« April 2005 | Main | June 2005 »

May 24, 2005

Faculty meeting goodness

No sarcasm* included, either.

First, if you haven't read this post first, do so. It sets up the context.

We had a faculty meeting today about the current situation with the GBC. I got all kinds of information, and all kinds of perspectives. (Again, I feel the need to issue the disclaimer that I do not speak for Shorter College, these are my own opinions - but I feel a bit better that I'm on the same page as everybody else, particularly my fellow faculty members.) Some of the information I got today I can't share publicly, of course, and I hope you understand that - but I think most of what I'll say will satisfy.

Most important thing to know: There are rumors beginning to spread about Shorter's accreditation status, and some of those rumors have started to come back to the current administration. IF YOU HEAR ANYBODY TELLING YOU THAT SHORTER IS LOSING THEIR ACCREDITATION IN THE SHORT TERM, THAT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. Fact the first, SACS doesn't work that way - there is a process, and a fairly public process at that, that SACS goes through before anybody's accreditation gets pulled, and SACS doesn't pull accreditation without substantial warning. Shorter is accredited now, and Shorter will be accredited even if SACS gets concerned enough about goings-on to put Shorter on probation. Once again, this supreme court decision does not mean that "the GBC has won and Shorter is dead" - far, far from it. All systems are still go, and the status quo will be maintained for the immediate future in all respects, even and especially the accreditation aspect.

But even more than SACS' procedures, the one thing that the GBC's statements and Shorter's statements have in common is a committment to keeping Shorter accredited, period. Whatever you think about either side, both have put their words out there that they're willing to do what is necessary to keep Shorter out of jeopardy with SACS. I can't see any reason at this point not to take both sides at their word, and I firmly believe that there will be a solution that comes out that meets the GBC's needs and keeps Shorter in good standing with SACS.

Of course, the simple fact of the matter is that this process will end with a GBC-appointed board of trustees at Shorter College. The means to this end are yet to be determined, but that end will be achieved. I know there are those of you who were invested in this not happening. All I can say at this point is: I'm sorry, but I don't intend to go anywhere, and I really hope you don't either.

(Interesting side note: There are actually legal concerns if anybody on the faculty takes any students aside and says "yeah, it's going to h-e-double-hockey-sticks here at Shorter, you really ought to transfer." As in, the GBC could go back to the courts and argue, if enrollment drops as they take over, that the Shorter faculty conspired to dismantle the student body of the college before the GBC took it over, and go after individuals on the faculty or the whole faculty for damages. So there is LEGAL reason to be positive!

That said, I hope y'all know me well enough to know that I'm not just saying what I say to cover my butt and suck up to the incoming Georgia Baptist Overlords. There is going to be enough misinformation running around over the coming days and weeks that, if I really wanted to do encourage people to leave, I wouldn't have to say anything at all - just let the rumor mill take its course. The fact is, I'm saying stuff because I want to keep the misinformation refuted, I want you to know what's really going down, and frankly, if you're a student at Shorter and reading this, I want you to stay - and right now, there really isn't a reason for you NOT to stay.)

The one other impression I want to make sure you're left with is this: This could have been a really awful faculty meeting. There could have been all kinds of sniping back and forth about how we got to this point. There could have been announcements of exactly who is leaving, and why, and we could be getting the feeling of rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship right now. (I think I mixed that metaphor, sorry.)

It wasn't. In fact, the faculty was remarkably unified. And if you are a student at Shorter College, you were what unified them.

I have been on faculties before that gave all kinds of lip service to caring about the students, but when push came to shove, not a finger was lifted on their behalf. I have become an outcast for standing up for students when nobody else would. So it was incredibly gratifying - and really made me feel like I had made the right move to come to Shorter, all of this stuff aside - that, almost to a man, the faculty and administration spoke so passionately about making sure the students of Shorter College were taken care of.

Our president today was as emotional today as I've ever seen him. Dr. Newman has been certain all along that, at the end of the day, the position of "new Shorter" would be vindicated, and it wasn't - and, again, it would have been very forgivable if he had felt like he didn't owe anybody anything else. So it is extremely admirable that he was able to stand up and say that - for the student's sake - we need to do everything we can to keep Shorter as strong as possible, even stronger than it has been, in this interim period while we await a transition to the reconstituted board of trustees.

And faculty member after faculty member affirmed that. At the end of the day, if we act out in defeat and start to undermine what's now the GBC's college, then we haven't done right by the students who are caught in the middle. And we as faculty are nothing without our students.

Sitting back and thinking about that, I can honestly say that I've never felt so sure that I am in the right place as I do right now. It might feel strange to say that in light of current events, and the uncertainty that comes with them. But I've been trying my whole professional life to find a place that values the same things about students that I do. And, whatever happens next, I truly believe Shorter College is that place.

Keep praying. Just because I'm optimistic doesn't mean that there's not still a TON that could go wrong. But, frankly, a lot of that involves the rumor mill and the misinformation that is flying around even now - if you read this, tell everyone with an interest what the facts are, and that they should be patient.

And don't leave us. Not yet. Hopefully not ever.

(That last sentence is directed at one person in particular, and she knows who she is.)

---

*I just realized that I misused the word "irony" when I originally wrote this. All apologies to the stupid English majors in our midst.

Posted by Chuck at 04:05 PM | Comments (5)

May 23, 2005

In the interest of keeping panic at a minimum...

