The Tower has an article up about Kean and Middle States right now—and they found out something we missed. If Kean is not reaccredited, then apparently State and Federal funding for the schools students disappears with it.
(Check out the article here)
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Dr. Boehm of the Bio Department was given notice but not given a reason...
In conjunction with the recent move to dissemble the Biology Department, Kean has begun firing the program's faculty: Dr Boehm, the only professor I've ever known to receive a perfect 5.0 out of 5.0 in every category on RateMyProfessor.com, has been given notice. Dr. Boehm is not yet tenured, and therefore can legally be released at any time—but the events surrounding his termination point to retribution as a motive for the action.
Dr. Boehm is apparently an active and outspoken Professor who expected the quality of his instruction and his dedication as a teacher would protect his position; he did not account for how little the Administration cares about the quality of its staff.
In other news, it appears that Kean may have expected the Accreditation for the Biology Program to lapse due to the condition of its laboratories and equipment, which are all significantly outdated. They may have made this move to strike the Bio Major because doing so would avoid the necessary cost of rennovating their labs. This is, of course, speculation—but it's an explanation that fits.
More to come soon, everyone...
Dr. Boehm is apparently an active and outspoken Professor who expected the quality of his instruction and his dedication as a teacher would protect his position; he did not account for how little the Administration cares about the quality of its staff.
In other news, it appears that Kean may have expected the Accreditation for the Biology Program to lapse due to the condition of its laboratories and equipment, which are all significantly outdated. They may have made this move to strike the Bio Major because doing so would avoid the necessary cost of rennovating their labs. This is, of course, speculation—but it's an explanation that fits.
More to come soon, everyone...
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
KEAN DISSOLVES BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
This is an URGENT message to all 800 of Kean's BIOLOGY MAJORS:
Kean University is dissolving the Biology Department—This means that, just like the students in the Philosophy and Social Work Majors, you are going to have to switch your program of study!
Talk to your professors!
(More to come soon...)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Middle States Petition
Hello again, everyone.
Here at TBK we are all incredibly impressed with your response to our petition so far. Not only are you becoming more aware of the perils we face at the loss of our accreditation each day, but hundreds of you have rallied to our cause by adding your signatures to our list.
Our ultimate goal was to get 1,000 names on our petition; given the near-unanimous response from everyone we've talked to, we have decided to up the ante and shoot for 1,400 signatures, 10% of Kean's student body. With numbers like that, the Administration and Board of Trustees will have no choice but to listen to the voice of Kean's students.
Over the last few days we've taken note of the questions you all have asked us about the petition, and I think it's pertinent that we take the time to address some of them here on the blog. So, without further suspense, here is the Middle-States FAQ!
Frequently Asked Questions about the Middle States Petition:
1) How is this petition going to save Kean's Accreditation?
The truth is simple: It can't. Only the Administration can save Kean's accreditation; the purpose of this petition is to show middles states that, first, Kean's students are neither stupid enough to deserve their accreditation being snatched away and, second, that Kean's students are in fact aware of this situation despite the Administration's attempt to keep it quiet.
The idea is that, since the Administration won't listen to their Student Body, it is more likely that Middle States will, and that the Administration will in turn listen to Middle States.
2) Some of us like Adjunct Professors... Why do we need to decrease their numbers on campus?
Our petition does not actually suggest that we decrease the number of Adjuncts on campus. We all recognize that, because of the size of our University, Adjuncts are a necessity in our modern economic climate; what we also recognize is that Middle States suggests a maximum of 40% Adjuncts on a campus and Kean's full-time faculty number less than 40%. The best solution, we think, is to hire those Adjuncts who truly deserve tenure as full-time professors. TBK would never suggest reducing the number of professors on our campus--to the contrary, we want more, and we want them to be tenured.
3) Where do we get our information?
