Dear Editor,
We are encouraged by portions of President Lieberman’s and Dean Potter’s responses to our statement on corporatization and shared governance appearing in an April 29 story on a report by the AAUP (“Report calls for shared governance”). We are pleased, for example, that the President sees the value in a shared governance process aligned with AAUP’s and that Dean Potter believes that “… no dean would proceed with business as usual after seeing the document.” While the President and we disagree on whether the University’s shared governance process is aligned with the AAUP’s, the task of aligning the two will be made much easier now that Dr. Lieberman is on record embracing the AAUP’s process. Dean Potter asserted that the document was misleading on the issue of the Physician’s Assistant Program because it fails to acknowledge that the faculty was involved in the process. The document does not claim, as the Dean suggests, that faculty were not involved. What the document states is that the program was done “with limited faculty input and presented to the faculty, in effect, as a fait accompli.” The faculty approved the program this spring, but the Director of the program was hired as a full-time tenure-track faculty member a year and a half ago in the summer of 2014, and substantial funds were committed by the Board to hire additional personnel for the program and to prepare for accreditation in March 2017. If that is not a fait accompli, my French is worse than I thought. The President’s attempt to dispute our claim that the University is becoming increasingly corporatized by noting that ULV is a not-for-profit institution ignores or displays a misunderstanding of what corporatization means in a university setting. Given the word limit on letters to the editor, I would simply refer her, and others, including Dr. Dietz, to the document (laverne.edu/ear/aaup) and to the literature on the corporatization of higher education cited in the document. What we wanted was a conversation, and thanks to the Campus Times (kudos to Emily Lau and Kat Simonelli for an excellent article) and numerous e-mails from colleagues applauding the document, that conversation has started and will continue in a forum on Monday, May 9, in Mainiero Hall Room 52 from 11:50 a.m. to 1 p.m. All are invited.
Héctor L. Delgado
Treasurer, La Verne Chapter of AAUP
Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Dear Editor,
I would like to commend the reporters and staff of the Campus Times for the thoughtful, balanced and well-written article, “Report Calls for Shared Governance,” which appeared on April 29, 2016. The issues raised in the AAUP report are salient across the nation’s entire system of higher education. The University of La Verne can aspire to be a model institution where the high ideals of the Academy flourish. While I am unable to agree with President Lieberman that ULV currently has, “an elegant shared governance process,” I am heartened that she affirms the AAUP philosophy. From this starting point, real shared governance that promotes the success and vitality of students and the ULV community, might very well proceed.
Richard Gelm
Vice President, La Verne Chapter of AAUP
Professor of Political Science
Dear Editor,
Kudos to Emily Lau and Kat Simonelli for the excellent April 29 article, “AAUP report calls for shared governance.” It’s very nicely researched and well written, and has helped to launch an important campus-wide conversation.
John Bartelt
Professor of Education-Technology
Hector Delgado
Richard Gelm