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[klutzklitz]

Yukidaruma,

I feel badly for you. It seems you are a conscientious person who cares about the delicate fate of your AIU student peers, at a place you genuinely love. (In my own warped way I adore Akita too!)  Meanwhile, you are being yanked around by anonymous others who are only pretending to have your best interests in mind while they strike a pose of dispassionate reason above the fray, asa29 most certainly included. To be honest, no one can realistically claim to have a privileged view of the whole scene, because even for those who are actually in the middle of the mess at AIU, no one has an interpretation that is above their own personal experiences, individual calculations, irrational impulses, and bureaucratic maneuvers. Such is the paranoid and fragmented environment that the AIU administration has reaped advantage from, even if the administration did not create such a climate. For better of for worse the students probably don't have any idea just how poor faculty communication and camaraderie is at AIU, although I should add that this is hardly unusual anywhere for the Kafkaesque lives of faculty, who are normally all too ready to allow petty jealousies and professional rivalries to translate into administrative divide-and-rule victories. Oh what a tale of woe.

Given what I just said, I feel like a hyprocrite even extending advice to you, but you need to clearly determine what your aims are, coldly and speedily collect information from multiple sources, and act in the public sphere consonant with this information and your aims... and yes, to do so in a manner that shields you from negative repercussions. In my OPINION such political action certainly should involve contacting and activating tuition-paying parents and budget-supporting taxpayers, through means recommended by others here. Like others suggest such an approach involves contacting media, here and even in your respective hometowns (especially if such hometowns feature a cluster of AIU enrollees, like elsewhere in Tohoku). On the other hand (my OPINION again) who gives a DAMN about what prospective employers think, they have a narrow and jaundiced version of what higher education is about, one that violates the putative liberal arts (ha!) spirit of AIU. The hell with them, paying attention to those who foot the bill for your education not those who want to exploit your skills from such an education is what matters here. Asa29's rigid concern about your future desirability to corporate employers should be a rather mundane matter to the partisans of the liberal arts, unless you are a bunch of life-killing robots like the rest, yes? The hell with what is "practical" (FALSE and OVERRATED), you only live once.

Any more detailed instructions than this probably have an agenda behind it that is not your own. And you need to decide for yourselves whether MY guidance is stained by an agenda. If you are really confused to the point of paralysis by now, you need to visit IN PERSON with a faculty person (or PEOPLE) you have every cause to believe you can trust, and seek counsel from such a source (or SOURCES) rather than from the misleaders and fakers who post to an impersonal website forum. Keep it as real as you can in non-virtual reality, in other words.

[yukidaruma]

Dear all,

There does seem to be interest from some of the students regarding what's going on, although currently most are uninformed or feel the situation is merely unfortunate. I think will more exposure and facts this may begin to change. However, small in number or not we will try to open up what is going on. I think the very fact that the students (nor anybody else it would seem) have heard about this matter officially is enough cause for complaint. I fail to see how getting rid of half the EAP (English) programme staff, those who have had glowing reviews from many students I've spoken to, fosters a stable learning environment or confidence in its students. Changing teachers who appear very much to be gaining good results for fresh ones, especially while AIU is still trying to establish its credibility seems rather foolish. Or perhaps I'm merely naive.

I'm realising more and more that avoiding becoming tangled up with other individuals' goals and viewpoints is difficult. I will make extra effort to try and remain objective for now and hear from both sides if possible. However, I don't think it's unreasonable of the students to demand clear and legitimate reasons for the dismissal of their teachers. It already seems to be clear that the PhD argument for dismissal is rather weak if it is indeed the case that the Vice Presidents themselves don't hold them. (I haven't yet confirmed this myself). Without that grounding, with a positively evaluated teacher's report, there would need to be some good justification for a non-renewal of contract, or at least it seems to me to be that way. I do not know how contract renewal generally works throughout the world, or in Japan in particular.