(I don't know how many people from Shorter read this that don't already read the Xanga or the LJ, but I feel compelled to post this all three places for completeness. There's going to be a TON of misinformation running around over the next few days, and I feel compelled to issue the "calm downs"...)

If you have anything to do with Shorter, you need to know that the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling on Shorter's status today that is mostly in the favor of the Georgia Baptist Convention, saying that the college's reogranization two years ago for the purposes of taking all control of seating trustees away from the GBC was improper.


Understand, before I got any further, that even though I get a paycheck from Shorter and are thrilled with my employment here, that these comments do not represent Shorter College. They are my own. Apart from liking my employers a great deal and wanting to keep my employment for as long as possible, I don't have much in the way of opinions in this fight.


I think the single most important thing I can tell anybody right now is not to panic - nothing that will change at Shorter is going to change overnight. Here's the key paragraph from the AP story:


The 4-3 ruling upheld an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals and directed the trial court to restore control of the college to its previous state.

The emphasis is mine, and the reason for that emphasis is (as best I understand matters) the Supreme Court has not permitted the GBC to take over Shorter now; they have returned the matter of how the college will be restored to its previous state as a decision for the district court (that orignally ruled in Shorter's favor, and has now been overruled) to make. Those decisions will not be made overnight. They will take time. I believe there is, even now, some possibility that the GBC and Shorter will come to a settlement that would end litigation (although if such negotiations go on, obviously the upper hand has now shifted to the GBC).


I found out the ruling was in, amazingly enough, during my first visit to the Shorter campus in Marietta. I had gone there for a users' group meeting for the classroom/registration management software we use, and I was getting a few tips on how to use SCHOLAR better when the guy directing our session noticed that he had e-mail in, and given that there were some of us in the room from Shorter, he was kind enough to put that e-mail on the projector screen.


We thought "well, that's not good", commisserated a bit, and then turned right back around and went back to our session on SCHOLAR.


That's the general sentiment around here, as much as I've seen. Bottom line, despite the fact that we now have a ruling, we still don't know what is going to happen next. None of the freshman orientation sessions have been cancelled, I'm still teaching physics starting in June, all the faculty I normally see on campus are still here today and going about their business - there is significant question about where we go from here, except that (for the immediate future) everything will continue as scheduled.


So please nobody say "oh no, the GBC won" and immediately start making arrangements to transfer. That time hasn't arrived yet, and I'm honestly not sure that time will arrive at all - frankly, the GBC has invested too much time and money into this fight to win and effectively shut down or destroy the school. It's very difficult for me to envision them not recognizing the accreditation issue that will now emerge, and taking useful step to make sure that SACS stays happy and the school remains accredited.


For my part, I'll do my best to keep information flowing, and keep misinformation to a minimum. But, most importantly, be patient, and make sure we have all the facts in before any of you decide to do anything rash.


Oh yes, there's one other thing you can do. And I say this with every measure of sincerity, without one iota of sarcasm or irony.


Pray.


At the end of the day, one of the major issues here is what Christian education means. I'm afraid a lot of us have a lot of different views on where we should be coming from in developing Christian world-views, or teaching based on Christian principles, or whatever. But - I dunno. Maybe it's my Methodist upbringing, maybe it's my idealism, whatever - but I just can't get around the idea that all of us who call ourselves Christians are on the same team, and all of us who believe in "Christian education" really want the same ultimate thing - an education for our students that is more meaningful and more profound than simply a smattering of facts, principles and techniques towards getting a job, that truly does point towards that God Himself wants for our lives.


What's going on here at Shorter affects how people, not just in Rome and Georgia, but around the country, view us as Christians. I just really feel moved to ask everyone to pray for a solution here, and not a court-imposed solution either that betrays our divisions but a positive solution that points to the unity of purpose we should have.


Because, no matter what side you're on, being divided sucks.

Posted by Chuck at 03:35 PM

May 11, 2005

Feynman rocks

I know, it's been forever since I updated this thing. It's been forever since I updated a lot of things.

I just wanted to give this link to some old letters from Richard Feynman because there was one sentiment inside that absolutely clobbered me. Feynman was so awesome because he was never shy about throwing up his hands and admitting "I don't know" when confronted with a problem he didn't understand. Oh, would we feel so free to be so clueless when confronted.

And this response to a lost student was just...well, read it.

A former student wrote to extend his congratulations on the Nobel. Feynman responded, asking what he was now doing. The response, "studying the Coherence theory with some application to the propagation of electromagnetic waves through turbulent atmosphere ... a humble and down-to-the-earth type of problem".

To Koichi Mano, February 3 1966

I was very happy to hear from you, and that you have such a position in the Research Laboratories. Unfortunately your letter made me unhappy for you seem to be truly sad. The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. A problem is grand in science if it lies before us unsolved and we see some way for us to make a little headway into it. I would advise you to take even simpler, or as you say, humbler, problems until you find some you can really solve easily, no matter how trivial. You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you. You must not take away from yourself these pleasures because you have some erroneous idea of what is worthwhile. No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it. You say you are a nameless man. You are not to your wife and to your child. You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office.

You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself — it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naive ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals are.

Don't y'all remain nameless to me either.

Too many things going on right now. Too many good things to report on. I have to find a good place to start. I'll work on that for later.

Posted by Chuck at 10:44 PM | Comments (3)