CSU Faculty Voice: Has the CSU administration heard of the First Amendment?

Friday, April 6, 2012

Has the CSU administration heard of the First Amendment?

So imagine my surprise that while reading The Ticker from the Chronicle of Higher Education, a short blurb was posted about CSU’s new communications policy. It seems to me that the policy may already have failed as a faculty member was quoted in the article cited in The Ticker blurb. Will there now be disciplinary action taken against this tenured faculty member engaged in a First Amendment activity? I am not surprised that the regime is once again embroiled in an avoidable controversy. It has mis-stepped again by not participating in shared governance with the faculty. Like the poorly conceived Computer Usage Policy, this most recent statement by the administration reinforces their belief that faculty participation in decision making is unnecessary. Once again, CSU is negatively thrust into the spotlight by its inept administrative decisions. I have serious concerns that this institution lacks the capacity or ability to learn, especially from its mistakes. I am sure that none of our administrators spent one second considering the implications of this policy outside of the university. For example, faculty applicants may decline offers after reading of this inane policy, further complicating the employment process and thus the educational process of the institution. Since these administrators don’t participate in the academic life of the institution they would be wholly unaware of these implications thus the need for SHARED GOVERNANCE. I could be wrong but I am beginning to hear a drum beat in the hinterlands and it is saying......

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Thanks to Haki Madhabuti

"1. He/she must be a scholar of national note, with significant peer review publications and books in his or her field. There must be no doubt as to his/her standing in the community of scholars. This would also include a history of the candidate’s participation in the appropriate professional organizations.

2. He/she must have served with distinction as the administrative head of a major unit within an institution of higher learning or at the important position of Provost and/or Dean. Of course, prior service at the presidential level is preferred.

3. He/she must have a documented history of raising significant monies from the private and public sectors. At most major and research one universities it is not unusual to expect the president to come with a plan to raise in excess of half a billion dollars or more in the first few years.

4. The prospective president must have a consensus buy-in from the faculty, students, administration and staff, therefore, arriving with a unity mandate to lead by joining a University community that has bought into his or her vision for the future."

From an open letter to the CSU Community, 2009.