A Variety of News Shared

“Chancellor U. to Shut Down”

“The embattled Chancellor University will close in August, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Chancellor, a for-profit institution located in Cleveland, enrolled fewer than 250 students earlier this year and planned to drop its regional accreditation in the fall. The university was formed in 2008 when a group of investors, led by Michael Clifford, purchased Myers University, a struggling private nonprofit institution. Chancellor later landed Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric Co., to help run the university's management school. But Strayer University subsequently purchased the Jack Welch Management Institute”.

http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/09/chancellor-u-shut-down

More on San Francisco…

“Robert Agrella is the new "special trustee" for City College of San Francisco, which may lose its accreditation next year. The California community college system chancellor, Brice W. Harris, appointed Agrella to the role on Monday. Agrella had previous served as the system's representative on the City College governing board -- a position that was created last year, after the college's received a stiff sanction from its regional accreditor, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The new trustee position will come with added and extraordinary" powers, according to Harris”.

“Meanwhile, the American Association of University Professors weighed in with an initial take on the crisis. In a news release the faculty group cited criticisms about the commission that professors at City College and faculty union leaders in California have voiced, including that the accreditor has been "excessive and unfair" in its treatment of CCSF and other community colleges. The association promised to investigate those concerns and urged the commission to reconsider its decision to yank City College's accreditation”.

http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/09/developments-san-francisco-crisis

UMUC wins new contract

“The University of Maryland University College won a Department of Defense contract, expected to be worth $245 million over the next decade, to provide classes to troops, their families and Defense Department staffers on bases across Europe”.

“UMUC has held the contract since the end of the World War II, so the decision was not a shock, but the work had been eyed by others. UMUC also won the rights to offer M.B.A. degrees to overseas military personnel, a part of the contract previously held by the University of Phoenix”.

“The European postsecondary programs contract has a sibling contract in Asia, which UMUC also holds. Several other universities -- Central Texas College, the University of Oklahoma and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – also again secured multimillion-dollar contracts to teach European military personnel in specific fields.

Serving the needs of the U.S. military is in our DNA. We are extremely pleased and proud to continue our long history of educating troops overseas,” said UMUC President Javier Miyares in a statement. The university began sending faculty overseas in 1949”.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/09/university-maryland-university-college-wins-defense-department-contract-teach-troops

 

All worth paying attention to

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

The Saga of San Francisco’s City College..

‘There are no clear answers to the question of where City College of San Francisco’s 85,000 students will go if the college shuts down next year. That unprecedented and nightmarish scenario became a real possibility last week when the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges voted to strip the college of its accreditation in June 2014”.

“City College is San Francisco’s only two-year institution. No nearby community college is in a good position to run the college, which is California’s largest. And the idea of turning over control to another two-year college is not considered viable by college and state officials, sources said, in part because the commission does not favor it”.

“The college has a month to request a review by the accreditor. It plans to pursue one, according to a college spokeswoman. A review, however, would result in an overturned decision only if City College was able to prove that the commission made procedural errors with its decision to yank the college’s accreditation”.

“That seems unlikely given that the commission found 12 unresolved problem areas among the 14 it identified last year. Those lingering deficiencies include dangerously low cash reserves, weak leadership, acrimony among faculty members and trustees, inadequate student support services and a failure to track and measure student learning, according to the commission”.

Read the whole thing: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/08/san-francisco-community-colleges-fight-survival-may-hinge-appeal

There seems to be a lot of scrambling about what to do or whether anything should be done at this time. Whatever happens, I hope that the 85,000 students will be taken care of, and will not suffer.

 

In the end, it is all about the students

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

This Needs To Be Shared

For those who work in higher education, this is a big deal!

“Mammoth 2-Year College to Lose Accreditation”

“City College of San Francisco will lose its accreditation in one year and be shut down, its regional accreditor announced on Wednesday, unless the college can prevail in a review or appeal process with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges”.

“The two-year college, which enrolls 85,000 students, would be the largest institution ever to lose its accreditation. Without regional accreditation it would no longer receive state funding and would certainly close its doors”.

“One year ago the commission, part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, slapped a "show cause" sanction on City College for a wide range of identified problems, including dangerous budget deficits, a balky governance system and a failure to track student outcomes”.

