In reference to the Daily News story "Faculty Urges Trustees to Talk," I want to make it clear at the outset that I for one am a faculty member who is a staunch supporter of President Blaine Brownell.
Therefore, I say "bravo" to your stance as president of the campus chapter of the AAUP and that of your organization regarding the arrogant and irresponsible silence of the Board of Trustees in reference to President Blaine Brownell's future at Ball State University. How disconnected
and uniformed must the Trustees be not to see and appreciate the clear sense of direction President Brownell has brought to the university and the extremely positive influences he has exerted and continues to exert since coming on board a mere 3 1/2 years ago as our President?-á
The positive effects of his presidency are witnessed in many ways. The Strategic Plan that he encouraged immediately at the outset of his presidency was masterful indeed. The effect is that it finally brought to the University the sensible and rational course of direction it so sorely needed for so long and continues to pursue. The results of the Plan have already become extremely apparent campus-wide, most importantly in the high levels of faculty moral and student satisfaction. These positive effects will continue to become even more obvious as the semesters pass by and the Plan continues to define, shape, and add clarity to the university mission.
Against my personal background of four years as an undergraduate student and thirty eight additional years as a professor at this University, I can feel and see that the University atmosphere today is pervaded by an enthusiasm and esprit de corps that have only seldom been apparent in times past. Cleary, not all the current positivism is entirely attributable to the good work of President Brownell. Certainly, we do have many outstanding faculty members and administrators, but we do see that the leadership and ideas brought to the university by our relatively new president such a short time ago are definitely having a very positive impact.
I further believe that an extremely high percentage of the faculty, university administrators and students share my feelings, and would agree that the university is making great strides forward in many ways.
As often reported by the media, more and more academic areas, programs and fields at Ball State University continue to achieve significant recognition nationally and internationally for being on the cutting edges of technological and educational innovations. We often read that important indicators, such as the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen, are significantly higher than national averages. Enrollments of incoming freshman are up to the point that it has necessitated the turning away of large numbers of students. When I poll my students as to their levels of satisfaction with Ball State, they inform me, almost without exception, that they are extremely pleased with having selected this institution as their university of choice. It is for these and other reasons that student retention figures are at their highest levels in the history of this university.
It is also extremely important for the university that much of the background experience of President Brownell has been in areas of internationalization and international education. Of all the Ball State presidents I have personally experienced over the years, President Brownell has the strongest international interest and reputation, and he is finally succeeding in bringing to Ball State University the involvement and recognition it needs to compete in the education field among similar-sized universities as a top-notch, internationally oriented university of the modern world.
Who cannot see or understand, or would want to deny that the implementation of several current and very significant initiatives of an international nature are involvements that have been strongly encouraged by President Blaine Brownell down through Provost Beverly Pitts and Dr. Cyrus Reed, our new Associate Provost for International Education. Dr. Reed's position was, by the way, recognized and created during the presidency of Blaine Brownell as a sorely needed administrative office.
Again, I congratulate the actions of the AAUP through its president in contacting board president Tom DeWeese. I strongly encourage the Trustees to bring out in the open any displeasures they might have with President Brownell and to recognize the destructive effect their silence and the ensuing rumors are having, not only on a fine president's reputation, but also on the university community as a whole, the administration, faculty, staff and students.7723-¬-«Oyour turn warner 10.20.03DNEditorial772SORT-ó+â-ä2AUDT
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