Nearly everyone here at AIU has some view on this subject, but the general consensus so far is one of grave dissatisfaction with the administration, which again has negative repercussions for the students. It seems that partner institutions may not look too kindly on AIU either, once they discover how they have treated many of the founding members who have worked so hard. Furthermore, after talking with staff members in my classes and such, it appears very little is known about anything at all (or unwillingness to talk about it, which I less believe to be the case), particularly for those who are currently unaffected by the situation, which does suggest a lack of important communication or break-down of it. Again though, I am not aware how things usually work in these situations in Universities, nor how much an employed professor should know about such internal politics. Ideally it seems there would need to be nothing hidden however...

At any rate the dismissal of certain faculty members, who have been here in Akita many years, worked hard to establish and push the Universities (former MSUA and AIU), have what seem to be good academic records and evaluations and have families here, with seemingly no regard for their well-being definitely calls into question what kind of human beings are making the decisions at this University.

[concernedinakita]

It already seems to be clear that the PhD argument for dismissal is rather weak if it is indeed the case that the Vice Presidents themselves don't hold them. (I haven't yet confirmed this myself).

Yukidaruma,

Here's the information that you are looking for on the Professor Vice Presidents and the Professor/Director,
Library & Information Center:

AIU Faculty Members(Alphabetical Directory)
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/cms/index.php?id=776
CLARK, Gregory
M.A.
Vice President
Select Professor
 
Also listed:
Akita International University 2006-7 
Where Cultures Meet
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/is/pdf/brochure_e_2006.pdf
pg. 13
 

Academic Affairs Executive Committee
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/cms/index.php?id=96
Vice President & Executive Officer
YOSHIO Keisuke

Akita International University 2006-7 
Where Cultures Meet
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/is/pdf/brochure_e_2006.pdf

Faculty/Administration
Pg. 12
Photo
Vice President
Executive Officer
Keisuke Yoshio


Basic Education  Social Science
Pg. 13
Keisuke Yoshio
Professor
Japan
B.A.
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies



Director, Library & Information Center
Mr. Michio KATSUMATA
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/cms/index.php?id=96

AIU Faculty Members(Alphabetical Directory)
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/cms/index.php?id=776
KATSUMATA Michio
Professor
Japan
B.A.
Anglo-American Studies
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Global Studies

Akita International University 2006-7 
Where Cultures Meet
http://www.aiu.ac.jp/is/pdf/brochure_e_2006.pdf
Faculty/Administration
Pg. 12
Photo
Michio Katsumata
Director,
Library & Information Center

Pg. 13
Advanced Education  Global Studies
Michio Katsumata
Professor
Japan
B.A.
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

[heiwa]

update from Akita:



Professional “Life Expectancy” in the English for Academic Purposes Program at AIU, April 2004-March 2007:

#:  position           renewal           resignation        non-renewal      mid-contract
3:prof (&PhD):       3 (2007)         
7:associate prof:                         2 (2004/2005)        3 (2007)            2
7: assistant prof:   1* ('07 as lecturer)  1 (2006)       4 (2007)            1*
1:part-time lect.       1* ('07)         

* Japanese national 

2 of the 3 resignations were “forced,” meaning the decision to resign was not made voluntarily by the faculty member.

Of the 14 faculty members who started the EAP program in 2004--2005, 7 will have been ousted by non-renewals and 3 would have handed in resignations (2 forced) by the end of the 2006--2007 academic year.

6 of 7 non-renewed EAP faculty members had prior experience at MSUA.

All 7 non-renewed EAP faculty members are Americans. (2 of 3 teachers who resigned earlier were Americans.) Those 7 have a combined university program work experience of over 150 years. 1 teacher of the 7 is  fluent and 1 highly proficient in Japanese language.

Of the 7 non-renewed EAP faculty members, 1 is female, 6 are male.

Of the 7 non-renewed EAP faculty members, 5 have a spouse, and 4 of those also have children. Of the other 8 current EAP faculty members, only 1 has a family member living with her in Akita (a spouse).

The 7 non-renewed EAP faculty members were told, among other things, that because each lacked a Ph.D., he or she could not be offered a contract.

2 faculty members from the other AIU programs (Basic Education/Global Business/Global Studies/Japanese Language) who had also taught at MSUA were also not renewed. 4 other AIU faculty members with MSUA experience remain on the faculty. 1 is the Dean of Students, 1 the Academic Dean (basically a toothless position), and 2 others faculty members holding PhDs.