All of our information comes from documents released by Kean University (many of which are on the Kean.edu website, some of which have been acquired through Open Public Records Act requests), interviews with Kean faculty, interviews with Student Org officers and representatives, and articles that have been published in newspapers or online through reputable sources. We link to EVERYTHING that we can here on our site, and frequently give you the opportunity to view documents right from our Blog without having to travel elsewhere. If you want more info, read up: you've got months worth of TBK reporting right at your fingertips!
4) What did Kean offer Student Org in exchange for their transition into a Department?
As far as we can tell, The administration offered SO the use of their copying and printing services at no cost, as well as the use of their Media and Publications department. The thought was that the cost reduction created by utilizing free office-services would allow SO to allocate more funding to students... That much is certain.
The rest of the deal still remains somewhat shrouded. Student Org signed away a lot of its power when it became a department, and has certainly lost any latitude it once had in putting items to vote. Why the officers agreed to this is uncertain, but our guess is that they were newly-placed in their offices and therefore unaware of what, exactly, they were doing. The Administration could not get SO to vote, initially, on becoming a department, and so they pushed for the next best thing: They compromised, allowing the Org to remain independent for one more year, and then forcing them to vote on the topic of Departmentalization after the next round of elections. Was it really a compromise? Or a quick bait-and-snatch trick? We can't tell you--but we'll sure as hell give you our opinion.
This ends the FAQ on our Middle-States Petition... if you have any additional questions, feel free to come to our meetings at 3PM in the Grand Study Hall (3rd Floor Library) on Wednesday afternoons, or email us at takebackkean@gmail.com.
Until next time,
Keep on Signing, Kean University!
Here at TBK we are all incredibly impressed with your response to our petition so far. Not only are you becoming more aware of the perils we face at the loss of our accreditation each day, but hundreds of you have rallied to our cause by adding your signatures to our list.
Our ultimate goal was to get 1,000 names on our petition; given the near-unanimous response from everyone we've talked to, we have decided to up the ante and shoot for 1,400 signatures, 10% of Kean's student body. With numbers like that, the Administration and Board of Trustees will have no choice but to listen to the voice of Kean's students.
Over the last few days we've taken note of the questions you all have asked us about the petition, and I think it's pertinent that we take the time to address some of them here on the blog. So, without further suspense, here is the Middle-States FAQ!
Frequently Asked Questions about the Middle States Petition:
1) How is this petition going to save Kean's Accreditation?
The truth is simple: It can't. Only the Administration can save Kean's accreditation; the purpose of this petition is to show middles states that, first, Kean's students are neither stupid enough to deserve their accreditation being snatched away and, second, that Kean's students are in fact aware of this situation despite the Administration's attempt to keep it quiet.
The idea is that, since the Administration won't listen to their Student Body, it is more likely that Middle States will, and that the Administration will in turn listen to Middle States.
2) Some of us like Adjunct Professors... Why do we need to decrease their numbers on campus?
Our petition does not actually suggest that we decrease the number of Adjuncts on campus. We all recognize that, because of the size of our University, Adjuncts are a necessity in our modern economic climate; what we also recognize is that Middle States suggests a maximum of 40% Adjuncts on a campus and Kean's full-time faculty number less than 40%. The best solution, we think, is to hire those Adjuncts who truly deserve tenure as full-time professors. TBK would never suggest reducing the number of professors on our campus--to the contrary, we want more, and we want them to be tenured.
3) Where do we get our information?
All of our information comes from documents released by Kean University (many of which are on the Kean.edu website, some of which have been acquired through Open Public Records Act requests), interviews with Kean faculty, interviews with Student Org officers and representatives, and articles that have been published in newspapers or online through reputable sources. We link to EVERYTHING that we can here on our site, and frequently give you the opportunity to view documents right from our Blog without having to travel elsewhere. If you want more info, read up: you've got months worth of TBK reporting right at your fingertips!
4) What did Kean offer Student Org in exchange for their transition into a Department?
As far as we can tell, The administration offered SO the use of their copying and printing services at no cost, as well as the use of their Media and Publications department. The thought was that the cost reduction created by utilizing free office-services would allow SO to allocate more funding to students... That much is certain.
The rest of the deal still remains somewhat shrouded. Student Org signed away a lot of its power when it became a department, and has certainly lost any latitude it once had in putting items to vote. Why the officers agreed to this is uncertain, but our guess is that they were newly-placed in their offices and therefore unaware of what, exactly, they were doing. The Administration could not get SO to vote, initially, on becoming a department, and so they pushed for the next best thing: They compromised, allowing the Org to remain independent for one more year, and then forcing them to vote on the topic of Departmentalization after the next round of elections. Was it really a compromise? Or a quick bait-and-snatch trick? We can't tell you--but we'll sure as hell give you our opinion.
This ends the FAQ on our Middle-States Petition... if you have any additional questions, feel free to come to our meetings at 3PM in the Grand Study Hall (3rd Floor Library) on Wednesday afternoons, or email us at takebackkean@gmail.com.
Until next time,
Keep on Signing, Kean University!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Interested in Learning About Your University?
Have you ever heard of the compliment sandwich? It's when you take criticism and sandwich it nicely between a complement and a jovial approach to fixing the problem. Since Kean took down some of the documents we've linked to in other posts, here's what I'm going to term the Kean Compliment Sandwich Document.
Here's some of the meat—their words, not mine. Let's call it the TBK Top-10:
Here's some of the meat—their words, not mine. Let's call it the TBK Top-10:
1: The allocation of resources is not linked to formal planning and assessment processes
2: Debt per student is $35,645, about 2.8 times the median for A3 rated institutions
3: The University functions without a University-wide assessment plan
4: There are significant problems in the dissemination of information from the administration, President, and Vice Presidents to faculty and staff
5: The administration has usurped the role of the faculty in academic program maintenance
6: Lack in diversity of executive staff
7: No formal written criteria for tenure or promotion and apparently arbitrary processes as a result
8: The Office of Financial Aid does not recognize its role in increasing the graduation rates of students
9: The burdens placed on faculty that impede their professional development have become unsustainable even though increased teaching loads have been met by substantially increasing the adjunct/faculty ratio during the past five years
10: Advisement practices do not provide students the guidance they desire either about degree completion or career development: Too often students unknowingly complete courses out of sequence due to lack of explanation and knowledge
(Read the Report Here)
(Read the Report Here)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Coming Soon: Kean might be trying to keep Student Org under-the-covers...
Why do we say this? Certainly SO has a prominent face on campus, but reference to it is lacking as far as reports to the Middle States Board of Accreditation are concerned. In fact, the Organization is not mentioned at all in the Self-Study Report that we've been telling you about for the past few months!
We think the reason has something to do with a little known plan to further reduce our student government. SO already lost its independence from the Administration but, if this happens the way it looks like its going to, SO will be little more than a funded group like, say, Crusaders for Christ, or the Asian Culture Club.
We think the school purposefully neglected to mention Student Org so that, once the next step of the transition is complete, it won't stand out as an issue in discussions pertaining to the renewal of Kean's accreditation.
Also, here's some food for thought: A week or so ago we told you that our fees, in total, have increased 148.9%. Well, as it turns out, our Student Activities Fee (the fee that contributes to funding Student Org and, through them, Student Groups) has remained constant at $63.75 since 2001. That means that it is one of the smallest fees we pay each semester. What does that say about how Kean views its Students?
More to come soon...
We think the reason has something to do with a little known plan to further reduce our student government. SO already lost its independence from the Administration but, if this happens the way it looks like its going to, SO will be little more than a funded group like, say, Crusaders for Christ, or the Asian Culture Club.
We think the school purposefully neglected to mention Student Org so that, once the next step of the transition is complete, it won't stand out as an issue in discussions pertaining to the renewal of Kean's accreditation.
Also, here's some food for thought: A week or so ago we told you that our fees, in total, have increased 148.9%. Well, as it turns out, our Student Activities Fee (the fee that contributes to funding Student Org and, through them, Student Groups) has remained constant at $63.75 since 2001. That means that it is one of the smallest fees we pay each semester. What does that say about how Kean views its Students?
More to come soon...
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