[UPDATED: March 28, 2006]
Pre-P.S. Due to the length and importance of this blog, I probably won't be writing any new entries for some time. But as new information becomes available, I will most likely be adding to this entry, so please be on the lookout for such happenings. And on to the regularly scheduled programming...
Friday night, it was Lindsey Manilla’s 20th birthday. There was a party. Not any party. The kind of party you get to call a Rootbeer Kegger dance party down in the ol’ ‘Nati. It was a fantastic time. Especially when we brought out the games. Apples to Apples is a new co-favorite game.
Lindsey, may I just reiterate how glad I am that you decided to push your way forth from that bleeding placenta. I spent the night in a nook. There was only a small semblance of a cranny. It was probably the most amazing sleeping arrangement ever and I should have taken pictures. It was a loverly nook that makes me want to live with Lindsey forever.
Thursday I was at the hub from before 8 in the morning until 5:30 at night minus the time from 1230-145 when I went to my econ class. I didn’t eat. I didn’t pee. I vocalized my life away trying to save Western. We got 1300 signatures on our petition. Not too shabby I suppose. But this is only the beginning. And the frank ol’ meanness of fellow students is unsettling. I’m getting more into all of this later though…it’s essentially what this entire post is about, I’m just trying to recall some of the other events that have been happening lately.
Thursday night, after the exhausting time at the hub, a group of us got all dressed up fancy-like and had dinner in the 1809 room. Good times. Me and Shiree split from the group to go to the Remnants/Misfitz concert. It was excellent. I was thinking about western stuff the whole time though and that made it a little harder to enjoy. Benny was wearing a tie that I own. Good times. Shiree is a loverly date.
I feel there were other things that have been going on, but they all seem so inconsequential and unimportant with all these other happenings going on, so lets get to it.
So, this whole Western thing has really been a source of much upsettedness, frustrations, and just general depression and anger. There are so many fallacies and just general rumors that seem to be circulating both from a student perspective and an administrative one. Maybe it’s somewhat expectant to hear students spread such things, but the administration? I find that absolutely disgusting and unprofessional. There is no reason why students paying $120k+ should be subject to such treatment. And our fellow students…what is wrong with you? We are humans just like the rest of you. We passed the same admittance tests and procedures as you. We are members of this (fine?) institution like the rest of you. Why so much hate? Why is there this ridiculous amount of passion against this random group of students who happen to have a different major than you? That has got to be one of the most ridiculous set of criteria to dislike someone as I have ever heard. And because we are a small fraction of the population, we can be bullied and singled out. And the fact that the administration is really actually fueling all of this distrust and pack of lies…completely disgusting. The truth needs to get out there. I know this silly little blog isn’t going to reach very many people (and certainly nobody with any kind of power or probably any other random Miami kid whose undecided on the issue and who would most benefit from such a thing), but if anything, maybe it will make me feel slightly better and have a little more hope.
The Claim (Administrative Based): The Western College program is ungodly expensive (2-3 times as much!) and it’s not fair that it costs the university so much money when so many other poor little programs throughout the university are so poor and are no burden whatsoever upon the university.
The Facts: The cost per student (or FTE) goes something like this:
The Average cost of a Miami Student to the University: $3430/Semester
The cost of a western Student: $5210/Semester
The cost of a Botany student: $5270/Semester
The cost of an engineering student: $27,930/Semester
As much as the provost would like to tell everyone that we cost twice (and sometimes three) times as much as anybody else on campus, that statement is obviously false. We are only about 50% more, and there are many other programs that cost more than us, some cost SIGNIFICANTLY more than us. Another irony in the whole thing, the engineering college is fairly small as well, so it seems silly that we would be the target of all of this. Not to mention that western is incredibly unique to Ohio, while there are so many better qualified engineering schools in Ohio and the Midwest in general than the Miami program.
There is also more to these figures. They do not include outside administrative costs. The western college program has almost no costs because of this…we have one dean, two assistant deans, and in terms of building maintenance, all our classes are combined in two buildings, one of which houses mostly other departments classes (such as English, science, and education). The college of arts and sciences on the other hand racks up HUGE costs in all of the administrative costs that go into running such an extensive school.
NEW Updated Information (3/26/2006):
- From the 2005-2006 General Fund Budget (Oxford Campus ONLY):
TOTAL Oxford Campus General Fund Budget: $394,293,742
School of Interdisciplinary Studies portion of that general budget: $2,095,991 (this $2 million goes toward instruction and administration and that is all)
$2,095,991 of $394,293,742 equals .53% of the general fund budget for the Oxford Campus. Western College students comprise 1.3% of the student body.
To say that Western costs 2-3 times as much is completely absurd and not something the administration should be able to get away with saying.The Claim (Administrative Based): The Western College Program is insular and doesn’t integrate with the rest of the campus, and really doesn’t add anything to the Miami Community whatsoever.
The Facts:
- In a recent survey of just 35 random Western students, over 100 Miami organizations were represented. There is no doubt that we are active throughout campus.
- The Living-Learning community which is so widely used across Miami’s campus was founded in the Western program, and shows great success in its hoped goals.
