ustxtxb_obs_1968_12_13_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

are forever pressed down by ponderous bundles of papers with small legends. What do those labels say?” The monster stirred and made a morbid chuckling sound that fluttered through the seam of his mouth: “MAGIC . . . BIBLIOGRAPHIES . . . BEAUTIFUL BIBLIOGRAPHIES.” He moaned with joy. “But where are your glasses, oh monstrous dean?” asked Dante. “I DON’T NEED THEM ANY MORE,” said the dean, joining the digits of his flippers in a posture of huge and complacent deliberation. At this moment, however, his composure was suddenly put a-tremble as by an earthquake, for he had been gazing out the window as he spoke. “LOOK. LOOK. THEY’RE COMING. Arlington Fiat and ukase from Texas czars regarding Texas education is the order of the day. The latest news release issued by Frank Erwin in the name of the board of regents concerning the development of a new school at Dallas came as a complete surprise to the UT-Arlington faculty and administration. This new announcement has caused concern among the faculty and the administration because it mentions a concept of the UTDallas school not hitherto discussed: We shall continue to recommend that there be created in Dallas county a new state-supported four-year general academic institution as a part of the University of Texas system, that the state accept the generous multi-million dollar offer of the assets of the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, and that those assets be used as a base upon which to build a great new academic institution to be known as the University of Texas at Dallas. Such an institution would have prospects of becoming one of the outstanding universities in the country. Texas has done it again. At this point in the development of the University of Texas at Arlingtona critical point involving graduate programs, building programs and all the other difficulties involved in trying to ignite the light of reason in this cave of Mammon the political and economic interests of the community have spoken without the benefit of consultation with those most interested in the educational process teachers. A few days ago even the chambers of commerce of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington offered a joint opinion upon the proposals of the co-ordinating board and the UT regents. Where was the statement from the faculty? There was none. The faculty was neither consulted nor advised in the matters of these far-reach The writer is a member of the UTArlington English faculty. He holds a bachelor’s degree from North Texas State, a master’s from UT-Austin and is working now on his doctorate. He has been at Arlington the last six years. 6 The Texas Observer GO. GO. I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH IMPORTANT PEOPLE.” The sun was blocked out as big, bulging black objects, far more immense than the dean, came shaking the earth and towering over the random clutch of silent buildings. “Who is that?” rasped Dante. “IT IS A DELEGATION FROM DAL-LAS,” sputtered the dean as he rushed to meet them. “Hell!” said Dante when he had recovered his breath. “You said the moon. And what do you mean `paradise’? Our system went completely wrong. We passed the time barrier, gained a century or two, and fell back into Texas.” “I was just reading the log,” I mumbled, wondering who has the Friday Club next. ing proposals, and it was largely held in ignorance of any plans at all. The latest proposals to establish a ceiling on the enrollment at UTA; incorporate UTA, Southwestern Medical School, and the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies into a North Central Texas complex under the UT system; and to build a senior college at Dallas were formulated without even a passing recognition of the availability of valuable opinion and advice from the UTA faculty. Some of the proposals are new the manner in which they were conceived is not. The plain fact Harry Hanks is that in matters of higher education in this state the group charged with the execution of educational policies on the campuses and in the classrooms is seldom sounded for advice and is never sounded for ideas. THE HISTORY of ignoring faculty voice in developmental programs at UTA is long, but perhaps the arrogant and deaf ears of various governing boards of this institution have become more noticeable within the last ten years or so. In 1958 it was decided that Arlington State College would be elevated from junior college to senior college status. Shortly thereafter it was decided that Arlington should have graduate programs. And within this year, it has been decided that some manner of regional complex should ‘be established in the North Central Texas area. In each instance the decisions have been conveyed to the faculty of UT-Arlington through local news media rather than through normal administrative channels; and in each instance, the decisions have come as complete surprises. Aside from the fact that these surprising announcements keep the faculty in a state of confusion, they also make the recruiting of talented scholars and teachers most difficult. A great many of the professors in our engineering and science schools were hired with the understanding that they would be instrumental in the development of new and imaginative graduate programs. These surprises have the effect of making such people gaze into the future and wonder if that future might not lie elsewhere. The practice of the participation of faculties in the major decisions concerning the role and scope of their respective schools is widely accepted throughout Europe and most of the United States. Perhaps the problem is that governing boards in Texas have never thought to consult faculties since such a procedure has no tradition in this ,state. Perhaps it is a basic distrust of tecichers and pro-, fessors by the boards. Judging from the general level of academic achievement of most of the members of such boards, one would guess that distrust of the staff is the more likely. Certainly such uneasiness is understandable; teachers are notoriously sacrilegious in their homage to the gods of the governing boards; after all, faculties are not really concerned with providing cheap skilled labor for the business community, nor ‘are they properly impressed by the high priests of Texas who are shareholders in Mammon’s temple. In fact, the teacher is considered a dangerous heretic who should be allowed to practice his profession only after declaring that if he doesn’t personally keep the faith, he at least doesn’t support any group of reformationists. Anyone wishing to see the type of persons who direct the course of higher education in this state can find representatives on various chambers of commerce or civic clubs in most any town. Not that this group should not be represented in the decision making processthey should indeed, but not to’ the total exclusion, of persons who are familiar with the academic community. Naturally, there are several ways in which this oversight can be corrected, but two ways seem most feasible: either the appointment of faculty representatives to the boards, or the submission by an elected faculty committee of a list of nominees for vacancies on the boards to the governor for appointment. The first of these would help governing boards to avoid rash policies which bring the administrations of the schools into conflict with the faculty proper and with the principles of faculty organizations. The second would allow the ‘faculties to at least have a voice in the selection of the persons who are to be responsible for planning the futures of state schools. Anyway, almost any alternative to the present system of appointing political hacks \(“foolish and immoderate politician” is the term used by the UT-Austin arts and military officers \(who view any dissent men who are motivated more by profit Faculty Ignored