We live in a world of numerous variables, which makes change and its consequences inevitable. That said, change is not to be made for its own sake but for exigent desiderata. Even then, reasons for change must not have anything to do with vindictiveness, vendetta, or retaliation. To mingle the objective reasons for change with these vices is tantamount to abuse of power. Also, it’s a matter of professionalism to point out that favoritism and nepotism are neither virtues nor leadership traits, so they must not be extolled, defended, or practiced in the workplace. Suffice it to say that the use of favoritism, nepotism, and the creation of sinecure positions is a drain on a budget that is already at its worst in red.
Unfortunately, the most recent and unprecedented reorganization at St. Cloud State University before the start of the 2024-25 school year that was bequeathed to our new Interim President was fraught with dishonesty, prejudice, and discrimination, mostly against black faculty members of the university. Despite calling attention to this race-based malfeasance in curriculum changes and skewed faculty rosters isolating black faculty submitted from some academic departments to the administration, nothing was done to address such anomalies. It was as if the administration hoped that the problems people were calling attention to would go away by ignoring them. I don’t think that it ever occurred to them that facts and problems do not cease to exist because they are ignored. That the decision makers did nothing when alerted to the existence of subterfuge and machinations in curricula changes and rosters submitted to them from some academic departments instinctively convinced many of us that those responsible for the dishonesty and prejudice received privileged information in advance of the next round of retrenchment. Consequently, these curricula changes and rosters formed the basis for much of the subsequent retrenchment, which affected more black professors than other groups. An interesting experience was that the same decision makers who divulged information to a privileged few readily and invariably respond “I don’t know” when asked by nervous and anxious subordinates about what plans were in the offing and their fate at the university. When the resultant retrenchment and academic program cuts were announced, 11% was Asian faculty, 31% black faculty, and 7% white faculty.
A very peculiar turn of events following all the shenanigans of the past administration was that the president in charge and the acting president appointed while the president was still a state employee both left the university. The provost who had no choice but to implement the decisions they made has October 1, 2024 as their last day at St. Cloud State University, leaving the new Interim President to grapple with the mess they left behind. The outgoing provost is supposedly around momentarily to assist in an unenviable transition.
It is mind boggling that even some administrators who are still at the university that were accomplices in the decisions that were made don’t seem to know or understand much about the new consolidated academic programs areas they advocated as members of that administration. Some of them facing tough questions from faculty members on the way forward were saying that the last administration of which they were a part made a mess. We are all still struggling to figure out how to get the new configuration to work, and those who created it have no clue and aren’t helping.
I find it incomprehensible that those who put the university in its financial woes would as their first line of action readily retrench faculty and cut programs without compunction, while promoting administrative directors to Vice presidents, and some professors promoted out of classrooms to administrative directors. This is in contrast to what I heard they do in Japan.
In Japan “if a Japanese company finds itself in dire straits, the first person to take a salary cut is the company President. If the situation becomes even more serious, it’s the President who steps down first. In Japan they don’t begin by laying off the ordinary workers. The Japanese hold the view there are not bad soldiers, only bad generals. The fish rots from the head, so that’s precisely where the cleaning needs to start.” Here we seem to immediately let go of the soldiers while the generals receive the golden parachute. So much for fairness and decency!
At this point, though, the only decent thing to do is to rally around our new Interim President as he embarks on the herculean task of cleaning up.
Anthony Akubue, St. Cloud, MN, Thursday, September 26, 2024