- Western also adds prestige…but that’s another claim that needs to be recognized separately.
- Western students are represented in all other departments. Just like everyone else, we take our BMZ classes and our psych classes and our business classes etc etc.
- A 1995 award of $1.7 million by the National Science Foundation, in cooperation with the National Science Teachers Association, has supported creation of Dragonfly, an online and print journal of science discovery that publishes writings by both practicing scientists and elementary school children. This project links faculty committed to writing, computer-assisted learning, and discovery science in a publishing venture that grew out of undergraduate team-teaching in the Western College Program. The organization facilitates interdisciplinary teaching online to about 600 teachers online and takes about a hundred teachers and Miami students abroad to countries like Namibia and Thailand for experiential instruction each year.
- The idea of the Senior Capstone was created in the Western Program which adds to the prestige of the students coming out of Miami.
The Claim (Mostly Student based): Western has no academic credibility. They just sit over there coloring- they like to “free-load” off the rest of the students at Miami.
The Facts: Where to even begin?
- President Garland himself can be quoted as saying that Western College consistently has the highest marks as a department in terms of high school GPA, ACT/SAT scores, and in their essays.
- 80% of Western Students continue on to graduate school, the highest proportion of any department in the University. This structure and the prevailing seminar format of classes, a core ideal at Western, is similar in grad school so Western graduates can be particularly avid in such environments right from the start.
- As stated before…the senior capstone was created at Western, but no program has nearly the extensive requirements that Western expects of all its students. The senior western project includes a minimum of an 80 page report (usually closer to 100 pages), extensive research, a literary review, and close advising over multiple years in preparation. Making it through this process is anything but a walk in the park. The administration has also commended the efforts of all graduating western majors in the completion of this rigorous process that they say goes above and beyond what anyone could expect of them.
- College Review publications like Barron's have cited ("Miami's strongest programs, those of the very liberal-arts-oriented School of Interdisciplinary Studies and the real-world Richard T Farmer School of Business Administration, represent both extremes of academia" --“Barron's Best Buys in College Education” Eighth Edition by Lucia Solorzano. P.447) it along with the Farmer School as one of Miami's strongest programs. Another book, by Frank Ha, called "America's Top 229 Universities" (available in multiple languages such as Chinese) gives credit to the Western Program as a source of great academic achievement at Miami.
- A comparative study of Western students in their first year clearly shows Western achievement.
- Western Student Awards received per Year: Awards List (starting 1999)
- Despite only making up 1.3% of the total Miami Student body, graduating Western College Program seniors make up 25% of the awards administered by the university. Western students also make up 10% of the honors college. It seems key from these disproportionate numbers that Western needs to stay intact in order to attract such high level students to the university that otherwise wouldn’t be here.
- Procter and Gamble has been quoted as saying that the percentage of the people whom they higher who actually have business degrees is very very low. Most of the people they are looking for and hiring now are people with strong Liberal Arts/Interdisciplinary backgrounds. This is a continuing trend that has exploded in the business world and strengthens the argument that such programs need to stick around.
The Claim (Sadly, only mostly student claims. This includes campus tour guides): Over there is just where all the pot-smoking tree-hugger hippies live.
The Facts: Cool, lets resort to downright name-calling. I find it doubtful that the percentage of pot smokers is any different at Western than anywhere else. Yes, maybe some of us are ‘tree-huggers.’ Lets also consider that Western College houses the majors of Environmental Studies and Environmental Science. Just because someone has different political ideals doesn’t make them wrong or stupid or anything else. It seems silly that on a college campus of all places, where progressive thought is supposed to be encouraged and nurtured, you can be segregated from the rest of a campus because your programs percentage of students who identify themselves as liberal is
slightly higher than the campus average. There are certainly more than just a couple conservatives over here…so what’s the big deal? You’re in college paying thousands of dollars…add learning to have an open mind to your list of educational experiences. It will prove to be invaluable.
The Claim (Administrative): This has been a transparent process. We have asked for student involvement.
The Facts: Any one with any sense of anything could be able to see instantly that students have been no part of this whatsoever. They are able to make this claim of student representation because a year ago an External Review Committee sat down with three randomly selected students for a period of two hours to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the program. It seems highly inappropriate for an administration to completely dissolve a program that would effect hundreds of students currently, previously, and thousands in the future on the opinion of what three people were able to say in a period of two hours. This process didn’t became transparent to the students of Western until March 6th of this year, when the deadline for decision was the end of April. A month and a half the students would have. And THIS is the main concern. Why won’t the administration allow for student input? Is there NO concern for the education of the students who are putting a ridiculous sum of money into the institution? Isn’t it fair to just step back from the corporate world for just a couple minutes to realize that education is on the line here? I realize the need to be business-savvy in running a university, but is there no weight at all put upon the importance of the education factor? If rather than being sneaky and having apparently life-changing decision making processes behind closed doors with a select few hired committees, why couldn’t the administration just said hey, we’re making some changes, this is what we want our end result to be…what can we do to get to this end goal? If this were the case Western would have been more than happy to be collaborative with the administration in making these changes and making sure it was satisfactory for everyone.
