tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post895363153122655906..comments2024-03-12T23:02:00.600-05:00Comments on Northern Valley Beacon: The biggest threat to higher education--and democracy-- is businessDavid Newquisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-41948619045715499822017-05-07T08:03:27.349-05:002017-05-07T08:03:27.349-05:00In the early 1980s, Bill Janklow eliminated the l...In the early 1980s, Bill Janklow eliminated the last professional educator from the Board of Regents. Since then, the Regents have been run largely with a business orientation, which is often in direct conflict with the purposes and principles of higher education. That is how the universities have gotten involved in the kind of fiscal predation and fraud that characterizes the EB-5 and Gear Up schemes. Students and sound education were not even considerations in the Gear Up fraud. <br /><br />There is a terribly discouraging effect on places such as Northern. For over a century Northern concerned itself with offering opportunities for students and serving the purposes of education. For many years, for example, Northern teaching graduates staffed 49 percent of the classrooms in the state. Its provided those graduates with sound and well-rounded educations. Through its efforts it became what an accreditor terms “a classy little college.” But as “bean counters” took oversight of the system, it has eliminated and cheapened programs in the name of saving money and offering a salable “product.” Nevertheless, the faculty for the most part has stuck to purposes of learning and education and maintained the opportunities for students. <br /><br />However, the reputation of Northern has been damaged, although one president took effective measures to halt the damage and restore the integrity of the institution. And most faculty are dedicated to offering a reputable, competitive education. An alumnus asked a group of former faculty where they sent their children to college. Within my circle of faculty, most went out-of-state. (My oldest daughter started at Northern, but graduated from Metropolitan State in Denver.) Minnesota seems to be a favored place.<br /><br />You ask how Minnesota compares with South Dakota. There are very good programs in South Dakota that compare favorably with Minnesota, but Minnesota provides more and less interference. School boards and boards of regents are supposed to be the conduit of information and mediation between the professional staffs and the public, not a board that manages academic affairs. That is the essential difference between the two states. The regents in South Dakota, under the guise of controlling costs, have eliminated academic programs—my department was transformed into a service department rather than a powerful major department—and some transcripts do not compare well academically. <br />David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-15354312949857533792017-05-05T11:17:41.618-05:002017-05-05T11:17:41.618-05:00I am anonymous with the two above comments. It is...I am anonymous with the two above comments. It is not just Northern that has been compromised but all of the public universities in South Dakota. It is too bad what has happened to my home state. When I visit with parents and high school students it would be better to advocate for those universities in Minnesota for example rather than any in South Dakota. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-86959297251071458352017-05-04T14:50:05.915-05:002017-05-04T14:50:05.915-05:00Generally how are the state universities in Minnes...Generally how are the state universities in Minnesota as a comparison to South Dakota?<br /><br />I appreciate your reply to my post above! It saddens me to read about what has happened to Northern. I went to Northern and had a great experience there but had one terrible Political Science professor who did not last long. Given what I read in how Northern has been involved in scandals and your past postings along with watching the unbalanced Spotlight program when I am in Aberdeen I hesitate advising anyone to attend there. Perhaps they would be better off going to a Minnesota State University or under the U of Minnesota system. <br /><br /> Given my memories of Northern and Aberdeen being my hometown I would like to see Northern excel academically but the institution continues to be used and compromised by the corrupt political system in South Dakota.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-59286707987377693322017-05-04T14:07:56.301-05:002017-05-04T14:07:56.301-05:00That phrase in the next to the last graph should b...That phrase in the next to the last graph should be "dean of the school of education," unless auto-correct knows something I don't.David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-44800604464930103722017-05-04T14:02:27.004-05:002017-05-04T14:02:27.004-05:00As a matter of policy, I generally do not post an...As a matter of policy, I generally do not post anonymous comments. However, as you raise questions that are on the minds of many, I post your query and respond.<br /><br />Northern is on the watch list. In the 1960s. Northern was censured by AAUP for its firing of a professor in political science without following due process. When I came to Northern, I was a member of AAUP and urged the administration to take whatever action was necessary to get the censure removed. AAUP sent faculty investigators to see what could be arranged. I hosted them in my home. Most of the administrators involved were no longer on the campus, and most of the faculty were unaware of the matter until the investigators held meetings and asked questions. The result was that the censure was removed from Northern and placed on the Board of Regents, along with with a censure of SDSU. The censures were eventually removed after the professors involved made monetary settlements.<br /><br />Northern had a series of presidents who operated as surrogates for the regents, not as academic leaders. Concern was raised when the Regents instituted the International Business Institute on campus. It was done so under an arrangement that exempted its director from any accountability to Northern, having a closer tie to the governor’s office of economic development. It is where the Eb-5 scheme was born and incubated. However, during a financial crunch, when President James Smith was reviewing the budget, he asked what relationship the Institute had to Northern’s academic mission and why it should be part of the budget. He severed the relationship and forced the Institute off campus. it moved to the Aberdeen Development Corp. Northern was saved from a serious tarnishment of its academic standing.<br /><br />Over the years, Northern has fired people, mostly administrators, for cause, and it has been done under appropriate procedures and with good cause. However, it still flirts with scandal. The drain of the school of business was the recipient of “consulting fees” as an evaluator of the Gear- Up project. A member of the education faculty has filed a complaint for inappropriate dismissal. At this time, I do not know if the AAUP or any other professional organization has been involved.<br /><br />I sat on the promotion and tenure committee for a number of years and noted that some individuals were promoted over those whose work and qualifications were superior. The suck buddies are cultivated, but sound work is done by professionals who resist getting drawn into competition for favor. I have been retired for many years, but am an active scholar connected with professional organizations. Programs in the arts and sciences have been diminished at Northern and it is falling behind other institutions in the quality of degrees it confers, but it does provide opportunities for a sound education. It could use administrators who are scholars, not regental henchmen.David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5371904020164697258.post-77443868388753068702017-05-04T11:43:27.125-05:002017-05-04T11:43:27.125-05:00Where does Northern presently stand in all of this...Where does Northern presently stand in all of this? Have the standards gone up or down? Spotlight the political commentary show does not seem balanced to me. Any professors at Northern that fall within what you spoke of?<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com