On November 13-15, 2015, the Ball State University School of Music hosted one of the preliminary rounds of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition. Faculty pianist Robert Palmer had arranged for this event to be held on Ball State's campus. To support this competition, President Paul W. Ferguson showed bold leadership when he allocated funds to the School of Music to replace our aging fleet of grand pianos with new, state of the art models that were necessary to support an international event of this prestige.
He correctly recognized that certain departments had been neglected over the last several years as a result of the emphasis on so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) degree programs. Despite the fact that the School of Music has a music media production program, state officials do not include that among the STEM degrees.
Several university initiatives over the past ten years, many of which were in response to political and budgetary pressure originating in the Indiana state legislature, placed certain disciplines at a disadvantage. This included linking the university’s budget allocations to the number of students who graduated in four years.
With the implementation of the new core curriculum, academically demanding disciplines were required to adjust their curriculum so students could meet this four-year impetus. Such budgetary pressures have been the result of politicians imposing an incompatible corporate model onto higher education, which compromises academic integrity.
Another initiative of the past administration that favored certain disciplines was the emphasis on immersive learning and the highly restrictive way the university defined it.
As a faculty member who had experience with community engagement when I was director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, I was asked by students in an immersive learning class to be interviewed for a website the class was creating. It was the tangible "product" that would result from the class to help fulfill the university's restrictive definition. At the semester's end, I asked to see the website only to be told it was never completed.
In time, the faculty reward system of promotion and tenure became linked to faculty involvement in immersive learning. This put pressure on faculty to recruit enough students to fulfill the minimum enrollment for their project. I know of at least one student who spent four semesters in an immersive learning program.
President Ferguson recognized the educational limitations of immersive learning when he removed the "education redefined" sound bite slogan, replacing it with the more inclusive and discipline friendly "entrepreneurial learning."
The Ball State Daily News communicated a message that spoke volumes when it noted that President Ferguson became the highest paid employee at Ball State only after the departure of coach Pete Lembo. This came in the wake of the University of Missouri football team's boycott in protest of the lack of administrative response to racial incidents on the Columbia campus that brought about the resignation of the university’s president, Tim Wolfe.
Dr. Ferguson mentioned this controversy when he spoke at the Emeriti Tea that was held at the Alumni Center last December. With the hiring of the new football coach Mike Neu and its accompanying salary negotiations, the issue of how much a university is driven by big money sports inevitably surfaces in the ongoing battle between academics, politics and athletics.
While the board of trustees insists the president's resignation was voluntary, the severance package President Ferguson received, according to Ferguson's contract, better fits the description of "dismissal without cause." As I mix with faculty around campus, it is clear that this has been a blow to faculty and student morale. In addition, the university hiring someone experienced in "crisis management" sends the wrong message to the public and to potential donors.
President Ferguson was a leader who showed us an emerging academic vision for the university. It is a shame the board of trustees would not allow him the time and the room to fulfill his vision.
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