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EDITORIAL: Money-saving tactics key
Less focus on restructuring
Forum | 5/19/09
Posted online at 4:05 PM EST on 5/18/09
Another specific instance of CARS' oversight appears in Section 3 of the Supplemental Report of the CARS Committee. The report acknowledges several departments' analyses of its suggestion to reduce their respective target faculty sizes. The departments explained to the committee that these reductions would harm undergraduate or graduate curricula. CARS' response to these concerns is to make no change; the committee claims in its report that it does not "have the time for the analysis and conversation with the affected departments that would be necessary to get these [analyses] right." This is not the appropriate way for CARS to conduct its research for the academic restructuring process. The committee should not have to wait for the departments to prove it wrong. The committee's task is to make reasonable suggestions based on meticulous analysis.
This is not the first time we have witnessed major backpedaling due to poorly conducted investigations. In the case of study abroad, the University paid no attention to merit scholars' admissions letters guaranteeing them the right to transfer their aid to their preferred study abroad programs. The University soon reversed that decision because the community pointed out the tremendous flaws in its research. Likewise, the CARS committee's proposal to convert AMST, AAAS and Classics into interdepartmental programs sparked similar outrage and mistrust in the Brandeis community. In the future, the University must ensure that its committees do proper research before proposing major changes.
After the April 23 faculty meeting, when the CARS committee's proposal to restructure the three affected departments was rejected, Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS) said, "[Changing] the three departments into programs is not a prudent idea. It's clear and it was stated at the meeting that it's not going to save money." This editorial board concurs. If saving money is truly this University's objective, then the first consideration when proposing radical changes to Brandeis' cherished curriculum must be analyzing these proposals' monetary effects.
This is not the first time we have witnessed major backpedaling due to poorly conducted investigations. In the case of study abroad, the University paid no attention to merit scholars' admissions letters guaranteeing them the right to transfer their aid to their preferred study abroad programs. The University soon reversed that decision because the community pointed out the tremendous flaws in its research. Likewise, the CARS committee's proposal to convert AMST, AAAS and Classics into interdepartmental programs sparked similar outrage and mistrust in the Brandeis community. In the future, the University must ensure that its committees do proper research before proposing major changes.
After the April 23 faculty meeting, when the CARS committee's proposal to restructure the three affected departments was rejected, Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS) said, "[Changing] the three departments into programs is not a prudent idea. It's clear and it was stated at the meeting that it's not going to save money." This editorial board concurs. If saving money is truly this University's objective, then the first consideration when proposing radical changes to Brandeis' cherished curriculum must be analyzing these proposals' monetary effects.
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