CLARIFICATION: The spring symposium on higher education is being organized by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jim Dean, who solicited the input of the Faculty Executive Committee.
Improving higher education has — and always will be — a priority for faculty at the University. Administrators’s decision to hold a symposium on public higher education next spring is an effective way to foster discussion and involvement in an important issue. However, administrators must remember the importance of student input.
Conducting the symposium is a sure sign that Chancellor Carol Folt and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jim Dean are open to criticism from community, industry and higher education leaders. Creating a forum for discussion between these various groups of people will only be beneficial if the criticism or ideas presented are seriously considered.
Folt and Dean should not promise every point of criticism that others bring up. However, it would also be detrimental for the University leadership to shrug off ideas that at face value might seem obscure or different. Folt and Dean know what is best for the University as a whole — they should remember that when choosing what to implement and when.
The continuing leadership and candidness shown by Folt should be applauded, but she must remember that student input is valuable in these discussions. Although students may not be experts in higher-education reform and policy, they are the people closest to the front lines.
Without serious consideration of student voices, there simply cannot be a productive conversation. The purpose of bringing in a variety of people from outside the University in order to garner input is to gain perspective from many different angles. The student perspective is one that always seems to be overlooked. But in a conversation this important, student voice should be a priority.
