terrapinsanity.com

UM’s cut to competitive sports in order to save cash for the all-important football program gets more ink today, as the Post reports on competitive cheerleading. We are described as among the first in the nation to advance cheerleading as a sport nine years ago, something few other schools have followed and which is not recognized as such by the NCAA. This report comes on the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law mandating equal opportunity in education for both sexes.

Last month the average balance of outstanding student loan debt carried by Maryland residents topped $33,704 – the most in the nation. This is according to the most recent quarterly report from Credit Karma, a consumer credit management company.

Count us as not surprised. For all practical purposes the flagship campus, which should have been pumping top talent into the state over the last decade, has been touted by Admissions as a great party school, and Maryland’s best young talent has responded accordingly – they increasingly go out of state for their education, and often don’t come back to pump their correspondingly superior economic benefits into the state. While we spare no expense to recruit foot coaches for appeal to jocks or top food courts to appeal to entertainment-oriented youngsters, anything which might appeal to scholars has been cut. The present report is consistent with a view that we’re giving kids a great time when they are here but not doing much to help them get on with a career that helps them paying bills later.

We need a Provost who cares about scholarship, and that caring would start with a full re-org of Admissions.

Brit Kirwan takes to the media to assure everyone that UMUC is academically sound, in spite of the circumstances surrounding the recent departure of its president.

So never mind cutting terms in half, removing objectively administered final exams and so on … that assortment of practices has no bearing on the situation. Quoting the Post:

“At the time Susan resigned, there was no question or dissatisfaction or concern about the quality of the programs being offered at University College,” Kirwan said.

Let’s review: President Aldridge stepped down because of having squandered an immense amount of tax dollars on “hush money” payments, to quash questions about program quality. Of course there was no expression of dissatisfaction about program quality.

Come on, Brit. This kind of weasel wording is below you!

By the closest of margins, the UMBC chess team just missed locking in another national championship, coming in second in this year’s event. They’re one of the consistent winners in the state, and at a darn sight less cost than, say, football at the flagship.

Congrats all around nonetheless!

“In a three-page letter to William “Brit” Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, wrote that the alleged [hush money] payments were cause for concern. He said he was interested, too, in reports of ‘aggressive marketing and student recruitment tactics’ that, taken together, ‘may have compromised academic quality and program integrity’ during Aldridge’s six-year tenure.”

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

More about the Aldridge transition at UMUC is coming out. The Post reports on the practice of paying “hush money” to employees who sign non-disclosure agreements at termination, presumably so they won’t spill any beans about the apparent decline in academics in those programs. This (again, according to the story) may have cost the state millions of tax dollars.

Brit Kirwan nevertheless declares the Aldridge tenure a “success”. In the present state economy, it isn’t clear that we can afford that much more success.

Critics are emerging to complain that UMUC focused “enrollment and revenue over learning”. Maybe Brit should have a look-see at practices at the other College Park campus, hmmm?

Today’s breaking news is that UMUC’s Susan Aldridge is stepping down as president. No word given, however, as to whether anything commented on in our previous blog note on this is true. (That report suggested some financial and evaluation issues – so-called “hush money” paid out to people reporting issues.)

More recognition in the MSM for UMBC’s undergraduate programs and quality of education, this time in the Post “UMBC’s quiet revolution in teaching science is earning school extra credit” which makes note of the skyrocketing ratings the school gets for quality instruction – apparently besting the flagship campus down the road in College Park.

One blog note at the Washington Post does not news make, but it nevertheless doesn’t suggest the Susan Aldridge story is going to get any rosier for the state. It reports:

A complaint filed with a Maryland auditor alleges the president of the University of Maryland, University College wasted tax dollars on “hush money” payments to administrators and professors so they wouldn’t talk after being forced out of the institution.

UMUC President Susan Aldridge went on indefinite leave last month for reasons yet undisclosed. This complaint is dated Feb. 10, two weeks before her departure. It was filed this month with Maryland’s Office of Legislative Audits.

That’s not going to have a happy ending.

If Department of Legislative Audits ultimately emerges with damning material as suggested in the blog, then it is more than a little awkward that Annapolis finds it before USM. Brit Kirwan’s operation out on Metzerott Road will get squeezed tighter than ever. But even if not supported – and let’s be fair, this is only one blog post so far, even if one tied with a once-reputable news organization – this is not the kind of advertising material UMUC wants floating around the web for prospective students:

In recent years, the university has converted face-to-face courses into online formats, reduced the length of full-semester classes to eight weeks, diluted academic content, inflated grades and weakened the statistical validity of end-of-course exams, the complaint alleges.

Any silver lining? This could become a textbook example of why tenure – with its freedom, some would say obligation, to speak hard truths with impunity – is critical in higher education. If standards were indeed being watered down, scholars should be free to tell the community, not fear termination of a contract.

Lots of Terrapin traffic in today’s clipper, and what an interesting picture it presents to kids who, having finally learned of their admit decision for fall 2012, are trying to decide whether to accept.

UM gets color-photo-above-the-fold treatment in the Post’s metro section, for partying. Yes, it is fraternity rush time, but don’t worry parents, no alcohol involved. (High fives all around in Office of Undergraduate Admissions for this article, the one most likely to have been teed up by campus public relations – after all, where is the news in this? Everything happens for a reason, so ask yourself, why does a non-news article like this show up now?)

But UM also gets an award for being named “Tree Campus USA”. Double bonus, partying and enviro issues are topics number one and two named in focus groups of 18 year olds trying to decide about colleges.

Oh, but then we learn Maryland basketball isn’t in this year’s NIT.

No hat trick for OUA today, but two out of three ain’t bad.

Once again, though, what a shame that nowhere in any of the above is there mention of Terrapin scholars. You know, the smart kids who go to college for more than partying, green activism and basketball. But that will remain the norm so long as the place is run by Admissions, not scholars.