Dear Senator Bryant

At your request I am sending this letter that summarizes my remarks to you in our conversation of May 8, 2004 at the combined AOF, AAUP, IFS meeting at Oregon State University.

I approached you after your talk at this meeting to emphasize the concerns expressed to me by my colleagues in the OUS faculty about some features of the draft initiatives of the OUS Board's 'More, Better, Faster' working group. The common general education core and lower division learning outcomes proposals are seen as removing the faculty's ability to define curriculum. Establishing curriculum makes direct use of faculty training and expertise, and stripping this prerogative from faculty removes a major legitimate function from university faculty. It will be difficult for the OUS faculty, who have seen their salaries decline and their retirement benefits become increasingly undefined, to support initiatives that disregard their role in setting curriculum.

In the faculty's view, a common core shared by the 17 community colleges and the 7 OUS institutions erodes the unique features of each of the OUS institutions, and so is in opposition to the board's goal of maintaining institutional distinctiveness. Further, the core curriculum proposals fail to recognize the distinction between the OUS institutions and community colleges. The former educate students to the Bachelors degree and beyond, while the latter, in addition to educating students who transfer to four year institutions, provide vocational training and adult education. This is not a judgment on the value of the courses at any institution or the first volley in a turf battle, but consideration of the differences among the institutions. The faculty supports the working group's efforts to improve access to higher education for all Oregonians by removing unnecessary barriers to student progress. However, the faculty has imposed upon it the mandate to insure the quality of our graduates. It is our responsibility to maintain the academic reputations of our institutions so future employers, post-graduate educational programs, and professional schools know that Oregon graduates are well educated. In addition, as you and I immediately agreed on May 8, an electorate with a higher proportion of educated voters would be better equipped to evaluate legislative action and ballot measures; such an educated electorate may even recognize the necessity for tax reform to provide stable support for Oregon's infrastructure.

In the week since you and I spoke, IFS President Peter Gilkey has organized meetings of IFS representatives with the OUS Board and Provosts. IFS senators will also participate in the June 11 'More, Better, Faster' working group meeting in Salem. These meetings should generate a process for OUS faculty to effectively participate in developing the 'More, Better, Faster' working group's common core proposals. These proposals should then have the support of the OUS faculty when they are eventually considered by the entire OUS board.

Governor Kulongoski's total dedication to reversing the disinvestment in higher education has energized many faculty members. Relative to OUS boards I've seen in six years as an IFS senator, the current board and its working groups are remarkable for their focus on rapidly defined goals, the inclusive style with which they function, the rapid concrete progress they have made toward accomplishing the Governor's objectives and the sincere desire of each board and working group member to improve higher education in Oregon. Similar sentiments are expressed in every faculty conversation about the current board and its working groups, whether the faculty agree or disagree with their latest actions. I wish to thank you personally, and through you, each member of the OUS board and its working groups for your work on behalf of higher education.

Sincerely,

Robert S. Turner, Jr., Ph.D.
Honors Program Director and Associate Professor of Biology
Western Oregon University
IFS President-elect