other comments at <br />https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5371904020164697258&postID=3907780839838726721<br /><br />Even when students protest any attempts at providing academic rigor, they still want degrees from institutions that have sound academic reputations. Northern's problems have been two decades in the building. And they are essentially academic in nature. -+David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.com