By JESSICA SCHIEBER
Liberal arts are academic subjects like literature, philosophy, mathematics, and social and physical sciences. Oklahoma’s college, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha is a Liberal Arts college. USAO is one of 30 public liberal arts colleges and universities in the U.S.
This college has recently become a hot topic after a confrontation between faculty and the university’s administration. The administration has brought up some changes that they would like to see and the professors at the school have warned that those changes could fundamentally alter the 118-year-old liberal arts college.
On Sept. 3 USAO faculty voted to adopt a resolution of no confidence in President Kayla Hale and Vice President for Academic Affairs Makenna Garrison. The vote was 40 in favor, one opposed, and four abstentions. This vote made it clear where the professors’ opinions were, and it showed that they were not happy with the changes that were previously proposed.
The vote was a result of proposed policy and structural changs that would lead to larger and more online classes and greater reliance on adjunct instructors among other changes.
Faculty leaders have asked the Board of Regents to postpone approval of the policies. Their resolution is to independent fact-finding.
USAO is a small college built around close faculty-student relationships. Faculty is more responsive to students’ goals than at large schools and members of faculty have to play multiple roles.
There are worries that these proposals threaten the university’s mission.
USAO’s administration has kept students in the dark about a recent tuition and fee hike, and the proposed policy would change the academic calendar and reduce specialized, small classes.
The faculty vote of no confidence resolution was a way for them to ask the regents to slow down the process and establish facts independently. It would also restore faculty participation in academic decision-making. The USAO Faculty Association accused the President and Vice President of Academic Affairs of failing to abide by shared governance processes and undermining academic freedom and institutional stability.
Despite this vote Regents have voted to stop offering tenure to incoming faculty members. Along with that vote came an approval of a policy change on low-enrollment courses. Beginning next spring, USAO classes with fewer than 10 students will require administrative approval. If approved those courses will not be counted towards a professor’s regular teaching load and they will instead be paid an adjunct rate of $225 per student per semester.
Students were also affected by this decision, and they walked out of classes last week in protest to the policy changes. They also showed up to the Regents Room holding signs that read “hear faculty before you vote.”
The Regents had unanimously approved every item on the agenda despite faculty’s vote of no confidence.
These changes have changed a lot about what made USAO different than other schools and now students are questioning how good their own school is. What made USAO stand out to these students is now being changed right before their eyes and the Regents have failed to listen to faculty and students’ concerns.
Regents have sent a message to those people even if they did not mean to. They sent a statement that they don’t care about the outcome, they don’t care about the voice of the people.
The people of USAO have been fighting this battle against their administration and it all was mute to the Regents. Faculty who have to face these changes every day, and students who might not be able to attend the classes the need to, were ignored in favor of President Hale and Vice President of Academic Affairs Garrison. This has given administration more power and actively took the voice of the people.