Potential Auburn applicants, this was shared by a former college administrator and current enrollment management strategist who said that students should be made aware “of the way those pillars are being dismantled on a daily basis”. BE AWARE : Auburn Board Takes Curricular Control, Dissolves Senate
"The Auburn University Board of Trustees on Friday gave itself complete control over course offerings, curriculum, degree requirements and academic credentials while eliminating shared governance at the Alabama land-grant university. Faculty say they have serious concerns about the policies and a host of unanswered questions about what the changes will mean in practice.
The two policies, passed unanimously without discussion, mimic what Alabama House Bill 580 will require of other public institutions when it takes effect in October. As a land-grant institution created and governed by the state Constitution, Auburn isn’t explicitly bound by the law, but lawmakers have made veiled threats to punish noncompliance anyway by withholding state funding for offending institutions. The university appears to be taking a page out of Texas public institutions’ playbook by pre-emptively overcomplying with new state law, experts say."
The second policy approved Friday gives the board “ultimate authority” over curriculum…The board “recognizes the important role of faculty expertise in curriculum development, course design, academic review, assessment, and continuous improvement,” the policy states. It goes on to say faculty have the primary responsibility to “deliver” academic programs and that Auburn’s curriculum-development processes should allow faculty to give advice and recommendations, but that “curriculum and courses are institutional matters subject to … final approval through the authority of the Board or through such administrative delegation as the Board may authorize.”
Suffice it to say, I have grave concerns about any university where the board of trustees or its designee will be the one to determine the curriculum. Add this as one more thing to be aware of when researching colleges.
The policy also appears to pre-empt any potential challenge from Auburn’s accreditor: “No external standard, recommendation, norm, action, or process shall limit the Board’s authority over institutional curriculum and course policy matters or require the University to act contrary to law or Board policy,” the policy states. Auburn’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, requires that faculty have primary responsibility for the “content, quality and effectiveness” of the curriculum.
I guess they’re counting on the Commission for Public Higher Education (related thread) to come to fruition and in enough time that SACS won’t be able to ding them on the curriculum portion.
I actually had posted this in hodge podge in the political forum, because it’s well, political. Note that Auburn was exempt from the state law that takes effect this October, but the board of trustees still chose this path for the school.
Shared governance is often overstated (to the detriment of faculty and students), but it’s terrifying that universities might now feel empowered to do away with even that veneer. Boards are often political appointees, or loyalists to the university administration. In the best cases, they have a vested interest in higher education, but their members rarely know much about the ins and outs of universities, and they almost never have a grasp on disciplinary standards that should drive curricular decisions at the departmental and university levels. If this is the way things are headed, it’s going to turn out very badly for higher education, which has been for so has been celebrated around the globe (and yes, I know - this isn’t the only recent assault on American higher ed).
And I’d add, not just colleges who have actually done it but the context in which others might potentially do it. There were other reasons C26 was only looking in blue states, but in hindsight this should have been a consideration as well.
The fact of the matter is that politics affects where kids choose to go to college though. As long as different states enact different laws that affect college students, it has to be taken into account.