And now, the outside resources:
1) In 2004, Western was under review and asked to submit a strategic plan for change as part of a process that every department goes through with no implication that it was for the cause of possible complete revamping and dissolution of the program. Western embraced this and got really excited about having the chance to make reforms to our program. As a community we sat down and held discussions about changes we would like to see and how to develop them and we came up with a significant 70 pg report by Western faculty which, except one point, was largely ignored by both subsequent University Publications. It was released in January but was recently erroneously
quoted in the Miami Student as being non-existent ("Western also doesn't have a strategic plan"--the quote was outdated).
- Contains changes to raise FTE (faculty output) numbers to mitigate the cost per student now that it is evident this is needed (pg 26).
- Is consistent with established academic Interdisciplinary methodologies because it was developed with professors in this field.
- It makes significant changes to the structure of Western cutting across the program--All parties acknowledge that the program is ripe for interesting changes.
The report:
2006 and Future Strategic Plan (pdf)
2)
WCP External Review (pdf) - These faculty from other colleges published from their experiences after a three day visit in January 2005.
- "Our most important conclusion is that the Western College Program has much to offer its students, the university and higher education as a whole and that it should be valued, preserved, nurtured and developed. It has successfully addressed a number of critical challenges facing US education over the past thirty years, creating a coherent set of programs that is quite rare." (pg 1)
3)
Provost Site
- Winkler Report This report was released from a private committee the Wednesday before Spring Break (March 6) to Western College members but kept off limits to requesting faculty generally throughout the university for several more weeks. Though reasonable & due communication process was claimed on this committee, the Dean of Western Bill Gracie was not given any updates or correspondence on the contents of the report until the final release. It was originally stipulated that he would be the sole outlet for the closed committee.
- One crucial criticism that was made here was that the other Interdisciplinary Departments at Miami (Interactive Media Studies, Women Studies, International Studies, etc) were invited in front of the Winkler committee and did not want to slide their program into the existing School of Interdisciplinary studies.
- There were suspicious happenings here though: four of the nine interdisciplinary programs were initially invited and then disinvited from the proceedings, leaving only five departments from Arts and Science to unanimously disagree.
- Herbst Report Provost Jeff Herbst's report on Western taking into account the Winkler report, personal appreciations, and (allegedly) the 2006 Strategic Plan. It becomes plainly obvious that he really didn't go over the strategic plan we worked on for him though. He covers his ground by slightly mentioning it, but by name only. None of the proposals we actually worked on were commented on or mentioned, so it seems rather likely that all of our work was thrown out the window. We're disrespecting the other students in all of this? That is absurd. We are the ones being disrespected.
- This release was timed such that six students had to skip their spring break, remaining in Oxford, in order to meet with Herbst and have any say in the report.
- As Western Students, We take deep offense at the condemning language in several parts of this report. It is unfoundedly severe. Specifically Section III implies fundamental flaws in Western College without providing any concrete backing. It also ignores the high quality students which demonstrably rise from Western.
- A Resolution to Maintain the Core Values of the WCP (pdf) - ASG Resolution passed March 21 supporting and reaffirming Western student's voice and recommending 25% student involvement in any planning committee which has so far largely been left out.
I have taken up a lot of your time, but I hope that you have all taken the time to go through all of this and made an honest effort to make any kind of sense out of everything. It is clear that a democratic process has not been followed and that the past, present, and future of Western is seriously being wronged. And for what reason? I’m still not entirely sure. It’s really seeming like more of a personal attack than anything else. Once again, thank you for going through all of this hearing a simple Western student’s point of view and taking the time to learn some of the real facts.
If you would like to help, send an email to President Garland (
president@muohio.edu) and Provost Herbst (
herbstj@muohio.edu) and let them know that you don’t appreciate ignoring the democratic process, and that this vital, rich, and beautiful community deserves to stay and allowed to grow. This hits close to home. This IS my home. This is my family. Never before have I been so passionate about anything or had so much pride in anything. We are an amazing and unique community that should be allowed to flourish. This is our education and should be treated as such.
Of course, if all else fails, we still have our elephant, midgets sheathed in plastic, and a beaver. And where is Helen Peabody in all this? We told her that she was relieved of her haunting duties in order to give her time for more planning on her part. We can use all the help we can get. She was busy fishing at the time.
Currently Listening to: Regina Spektor's "Soviet Kitsch" (Umm...yeah. I think it's love)
PS. Some very happy news...the CD101 concert is happening again. And soon. And I'm going! I wish someone owed me money. The Sun!! Ok Go!!!!! THE DRESDEN DOLLS!!!!!!!! (along with Bril, Rock Kills Kid, and Nine Black Alps) How can you not get excited?!? It's going to be a dance party for the ages. I really wish someone owed me money. And lots of it. How about President Garland? I kinda feel like maybe he owes me some money.
PPS. My obsession has officially reached obsession level, finally. Two nights ago I actually had a dream about the Dresden Doll. I was reading their blog, and they mentioned my name specifically. That's all there was to it, but I woke up feeling very very happy. I do comment on all her blog entries afterall, and she did give me a hug all on her own. Maybe there's something to it.
