A COLLEGE degree is an essential prerequisite to make it in the fiercely competitive workforce. But "what counts to a degree in the College of Arts and Sciences?" wonders Frank Papovich, Assistant Dean for International Studies. On this touchy subject, faculty and administration are prone to disagree -- note, for example, the recent fervor over the Semester at Sea program. With Harvard President Larry Summers' resignation at the behest of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, it is clear that this controversy is not limited to the University. So the question becomes not only what constitutes a liberal arts education, but who gets to decide -- faculty or administration? Not surprisingly, amid all this ivory tower power jockeying, one fact of reality is forgotten -- it is ultimately up to future employers to decide the skills they choose to hire.
The lead up to the faculty outrage over the Semester at Sea program is eerily reminiscent of post-World War I diplomacy. President Wilson, idealistic former Princeton professor, triumphantly negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. Unfortunately, he neglected to discuss his sweeping international plans with Congress; as such, it refused to ratify the treaty and the U.S. ultimately never joined the League.
Similarly, the University administration, fresh from glad-handing wealthy alumni, recently accepted the Semester at Sea program with a token, prima facie academic audit by Assoc. College Dean Karen Ryan of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences, deeply offended at not having been consulted along the way, has been making a ruckus ever since.
Prof. Ellen Contini-Morava, chairwoman of the Anthropology Department, accurately sums up the faculty's position, "Because the faculty is in charge of curriculum...they should play an important deciding role in what kind of curriculum choices the University makes." Yet this type of argument leads down a dangerous road where the input of the administration becomes marginalized and the practicality of the education received to required job skills is ignored entirely.
While the previous statement may seem a gross exaggeration, it is reality at Harvard University. If it were up to the FAS, all university administrations would ever do is fundraise, hand out paychecks and thank the faculty for being such good intellectuals. Larry Summers, an academic himself, was ousted in an internal power struggle just a few weeks ago. The FAS censured him with two votes of no confidence for making the outlandish claims that tenured professors should teach undergraduates, divestment from Israel is anti-Semitic, and that it is possible that there is a greater variance in scientific talent among men than among women.
According to The Economist, Summers had been hired by the Harvard Corporation to be a reformist with a "mandate for change." Unfortunately for him, the faculty was perfectly content with the status quo and was loath to see anyone chip away at their power. Their fiercely guarded monopoly over all matters remotely academic -- including opinions and finances -- brought about his downfall.
The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University does not seem to be nearly as power-hungry, but its aversion to the administration making executive decisions is in a similar vein. While greater consultation with the faculty over academic standards with respect to the Semester at Sea program would have been welcome, it is the purview of the administration to be able to make university-wide decisions.
The top administrators are the alumni's elected (albeit indirectly) representatives within the University. With all the millions alumni donate, they are entitled to a degree of accountability and the administration must have a free hand in decision-making in order to actually be effective. The implications of some of these decisions, as in the case of Semester at Sea, may spill over into the faculty's domain at times.
However, that is no reason to constrain the administration's decision-making power, per se. Furthermore, the main attraction of a university is the increased job placement and salary opportunities it affords. Academic professors are far more out of touch with the business world than administrators whose job, first and foremost, is to raise money.
A college degree is not very useful if it can't get you a job. Even those who learn for the sake of knowledge hope to be employed one day as well. The true measure of the value of a degree works itself out in the labor market where firms ultimately decide what counts for a liberal arts education. One day someone will think to ask some businesses in Virginia whether the Semester at Sea program will affect the possibility of job offers or salary. Until then, we can only hope that the University's faculty-administration tensions never turn out like Harvard's.
Josh Levy is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.
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