The total number of non-renewals out side of EAP was a mere 4. This is out of roughly 35-40 faculty members in total (a number that always seems to be shifting).

The non-EAP faculty members who were NOT renewed included an American (with a Ph.D.), a Bulgarian (with a Ph.D.) and two Japanese (MA holders). The two non-Japanese are both fluent in Japanese.

In short, the current (as of December 2006) EAP program had nearly double the number of non-renewals (7) that the entire rest of the university had (4).

2 of the renewed EAP faculty members, both full professors, are male Americans with Ph.D.s, while 1 other, also a male with a PhD, is Canadian.  All 3 are white males. 1 is also the program director, appointed by the university president. None have family members living with them in Akita.

The 2 non-Ph.D.s who were renewed in EAP are both Japanese.

[concernedinakita]

Re Akita International University (AIU)

post by; concerned8
September 26, 2006

Final point. Part of the seeming jealousy that AIU inspires is  a blacklist website, on  which AIU is listed  as discriminatory because it hires foreigners on a three year contract basis.

The organizer of that site says he is careful to get his facts right, for fear of being sued.

In  that case he should start talking to his lawyers.

Concerned 8:
You have become strangely quiet. (Last post October 11, 2006)

Just wondering how the lawsuit against the Blacklist Website http://www.debito.org/blacklist.html#aiuis going?

This may be the only way that the news media will pick up on what's going on at AIU.

Then, finally, the general public will know that something smells "fishy" in Akita (and it's not fresh Hata Hata).


One other question:
How does one become a full professor at AIU?

According to College Board  http://www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers/profiles/careers/106061.html
"To become a university professor, you'll need a Ph.D. in your field."

At AIU is a B.A. degree from Dr. Nakajima's "Alma Mata" (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) equivalent to a Ph.D. elesewhere?

I have been researching and I have yet to find another University with two Full Professors (or even one) who only possess only B.A. degrees.

Maybe I'm not looking in the right places. Please enlighten me.

[angelusnovus]

Concernedial,

I would not want to be caught dead putting in a good word for what AIU is doing and would say that it is definitely on the fringe of Japanese academia in its treatment of non-Japanese faculty.  Nevertheless, many Japanese universities DO have full professors (Japanese) that have only (or not even) a B.A. or the equivalent.  Although a good many of them are no doubt phonies and impostors, the lack of a Ph.D alone does not necessarily indicate incompetence--for example the internationally highly-respected superstar historian Amino Yoshihiko never even got a masters degree but taught for years at Nagoya University and Kanagawa University.  This would be a pretty unlikely career path for younger scholars today, who are generally weeded out in the hiring process on the basis of Ph.D. possession (or the equivalent--in many cases still ABD).  In the past, not having more than a B.A. was quite common, perhaps even the norm.  In fact, most Japanese who had Ph.Ds (at least in the humanities) got them very late in life, after publishing their magnum opus, or sometimes even after retirement.  Or from abroad.   To judge whether AIU is rewarding or condoning incompetence (I haven't done it, but based on what I know it seems likely a lot of it is present), it is thus necessary to take into consideration what generation a professor came from.  And perhaps the field in which (s)he is trained.

I can't imagine that a lawsuit against the blacklist on the internet will be very successful.  Is there really one in progress?  The site, as far as I can tell, doesn't libel or slander, but merely lists those universities that offer term-contracts to foreigners (regardless of qualifications) while offering, usually automatically, permanent contracts to Japanese natives.  Good luck to the lawyers who are dumb enough to try to shut it down.  It would certainly be easy to put up another site that does the same thing without using the word "black list"--if that is indeed what is considered so terribly offensive.  The facts pretty much speak for themselves.  And the fact that there are more tenured foreign professors at one average university in the USA than in the entire land in Japan.  Including English departments.

[nabotapeur]

Methinks that Concerned8 (having been completely blown out of the water) has reemerged as Asa29.  Welcome back G.C.--are you in drag when you post?

[brokenarrow]

All these discussions aside, consider the consequences of Nakajima and his mafia's actions.

Good teachers are made to feel bad. Not only are they not renewed, they are zapped of lifeblood, of motivation. How can they teach after they have been told that they are not qualified to work at AIU?

Good students are set to worry, and they wonder about their president's motto: Be leaders in the global society. But what kind of leader is he? is he a model of leadership?
is he a global citizen, or a selfish tourist on publicly funded junkets?

How can anyone trust a man who demands loyalty but refuses to be an honest man and gives loyalty only to his rich powerful friends?

A good, new school with an honorable, gleaming mission is painted black. AIU becomes the typical, not the innovative. In Japan it is said that content or substance (as in performance) means nothing, everything is based on image (i.e., personal connections, sucking up, glad handing). What becomes more important at AIU than the contributions of teachers and their encouraging work with students is ratings in college PR catalogues, the list of partner institutions, future job prospects for assembly line grads.

What a sick situation. (Welcome to Japan and its quality higher education!)

 

[concernedinakita]

Governor Supports Nakajima…as least he did back in June!
The Question remains:
Does the Governor have any idea of what is really going on at AIU? Would he continue to support him, if he really knew?


Kenmin no koe (Voice of Akita-ken citizens)
http://www.pref.akita.jp/pref_voice/index.htm

2006-06-08  #184022
A resident asks questions regarding the AIU President
How was he chosen? Who is he? Does he even live in Akita? etc.

Summary of the governor’s answers:
Lists all of the President’s achievements / that’s why the governor thought he would do a good job./ now this is the third year of AIU and a big part of the reason it’s been so successful is because of all that President Nakajima has done.

In answer to the question: “Does the president of AIU even live in Akita?"
The governor says, “after the school opened the president “kyo o kamaete” (the Japanese here is a bit vague. A possible translation: “readied a place to live”)

*Note it’s been said that the president retains a room at a “mediocre hotel”
(The Krypton would love to know that’s what they’re being called!)

Re Akita International University (AIU)

The accusation that even so he flies to Akita 3-4 times a week and has to stay at a mediocre hotel

So, the president of this university really lives in Tokyo and flys in 3-4 times a week for a couple of days (maybe the prefecture politicians don't realize what airline miles they and their taxpayers are picking up); he lives in a hotel room for the few days a month he is "on campus".  Imagine the kind of management that creates.

You can read the rest of what the governor has  to say, but basically it’s all in support of the president.
http://www.pref.akita.jp/pref_voice/show_detailpage.htm?serial_no=1053

Interested citizens could write to the governor via this forum:
Kenmin no koe (Voice of Akita-ken citizens)
http://www.pref.akita.jp/pref_voice/index.htm

[asa29]

I think I've said all I need to, and I certainly don't have anything to add as that is really all I know about the situation, so I intend to back out.

Just to restate that I really think people's reaction to my comments has been laughable. If you really read what I'm saying, and don't just go kneejerk and defensive, I'm about the only person on here who has a) admitted that their knowledge of the situation is not full, but is just saying what they know b) not let emotion get the better of what could otherwise be a decent argument, and c) provided neutral advice which makes damn good sense, and would help, not hinder the cause of those who have been wronged.

But because I am not calling for nakajima and his band of "cronies" to be lynched with immediate effect, I am called names (yes, freshair, I did read your previous, rather inauspicious, post before it got deleted, presumably by mods), had comments of varying degrees of childishness chucked in my direction, and generally borne the brunt of everyone's pent-up frustration.

It's unfortunate for two reasons. 1) I could actually be very helpful, both from having the advantage of neutrality which lends gravitas and believability to a sympathetic argument in favour of those dismissed, and because of my connections.

2) you make yourselves look like a pack of screeching idiots.  If this isn't conducted on an adult level, no-one is going to rally to your cause.

To a neutral observer it is incomprehensible that you would dismiss someone speaking sense as "Gregory Clarke in drag". Even if you're so stubborn as to disbelieve my word, the time-stamp on my posts, my language, and my IP address if you need proof, pinpoint me geographically so accurately that it would be obvious to a child.

Oh. Got a point.

I don't think I've given any advice which could be interpreted as advancing the personal cause of anyone employed by AIU. Indeed, I've attempted to avoid that because this is not the place. I cannot give yukidaruma my personal details because I want to avoid getting personally involved. As such, I can only give broad advice, eg "read up on Jp contract law" contact JALT" "don't get involved with politics", "stick to the facts". It's probably not worth much. But I do care that there may be good teachers at AIU who are losing their jobs and are being misrepresented by some who are obviously their peers who are making AIU teachers look like a bunch of jerks. And I am very concerned that these individuals were EVER employed by AIU, it has to be said...

However, you might have lost me but your student is on the case and on the spot, and I suspect (s)he's going to say the same things as me but far better. If s(he) doesn't come back with conclusions / action that are 100% to your liking (eg start the immediate construction of a large wicker effigy on Taiheizan), for god's sake don't just assume (s)he's another of your nemeses in disguise :)

[concernedinakita]

Japanese students at AIU:
Check out this forum and bring it back to life again!
http://www.pref.akita.jp/pref_voice/show_detailpage.htm?serial_no=1053
(No need to fear. You can remain anonymous on this forum.)

[concernedinakita]

Please ignore the last posting!
The link should have been:

Japanese students at AIU:
Check out this forum and bring it back to life again!

http://campus.milkcafe.net/test/read.cgi/kokusaikyoyo/1092241398/l50
(No need to fear. You can remain anonymous on this forum.)

[yukidaruma]

Briefly re-reading concerned8's posts and comparing them to asa29s, they seem to be of different styles and tones. I can't see why they should be linked personally. Though of course it is not impossible more than one person is using the same account or just deliberately changing his or her communication style...

In any case I do think that flaming and accusations hold no place here if what is intended is to bring justice to the situation. That holds true regardless of who asa29 really is.

As for the student situation, we're spreading the word that things are not well at AIU. The biggest problem will be time, as we have less than two weeks...

[concernedinakita]

A little more news here from Akita...


Nakajima Former University Student Demonstration Leader
The students shouldn't worry about demonstrating. President Nakajima will understand. After all, in 1960 he was the student leader of the demonstrations against the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between Japan and the United States of America

You can read all about it (sorry, in Japanese only) and see Nakajima's photo leading the demonstration on the Sakigake-adb.co.jp "Kyo Interview" website: http://www.sakigake-adb.co.jp/kyo/interview/nakajima/index.html

[jsinden]

     I have been scanning the posts on this issue and can relate to the situation that some faculty are highly dissatisfied and some are not. I teach in Taiwan and we have only 10 foreign faculty members. Two are very unhappy here. The rest run the gamut from mildy dissatisfied to fairly happy. Myself, this is the best job that I have ever had.
     I ran into the same situation in two major US universities. In fact, there was a lot more unhappiness in those two faculties than I see here. When people get specific here, it is often the culture, the weather, the traffic, the bureaucracies etc. that is the cause of dissatisfaction rather than the school.
     Things are far from perfect at OCIT or in Taiwan in general. The country is under diplomatic, economic, and political pressure from our friendly neighbor, China. The declining birth rate is beginning to put pressure on the tertiary institutions. They will not all survive. So people are trying here. We are trying to be competitive.
      I have been here going on 4 years after retiring once and then having a tough time finding a job in the US. My Taiwanese friends recommended coming to Taiwan. PhDs in almost any subject can find a full-time job teaching English at universities or institutes of technology.
     Many students say that the foreign teachers are more serious and try harder. Those students seem to appreciate that. Students are usually receptive, polite, and quiet. The main problem is to get them to participate. This is changing though since the influence of Western culture grows every year.
     Proficiency in Chinese is NOT necessary although helpful especially in expanding your job possibilites outside of schools.
     My school is actively recruiting foreign professors particularly from North America although we have teachers who teach in English here who are from Iran and Austria. The Austrians teach in International Trade and the MBA program.
     The salaries are not up to Western standards but the cost of living is so low that a lot of money can be saved depending on your life style. I had heard that Japan was a good place to teach, but the big cities especially Tokyo were expensive to live in. If you are not happy in Japan, it is a two hour plane ride to Taiwan and you can check it out.