To the Editor:

As a minority administrator, I greatly appreciated “At the Ivies, It’s Still White at the Top” (The Chronicle, June 9). That said, I would like to suggest that The Chronicle conduct a more comprehensive and in-depth investigation on this issue by including non-Ivy League institutions, because formidable obstacles for minorities to become senior administrators permeate the entire academe in the this country.

Actually, we still operate in a system that resembles the medieval caste system: Leaders (or “kings” and “princes”) are determined based on their breeds (where they graduated, and who they studied, and are associated with); Ivy league colleges choose those from the Ivy League, while others also try to recruit those from the Ivy League in order to boost their “credibility,” but, to their great regret, only end up with those from non-Ivy League…

Read More

To the Editor:

Kudos to Brad Wolverton for “Bounced Around” (The Chronicle, June 3). It is supremely well written, relevant, and informative.  Moreover, it is obvious why Mr. Wolverton won the 2008 Dick Schaap Excellence in Sports Journalism Award.

Also, Tamika Moore should be congratulated for her excellent photographs that make the article come alive.

James A. Johnson
Southfield, Mich.

To the Editor:

Congratulations to Stacey Patton for an excellent article raising concerns about diversity in the Ivies (“At the Ivies, It’s Still White at the Top,” The Chronicle, June 9). Numbers speak for themselves, and none of us is doing well enough.

In my role as deputy provost for faculty development and diversity at Yale University, I was glad to be interviewed as part of Ms. Patton’s research. Taken out of context, however, the quotes attributed to me do not convey what I intended to say. I pointed out that female and minority administrators have to go the extra mile to “fit in.” My comments were as an observer and advocate for generating institutional change and equity, not as someone giving advice for how to get and hold one of these jobs. I intended my comments to describe the problem, not to prescribe the solution.

Universities, including Yale, are seeking…

Read More

To the Editor:

We commend the U.S. Department of Education for creating its new panel on gainful-employment rules (“Education Dept. Seeks Members for Panel on ‘Gainful Employment’ Rules,” The Chronicle, June 12) to devise new standards to determine the efficacy of educational programs offered by for-profit colleges.

These colleges need to be held accountable for their high-pressure tactics and false claims. The for-profits have made targeting Iraq and Afghanistan veterans a big part of their business plans, and they bombard potential students with aggressive and persistent recruitment tactics promising guaranteed high-paying jobs. Instead, the programs drain veterans of their GI benefits and leave them with non-transferable credits, heavy student-loan debt burdens, and degrees that are not useful in their chosen fields.

These for-profit schools see veterans as revenue streams,…

Read More

To the Editor:

So in my course on assessment in student affairs we watched a video of an interview of William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education. What struck my instructor, classmates, and me was a comment Mr. Bennett made along the lines of “majoring in a field of study such as philosophy, as I did, is useless.” Apparently, being appointed U.S. Secretary of Education is not an indication of success in life, my instructor said.

What’s even more annoying is Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s threat to charge more for liberal-arts programs among the state’s colleges and universities than for STEM programs. What cure for cancer has he found? But he’s one of the people deciding whether the individual who may find this cure can afford to attend college and professional school one day.

Now I’m not against STEM education. It’s very salient to the sustainability of…

Read More

To the Editor:

Recently, a colleague at another university was told by one of his students that his class had been “the best course that student had ever taken in his life,” and that the student had learned things “that inspired and reshaped his entire conception of existence.” And yet, that very same student regretfully informed my friend that he had given him only average scores on the student evaluation form.

“You didn’t always lecture on the assigned material,” he explained. “You didn’t always get the tests back on time, and you weren’t particularly clear as to what the learning objectives were.” Then he added apologetically, “I guess those evaluation forms have to focus on efficiency or they wouldn’t be objective.”

Spoken like a true product of American Learning Systems Incorporated.

But this little anecdote does raise questions as to what…

Read More

To the Editor:

I just read “Colleges Can Help Transgender Students ‘Be Who They Are,’ Says Leading Doctor” (The Chronicle, June 2). Norman P. Spack is an amazing man. I can say this because my family knows him very well. I am proud father of twins, one is a boy and one is a girl. My beautiful daughter Nicole is transgender. She is a great kid, smart, confident, excited to learn, and willing to speak out to help others. She and her brother were featured on the front page of The Boston Globe in 2011. Willing to share their story to help the world learn more about transgender youth.

Nicole openly attended school as a transgender girl in the fifth grade. Unfortunately, she was quickly identified as someone to fear and she experienced severe bullying, harassment, and discrimination that changed her life. The discrimination, harassment, and bullying were intolerable. Our family went…

Read More

To the Editor:

There are a few basic clarifications to make to “Can a Historian Head Berkeley’s Anthropologists? Department Is Split Over Interim Chair” (The Chronicle, May 31). The claim that appointing an interim chair from outside the department is “routine” is belied by the fact that in the often contentious and outspoken 100-year history of the anthropology department, it has never happened before.

The administration’s explanation that no other candidates were available to serve as interim chair is not credible: A senior member of the department who was chair twice previously was available and willing to serve as interim chair for one year. He was not consulted. That same person had just been entrusted with heading a search committee and had carried the search to successful completion through consensus building. Thus claims of major and irremediable factions and…

Read More

To the Editor:

“For Many College Presidents, Home Is an Uncalculated Benefit” (The Chronicle, May 12) says that, “because the presidents are obligated by their contracts to live in the houses, they don’t pay income tax on them.”

Where did that idea come from? I’m sure the article accurately reflects the understanding of most boards of trustees and of presidents themselves. (I’ve heard a president make exactly that point.) But that understanding doesn’t reflect the law.

The analysis required under the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations is much more extensive. It’s true that, for the value of lodging provided by an employer to be excluded from the income of an employee, the lodging must be a “condition of employment.” But that’s only one requirement. The lodging must also be provided for the “convenience of the employer.” The Supreme Court…

Read More

To the Editor:

Regarding “How the Education Department Would Limit Dating” (The Chronicle, May 23), let me point out that our United States Supreme Court, in interpreting constitutionally-protected freedom of speech, concluded in 1993—and amplified in 1999—that “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” conduct must be in evidence to be considered illegal sexual harassment in an educational setting. More recently, our Department of Education in Washington notified all colleges that male students alleged to have sexually harassed a female will henceforth have to prove their innocence, rather than have the assumption of innocence and be proven guilty. The Montana case now illustrates our government, by way of the Department of Education, has tightened the noose on both freedom of speech and on academic freedom by defining sexual harassment as “unwelcome conduct of a sexual…

Read More