Thursday, August 02, 2007
Climate of Secrecy
[The following comments are from the Report of the WASC Special Investigation Team to New College of California dated May 31, 2007.]
Our finding is that in several specifiable instances, most specifically those involving the PHLUTE program, some classes may be sufficiently doubtful of content as to rate them suspect.
The PHLUTE program is a BA degree marketed primarily to the San Francisco African American community. Students attend class each term for about 56 hours instead of the usual 300 that would be required for 20 units. This practice strikes us as a gross misapplication of academic advising, program administration, and program design [by vice presidents Michael McAvoy, Linda Myers, and Bob Brown].
Input about the PHLUTE program from several sources highlights a number of additional issues of concern. One is the climate of secrecy and differential treatment of students in the program. Further, the team was provided with information indicating that the PHLUTE program, originally housed in Humanities, appears to have been moved to Psychology.
Humanities is the only department that has a WASC-approved Bachelor's degree; the Psychology department is not authorized to award Bachelor's degrees. It is also hard to understand how one department could oversee and administer a program whose faculty are retained by another department.
PHLUTE was not approved by any of the governing entities.
Our finding is that in several specifiable instances, most specifically those involving the PHLUTE program, some classes may be sufficiently doubtful of content as to rate them suspect.
The PHLUTE program is a BA degree marketed primarily to the San Francisco African American community. Students attend class each term for about 56 hours instead of the usual 300 that would be required for 20 units. This practice strikes us as a gross misapplication of academic advising, program administration, and program design [by vice presidents Michael McAvoy, Linda Myers, and Bob Brown].
Input about the PHLUTE program from several sources highlights a number of additional issues of concern. One is the climate of secrecy and differential treatment of students in the program. Further, the team was provided with information indicating that the PHLUTE program, originally housed in Humanities, appears to have been moved to Psychology.
Humanities is the only department that has a WASC-approved Bachelor's degree; the Psychology department is not authorized to award Bachelor's degrees. It is also hard to understand how one department could oversee and administer a program whose faculty are retained by another department.
PHLUTE was not approved by any of the governing entities.