“A subsequent report from a state agency reinforced concerns about the two-year college’s fiscal health, including that it only had enough cash reserves on hand to cover three days of operation”.

“The college "fully addressed" only two of 14 identified problem areas, the commission said in a written statement. The key remaining obstacles are a "lack of financial accountability" and deficiencies in leadership and governance”.

“Officials with the commission and the state’s community college system stressed that the decision is not final. In addition to having a year to prove that it has righted itself to the accreditor, City College could also be saved by state government”.

"State intervention is going to be absolutely necessary, said Edwin M. Lee, San Francisco’s mayor, in a conference call with reporters”.

“City College's 11 campuses and sites will remain open and accredited for the next year. It is currently registering students for the fall semester, said Thelma Skott-Skillman, the college’s interim chancellor”.

“The college, which employs about 2,700 faculty members and staff, will be managed by a special trustee who the system will appoint. The trustee will have "extraordinary powers," Brice Harris, the system's chancellor, said in a written statement”.

"We think this institution’s worth saving, Harris told reporters, and it can be saved."

“Harris and Scott-Skillman said they were disappointed by the decision. Lee went a step farther, saying the college’s closure would have a devastating impact on our great city".

Read the rest: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/05/accreditor-votes-shut-down-san-franciscos-community-college-1-year

 

This action could have far-reaching consequences so we should be paying attention!

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Happy 4th July!

Sometimes you need a day off!

What was the purpose of Affirmative Action?

Let me share this first:

“WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s decision to send a thorny affirmative action case back to the lower courts for additional review left both sides claiming victory on Monday”.

“Edward Blum, the man who has been the driving force behind the challenge to the University of Texas at Austin ruled on by the court, scoffed at the claims of a victory from groups that support affirmative action. “If they are excited about this ruling,” he said, I think it’s gravely misplaced”.

“The decision, Mr. Blum said, “begins the restoration of the original colorblind principles to our nation’s civil rights laws,” and will both hasten the end of racial preferences in schools across the nation and unleash a flood of lawsuits. Under the justices’ requirement that racial distinctions in admissions be subjected to a tough constitutional test, he said, “it is very unlikely that most institutions will be able to overcome these hurdles”.

“Experts without a strong stake in the case said that neither side should feel fully triumphant, and that the issue was far from resolved”.

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/us/lacking-definitive-ruling-on-affirmative-action-both-sides-claim-victory.html?ref=education

 

“Affirmative action (known as positive discrimination in the United Kingdom, and as employment equity in Canada and elsewhere) refers to policies that take factors including race, color, religion, sex, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group" in areas of employment, education, and business".

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action)

Affirmative action, was intended to promote the opportunities of defined groups within a society (for example minorities, underrepresented, and underprivileged). It was often used in government and educational settings with the idea to ensure that these groups within a society are included in all programs (trying to give a fair shot). The often stated justification for affirmative action by its proponents was to compensate for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the “ruling class of a culture”, and to address existing discrimination

(I paraphrased this from various sources)

In other words, it was designed to help people, especially those who needed help.

Unfortunately, politics and personal opinion often come into play with things like this, and very rarely do people come to the table with a truly open mind and altruistic heart. I had mentioned the other day a 400-year history of discrimination cannot be erased within 50 years. So do we need affirmative action? Probably not in the same way it started, however, the data shows the groups originally targeted for affirmative action still need the scales balanced when it comes to education.

Do not assume that the color of someone’s skin means they need or were an affirmative action case. According to the labels used, I am considered a “minority” in this country simply because of the color of my skin, but I assure you there is nothing minor about my background. I needed no extra help in school because I grew up from generations of privilege and the culture of my parents was strong.

Those who are privileged generally know nothing else and often do not (and cannot) see the reasons for things like Affirmative action. Yes in the United States, the opportunity to make it is there for almost everyone, but it does not mean everyone will. In addition, everyone could use a hand at some point, and that comes in many ways: family, friends, community, church, and education.

Affirmative action is supposed to lend a hand, and for people who profess to be “Christians” what is wrong with lending a hand. Instead of spending all that time and money on fighting something you do not understand, why don’t you try to understand it and then come up a way to revamp the system for the 21^st century?

