Everyone is shocked and disturbed by the sudden departure of President Paul W. Ferguson after such a short tenure. While it’s true that personnel come and go at large institutions all the time, your choice to cloak your actions in secrecy is particularly appalling and has the potential to do untold damage to the university and its students and faculty.
We faculty may be used to presidents coming and going, and as bothered as we are by your actions, I’m writing today to share with you the effect your choice to cloak the matter in secrecy is having on my students.
See the round-up of all of our coverage of Ferguson's resignation.
They were very eager this week to talk about what happened and they are outraged most of all by the secrecy involved. They asked me a lot of questions, none of which I or any other faculty member could answer definitively.
Here are some of them:
"Is BSU in trouble?", "Will programs be cut?","Will the master’s degree being developed by my major department, a primary reason I chose BSU, still go through?", "Will we continue to be a quality university when presidents and programs could be removed at any time?", and "How can we trust anything the administration says?"
The feeling of anxiety was palpable in my classes. The sense overall was that they can’t count on BSU to go through with anything it promises prospective and current students because people can be dismissed and programs cancelled without warning and without explanation. That creates a great deal of uncertainty that can’t help but have a negative effect on our enrollments.
Several noted they may look to transfer. Secretive acts such as yours will hurt enrollment and our reputation and unnecessarily so. Acting President Terry King tried to reassure them in an email that the initiatives approved by you under President Ferguson would remain and go forward. Trustee Tom Bracken undermined that by saying to The Daily News, “I think everything will be evaluated.” My students commented on King’s email as well, saying that his reassurances mean nothing because you, the Trustees, can change anyone and anything at anytime, without explanation.
All of these problems are created more by the secrecy you’ve chosen to employ in this matter. If this were a private company, I couldn’t write this letter. But as a state-run, taxpayer and tuition-supported institution, you are responsible to those stakeholders, as well as to the current students, faculty, and staff, for being open about major decisions such as this.
If you had a reason to desire President Ferguson’s departure, say what that was. If he had a reason to want out that was completely his own doing, let him say so. As the Daily News pointed out with an insightful reading of the termination contract, the terms seem to point to you wanting him to resign.
You have to come clean about why this decision was made. The future of our reputation is on the line, and you are seriously damaging our fine institution with secrecy. That secrecy is against the best values that we strive to embody at Ball State University.
Sincerely,
Dr. Timothy Berg
Assistant Professor of Honors Humanities
The Honors College
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