Senate voices concern
Will Dodds
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News
Last update: 2/4/10 at 2:47 AM EST
Several Duquesne University faculty members disagree with recent controversial adminstrative decisions and want more say in the process, the Faculty Senate president said in an email last Wednesday to University employees.
Paula Witt-Enderby, head of the Duquesne senate, sent the e-mail in the wake of the school's decisions to revise its tuition remission policy, sell NPR-affiliate WDUQ, discontine its contract with Vincentian Academy and cut four men's sports teams.
All of the decisions were made without faculty input.
"There needs to be more exposure of faculty and student opinion outside the classroom," said Fred Evans, a philosophy professor and active member of the faculty senate. "There needs to be more of a venue on campus for discussing these views, one that all people in the University have equal access to."
For Evans, the University's decision to sell WDUQ exemplifies what he sees as a larger problem on campus: a lack of openness.
He said the expression of information across campus is too "constrained," and he said that, if there were a greater forum for discussion between the administration, faculty and students, WDUQ's future could have been further discussed before it was put up for sale.
Law professor Bruce Ledewitz has been one of the University's most vocal critics recently, criticizing the administration in a Jan. 22 letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"I look around, and I see an institution shrinking, and I say it's due to a lack of long-term fundraising," Ledewitz said in an interview with The Duke. "To me, what's going on is an institution starving for large-scale investment. [With these cuts] we're less of a university than we were before."
In an e-mail sent to Duquesne faculty on Jan. 26, University Spokeswoman Bridget Fare called Ledewitz's claims "groundless," citing Duquesne's Advancing Our Legacy campaign, the University's current fundraising campaign that has raised $98 million since 2003.
Paula Witt-Enderby, head of the Duquesne senate, sent the e-mail in the wake of the school's decisions to revise its tuition remission policy, sell NPR-affiliate WDUQ, discontine its contract with Vincentian Academy and cut four men's sports teams.
All of the decisions were made without faculty input.
"There needs to be more exposure of faculty and student opinion outside the classroom," said Fred Evans, a philosophy professor and active member of the faculty senate. "There needs to be more of a venue on campus for discussing these views, one that all people in the University have equal access to."
For Evans, the University's decision to sell WDUQ exemplifies what he sees as a larger problem on campus: a lack of openness.
He said the expression of information across campus is too "constrained," and he said that, if there were a greater forum for discussion between the administration, faculty and students, WDUQ's future could have been further discussed before it was put up for sale.
Law professor Bruce Ledewitz has been one of the University's most vocal critics recently, criticizing the administration in a Jan. 22 letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"I look around, and I see an institution shrinking, and I say it's due to a lack of long-term fundraising," Ledewitz said in an interview with The Duke. "To me, what's going on is an institution starving for large-scale investment. [With these cuts] we're less of a university than we were before."
In an e-mail sent to Duquesne faculty on Jan. 26, University Spokeswoman Bridget Fare called Ledewitz's claims "groundless," citing Duquesne's Advancing Our Legacy campaign, the University's current fundraising campaign that has raised $98 million since 2003.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sharon Doyle
posted 2/05/10 @ 5:37 PM EST
These are sad times for Duquesne University. It seems that Duquesne University is losing it's founders ideology.
In 1878 when the Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (the Spiritans) created a university, they believed that it should be a place that welcomed the common student. (Continued…)
Post a Comment
By posting an article comment, you agree to the Terms of Use policy.