 

 

This not about you, it is not about me, it is about helping the next generations be productive members of society. It is about helping people.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Why do we only incarcerate and not rehabilitate and educate?

Incarceration is big business. Prisoners are cheap labor; they and their families pay exorbitant prices for food, phone calls, clothing, etc. Most of the young men being sent to jail were represented by overworked and underpaid public defenders who do their best, but let us face it, those with money get a better defense.

“U.S. Has World's Highest Incarceration Rate”

“(August 2012) Since 2002, the United States has had the highest incarceration rate in the world. Although prison populations are increasing in some parts of the world, the natural rate of incarceration for countries comparable to the United States tends to stay around 100 prisoners per 100,000 population. The U.S. rate is 500 prisoners per 100,000 residents, or about 1.6 million prisoners in 2010, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)”.

 

“Men make up 90 percent of the prison and local jail population, and they have an imprisonment rate 14 times higher than the rate for women.  And these men are overwhelmingly young: Incarceration rates are highest for those in their 20s and early 30s. Prisoners also tend to be less educated: The average state prisoner has a 10th grade education, and about 70 percent have not completed high school. Incarceration rates are significantly higher for blacks and Latinos than for whites. In 2010, black men were incarcerated at a rate of 3,074 per 100,000 residents; Latinos were incarcerated at 1,258 per 100,000, and white men were incarcerated at 459 per 100,000. Since 2007, however, the incarceration rate in the United States has tapered slightly and the 2010 prison population saw a decline—of 0.3 percent—for the first time since 1972, according to the BJS”.

 

http://www.prb.org/articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx

 

 

We have for-profit prisons, what that means is these companies only make money if they have prisoners, and make more money if the prisons are full: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/for-profit-prisons/. Businesses are always looking for ways to cut corners and save money. Do you think they might do that with prisoners that society thinks are subhuman?

 

There is currently a lot fuss about for-profit education, but I have not seen any hearings lately about for-profits prisons. Educational institutions do not make money unless people are getting educated; so why is education under such fire and the prison system is not?

 

The justice system is what it is, and it is better than most, but let us not kid ourselves that it is anywhere near good. A young man of 18 goes to jail for 40 years, is released, and then is expected to function in society? Not too mentioned those who are being found innocent after 20 years! http://www.innocenceproject.org/

 

 

Prison is not pleasant, nor is it meant to be, but sooner or later we do need to give serious thought on our correctional system, because it the system that needs correcting. I believe it starts with education and believing in justice, not revenge.

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele

The ETeam

Another interesting article July 1 2013

The 400 or so years of United States of America, both as a colony and nation, is built upon things that make people very uncomfortable when we talk about it. I am certainly not going into the blame game right now, but it is important to acknowledge this; you cannot expect all the injustices to be righted within just a few short decades with a history like that.

 

“The Need for Courageous Dialogue in Admissions”

“In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the Supreme Court has offered its own version of a cliffhanger. Rather than striking down the Texas admissions plan, it remanded the case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals so that it can determine "whether the University has offered sufficient evidence to prove that its admissions program is narrowly tailored to obtain the educational benefits of diversity".

“Traditionally, college admissions processes have shown that it is impossible to take race out of the equation when a diverse student body is the goal, because most of the criteria for admission—grades, extracurricular activities, and standardized test scores—put the wealthy and overly represented at an advantage. An even harder truth is that our considerations of race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status in higher education have not provided the needed access to educate significant numbers of talented individuals from diverse backgrounds. It's not that we have not made progress. Rather, the track we've been on won't take us where we need to be”.

“The demographic and economic contexts of the United States have changed, yet we are still stuck in the 18th-century reasoning that a gain for one demographic group is a loss for another. And we are still fooled by the simplistic rationale that equality means treating everyone the same all of the time. We will not flourish without the resources that diversity offers, and our diversity must be inclusive, domestic as well as international”.

 

Read the rest: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Need-for-Courageous/139987/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en

 

Can we have an honest and courageous conversation about this? Can we get outside of our comfort zones and make something happen?

 

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam