From uwaaup@u.washington.edu Fri Jun 5 10:30:03 1998 Received: from jason01.u.washington.edu (root@jason01.u.washington.edu [140.142.70.24]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id KAA21696 for ; Fri, 5 Jun 1998 10:30:03 -0700 Received: from homer19.u.washington.edu (uwaaup@homer19.u.washington.edu [140.142.76.3]) by jason01.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id KAA39656 for ; Fri, 5 Jun 1998 10:30:02 -0700 Received: from localhost (uwaaup@localhost) by homer19.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.04) with SMTP id KAA84206 for ; Fri, 5 Jun 1998 10:30:01 -0700 Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 10:30:00 -0700 (PDT) From: UW Chapter of AAUP To: waphgis@u.washington.edu Subject: Open Letter to Gov. Locke--Update Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear Colleagues: More than 700 UW faculty members have now signed the Open Letter to Governor Locke and the 2020 Commission. But some departments still have not seen it. If that is the case in your unit would you please post this message. If you wish to add your name you may do so by email. Simply sned a message (or forward this one) to: uwaaup@u.washington.edu Include your name, title, and department or unit. OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR GARY LOCKE AND THE 2020 COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION Higher education in the state of Washington is at a crossroads. Earlier this year Governor Gary Locke appointed a blue ribbon commission of business and civic leaders to develop plans to meet the state's higher education needs for the next quarter century. Recommendations are due in September. The Washington Higher Education Roundtable, appointed by the legislature, may be making recommendations at the same time. The undersigned members of the faculty at the University of Washington address this letter of concern to these committees as well as to the Governor and legislature. * * * * These are troubling times for the University of Washington and for higher education in Washington state. Our state's future depends upon providing increased access to affordable, high-quality public education. But there are signs that those charged with designing the future of our community colleges and universities are heading in disturbing directions. Visions of education "without bricks and mortar," of education by CD-ROM and internet, have dominated the initial meetings of the 202O Commission. In a recent speech at the UW law school, Wallace Loh, ex-officio member of the Commission and Governor Locke's chief advisor on higher education, added to the impression that the planners are bent on replacing face-to-face classroom teaching with what he described as the "brave new world of digital education." Governor Locke himself, in a speech to graduating high school seniors, has anticipated the obsolescence of the University as we know it, saying that in the future there will be no need for "designer label" educations at prestigious institutions. Hopefully these are merely exploratory remarks. But as faculty members at the University of Washington (an institution we have never regarded as "designer label"), we feel called upon to respond before quixotic ideas harden into disastrous policies. Founded as a vital public center for the exchange of ideas, the University of Washington has survived periodic economic challenges to achieve its standing as an internationally renowned teaching and research institution, on a par with private universities costing more than five times as much. The University's national reputation is crucial not only because UW is the Northwest's principal institution of higher learning, but also because the undergraduate and graduate students who avail themselves of its distinguished faculty and resources are themselves major contributors to our teaching and scholarly community. Declining rankings reduce our ability to recruit and produce the finest scholars and educators in our state and, indeed, the world. Is it possible that a state that can afford to build world-class sports arenas would turn its back on the world-class university that has served it for so long and with such distinction? In the last 20 years Seattle has become a major U.S. city, the state of Washington has grown, and its economy and population have expanded rapidly. What has *not* grown proportionately is our investment in public education. Despite our industry and prosperity, Washington state invests fewer dollars per capita in higher education than *any state in the nation but one*. Since the 1980s, the University of Washington has faced successive budget cuts, pay freezes, and hiring freezes. Other states, notably Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, also faced economic hardships. But their elected officials wisely saw their universities as bearing the promise of the future. Those states protected--and continue to protect--these vital assets. Meanwhile, the University of Washington has struggled to maintain its reputation. Its successes thus far testify to the loyalties and capabilities of its faculty, administration, students, and staff. DISTURBING AGENDAS Unfortunately Washington's policy makers now seem to be considering a number of risky alternatives to the excellent system of public education we already have. Calls for "downsizing," productivity increases, and greater "accountability" carelessly echo corporate