PrintNov. 15--To address concerns regarding Humboldt State University's accreditation process, the college held a forum Friday to discuss how to create a plan of action for prioritizing curriculum and streamlining decision making.
HSU is in the middle of an accreditation process facilitated by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or WASC, which will determine if the university demonstrates that it has clear goals and a way of achieving them. Without accreditation, the university will lose its federal financial aid.
"This is a really important opportunity for this university," President Rollin Richmond said at the forum attended by hundreds of people concerned about the university's future.
Along with Provost Robert Snyder, Richmond said the reports are giving the university a chance to take a look at its structure and make a change in a big way.
"We all need to take responsibility. We all have to work together," he said.
The WASC report said in order for HSU to reach its goals, it must unite around a common vision.
The university must be able to implement certain items cited by the WASC review team before the organization returns to the campus in spring 2010 for a review.
The WASC report calls for progress in developing a way of recording improved student learning; an improvement in business operations; an emphasis on program prioritization; a better structure for curriculum oversight; progress towards improving the success of underrepresented students; a comprehensive revision of budget planning and management; and the development of additional revenue sources.
Following WASC's suggestion, the university hired two consulting companies to produce two reports -- one to analyze the university's strategic planning and another focused on its budget.
The Keeling Associates report painted a picture of an HSU that was not coming together as a community to make or implement decisions.
"Dissonance has grown; there is a general perception of ineffective leadership at multiple levels. The university has lost its sense of common purpose and shared institutional vision. Processes of decision making are perceived as frustrating and ineffective. Administrators, staff and faculty seem fatigued, if not demoralized," the report said.
Snyder said the university does continue to struggle with its ability to work together as a campus.
"There's a lot of folks who are unhappy about lots of other folks," he said. Snyder said HSU will have to come together, but he recognized that it will be a hard task.
"I look at our past and I'm not comforted about our ability to work together," Snyder said.
Maddox Management Consulting released a preliminary report about HSU's budget.
The report summarizes that HSU needs increased clarity about future planning, as well as providing increased understanding of the budget among faculty and staff.
Audience members asked for more defined steps towards solutions, and were concerned about the prioritization of classes and who the university would assign to the cabinet that would be making decisions about the process.
Richmond said he agreed that the consultant reports did not give a definitive blue print for action, but he would look into asking for something more specific.
Snyder said prioritizing classes is not about saving money, but rather a chance to look at what curriculum can be updated to reflect changing times.
Richmond said any staff or faculty interested in serving on the decision-making cabinet is welcome to apply.
For more information, or to download the reports, go to www.humboldt.edu/~wasc.
To see more of the Times-Standard, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.times-standard.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Times-Standard, Eureka, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.