“I am having trouble, @JBStillFlying , following your speculations regarding these hidden faculty manipulators. If they or he/she truly have a strongly held contrary position on this matter and want to go public with it (as opposed to having an internal discussion with those in charge) are you saying you would be OK with that? I assume that those in charge would not be OK with that.”
It wouldn’t matter if those in charge are OK or not - tenure decisions are overwhelmingly determined at the department level with minimal interference from those above - and if someone’s already tenured they would have to commit something eggregious like academic fraud or a capital crime to be dismissed.
As to whether I’m personally for academics speaking out - I have no opinion. To me it’s just another issue at UChicago. Faculty manipulating students - on this or anything else - would be another matter - obviously I’d be against that.
“I keep making the point and will make it again that the Maroon - with or without input from dissident faculty - is not in full-throated battlecry against this major but is merely seeking some form of disclosure of the details to the whole of the University community. Is that the best the dissidents, if they are operating behind the scenes here, can manage to get from their puppets?”
- Actually, @phoenix1616 has named the ringleader of the Poster People - the person wrote an Op Ed in the Maroon and here is that link: https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2018/1/30/business-usual/
I still can’t seem to locate that google docs link on the 2/13 Katie Akin piece so wondering if my regular browser won’t let me see it? That seems odd. This parent needs some tech support!
“You say that the case needs to be made for the innovation of involving the whole of the University community in the discussion of a new major. But how is that case to be made when the necessary information to make it is ex hypothesi not being provided? How does anyone with a question or potential objection get off that dime?”
- I don't necessarily think a case needs to be made. I'm actually for resolving these things in faculty committees and letting the major play out for a bit before any tweaks and changes (kind of like what happened to LLS). I AM saying that those demanding transparency so that a case COULD be made need to be just as transparent. Perhaps that's happening.
I simply don’t see how this major can be assumed to contradict a liberal education. The Liberal Ed. requirement wouldn’t change. Number of electives won’t change. Approximately 1/3 of total course work would be in the major compared to 2/3 if it was a professional program. You guys are fixated on a concept of liberal ed that defies what UChicago is doing currently, never mind with this new major.