Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Running on Empty
In my September 2 post The Curtain Rises, I pointed to a weblog established for the purpose of documenting the saga of a theater arts professor battling retribution for his exposure of embezzling by his department chair and other improprieties that hinder student learning and faculty development on the campus of Western Washington University where I once attended long ago. Since posting my commentary, many additional documents and comments have been added that ensure that when the whole story is told--sometime after the trial beginning in US District Court finally runs its course--commonly held perceptions of institutions of higher learning as bastions of free speech and scholarship should be thoroughly ravaged.
Perhaps, though, I am sadly mistaken in my assessment, and most consumers of university credentials seek not knowledge or growth as human beings but merely meal tickets and a license to steal. But for those who do value ideas and the education of our country's children in the arts and sciences of maintaining an open society for instance, the widespread institutional resistance to non-conformity--indeed to integrity--amply illustrated by the forthcoming reports and anecdotes surrounding the Professor Mills saga, signals an alarming situation with no remedy in sight.
Having gone about my higher education in fits and starts with little direction until completing my graduate studies thirty years after attending my first class in community college, I must say things on campus have gotten worse. But short of citing surveys on the topic, I can only relate my most recent experience.
Due to my extensive and lengthy involvement in public affairs, as well as my non-traditional, non-career track approach to my education, I chose to enroll in a private college in a humanities and leadership program where I might fully explore and express my interests in political science curriculum development oriented toward safeguarding communities from the malign neglect of the state and market. With a scholarship recognizing my exemplary community service, and a work/study job in the college library, I was able to write and publish two books, outline a graduate level course in activism and social change, as well as produce a portfolio of my experiential learning.
And because the raison d'tere of the college I attended is the "creation of a more just, sacred and sustainable world," I offered my unqualified assistance in bringing the new graduate program to fruition. But, alas, I was mistaken in taking this noble institutional posture for the real thing, and in the end I was ostracized for both my constructive criticism and my concern for the well-being of other students who were being dangerously misled by the celebrated performers of moral theatrics chosen to fill the new teaching positions. After all was said and done, this collegial enclave where I had managed to thrive--despite the sycophantic culture--snatched my ideas and ran, leaving me with a largely useless advanced degree and a mountain of student debt.
Perhaps, though, I am sadly mistaken in my assessment, and most consumers of university credentials seek not knowledge or growth as human beings but merely meal tickets and a license to steal. But for those who do value ideas and the education of our country's children in the arts and sciences of maintaining an open society for instance, the widespread institutional resistance to non-conformity--indeed to integrity--amply illustrated by the forthcoming reports and anecdotes surrounding the Professor Mills saga, signals an alarming situation with no remedy in sight.
Having gone about my higher education in fits and starts with little direction until completing my graduate studies thirty years after attending my first class in community college, I must say things on campus have gotten worse. But short of citing surveys on the topic, I can only relate my most recent experience.
Due to my extensive and lengthy involvement in public affairs, as well as my non-traditional, non-career track approach to my education, I chose to enroll in a private college in a humanities and leadership program where I might fully explore and express my interests in political science curriculum development oriented toward safeguarding communities from the malign neglect of the state and market. With a scholarship recognizing my exemplary community service, and a work/study job in the college library, I was able to write and publish two books, outline a graduate level course in activism and social change, as well as produce a portfolio of my experiential learning.
And because the raison d'tere of the college I attended is the "creation of a more just, sacred and sustainable world," I offered my unqualified assistance in bringing the new graduate program to fruition. But, alas, I was mistaken in taking this noble institutional posture for the real thing, and in the end I was ostracized for both my constructive criticism and my concern for the well-being of other students who were being dangerously misled by the celebrated performers of moral theatrics chosen to fill the new teaching positions. After all was said and done, this collegial enclave where I had managed to thrive--despite the sycophantic culture--snatched my ideas and ran, leaving me with a largely useless advanced degree and a mountain of student debt.