fads without taking into account the already downsized nature of the state's universities and colleges. The University of Washington and its employees are *already* accountable through a range of public channels, and their achievements in providing high-quality education at what is already a uniquely low cost speaks for itself. As students know well, education is not a product, but a process, and increased "productivity" means larger classes, fewer resources, less contact with instructors and other students, and the loss of valued teachers and researchers. Even riskier, some policy makers appear to have decided that higher education must undergo the rigorous reorganization endured by the health care professions. They would like to convince the public that colleges and universities should be supplanted by a profit-driven, digitalized "knowledge industry," and that teachers should be subject to the same kinds of limitations that healthcare providers have experienced under the rule of HMOs. This prospect is frightening--deeply contrary to the foundations of higher education and its role fostering a free and democratic society. In addition there is a growing fascination with "digital education." In his April 27 speech Governor Locke made the surprising claim that the research university and its national prestige are *irrelevant* to a coming "Information Age" in which Washingtonians will simply buy their "knowledge" in "bite-sized" chunks through private technology. A few weeks later, Wallace Loh spoke enthusiastically of a "virtual university," where education will be delivered electronically, and anonymously, to students seated at "the kitchen table." Although "distance learning" presents important opportunities to specific kinds of individuals, including full-time workers seeking continuing education, for most students it imposes serious limitations. One of the problems with the newest crop of distance-learning institutions is that they are motivated entirely by profit. They admit students into their programs regardless of whether or not they have suitable faculty and resources to confer degrees. The value and efficacy of degrees attained through such unconventional means are entirely unproven. When advanced education is turned into a business, it is the buyer--or student--who must beware. While costly fantasies of this kind present a mouth-watering bonanza to software manufacturers and other corporate sponsors, what they bode for education is nothing short of disastrous. Public money diverted from "live" education into techno-substitutes will further erode students' access to the low-cost, high-quality education upon which their *real* futures depend. It is absurd to pretend that the reputation or ranking of an institution of higher learning can be ignored. The free market in education-commodities that some foresee, will, in the manner of all markets, result in a range of products with different values and price-tags. In reality a privileged few will continue to enjoy the personal and economic benefits of face-to-face instruction at schools like Stanford, UC Berkeley, and M.I.T. The less fortunate citizens of our state will make do with downsized and underfunded campuses or settle for inferior and dehumanizing "virtual" alternatives. Chances are that neither will qualify the students of the future to compete for the kind of jobs they want. EDUCATION IS NOT OBSOLETE Far from obsolete, the University of Washington is a vibrant, living community wherein diverse individuals blend an extraordinary range of skills and motivations. Its public spaces are unique: the classroom, the seminar, the student union, the lecture hall, even the corridors. Education, moreover, is not reducible to the downloading of information, much less to the passive and solitary activity of staring at a screen. Education is an intersubjective and social process, involving hands-on activity, spontaneity, and the communal experience of sharing in the learning enterprise. Education is also not the exclusive province of the young. The thousands of older students demanding access to higher learning are doing so, not only to enhance their careers and keep pace with technology, but also to be stimulated, revitalized, and rejuvenated by the one area in public life that values ideas for their own sake. As University of Washington faculty we are profoundly committed to meeting these needs and fulfilling the goals of a liberal education. We seek to cultivate the active, independent, critical faculties, ethical capacities, flexible intelligences, and analytical skills without which neither democracy, nor freedom, nor creativity can thrive. *This* kind of teaching involves personal contact and sustained exchange. The people of our state need real, not factitious, access to higher learning and good jobs. Fortunately, it is not too late. Governor Locke and members of the 2020 Commission, we urge you to support learning as a human and social practice, an enrichment of soul and mind, the entitlement of all citizens in a democracy, and not a profit-making commodity to be offered on the cheapest terms to the highest bidder. The University of Washington is a vital resource to our community, not a factory, not a corporation, and not a software package. Its excellence and integrity are not only assets that we as a community *can* afford to maintain, but also assets that we *cannot* afford to squander. Sincerely, .