Univeristy of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs and Main Campus Provost Rosemary Haggett have hired a firm called the Learning Alliance from Philadelphia, PA to "review" or "strategically assess" the College of Arts and Sciences. From the perspective of the faculty, whom we represent, this process will have little to no credibility until the administration has resolved the issue of Dean Yueh-Ting Lee's tenure as leader of the College.
As represented by a nearly unanimous Arts and Sciences Council vote, the will of the faculty is that the Dean be asked to resign or be transferred to a position that will make better use of his talents. When asked directly, the provost is only willing to say that they are continuing to gather input and information. The provost insists on saying that the faculty critique is only one perspective. We are not sure whose perspective should weigh more heavily than those who fulfill the university's mission to its students and who work most closely with the dean and rely on him for leadership and as a liaison to the university administration.
We suggest to the provost that assessing the dean's performance in his job is not a matter of "perspective" but one of judgment. The faculty is in the best position to make this judgment and must deal most directly with the consequences of his performance. The provost should use her judgment and think about whose voices have the most credibility and weigh more heavily than others in this matter.
The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences welcomes a strategic assessment, but not under these conditions. It has been widely noted that the interviewers conducting the assessment will not get valid answers to their questions if faculty, students and staff are simply wondering why a discredited dean is still in office. We hope we can move forward with the review under fair and stable circumstances. That remains in the hands of the provost.
Arts and Sciences Council Executive Committee Members
Dr. Renee Heberle, Dr. Brian Patrick, Dr. Lawrence Huang-Anderson, Dr. Linda Rouillard (for Ruth Hottel), Dr. Charles Creutz, Dr. Ray Marchionni, Dr. David Davis
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