terrapinsanity.com

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!

“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.

The Sun reports that Delegate Rosenberg’s proposal to allow denial of access to campus research information is withdrawn today – a move we applaud (as you might have guessed from our previous blogging on this topic, panning the measure as Orwellian.) The outcome is good for openness in scholarship and government, though still a bit awkward for UM in the near term, since UM first went on record with UM’s VP for Research Pat O’Shea testifying in support of the bill. Yet the withdrawal of the bill today was described as taken after UM’s Office of General Counsel writing a letter pointing out how such measures actually weren’t needed.

In other words, this was the classic UM “ready, fire, aim!” approach to advocacy.

The other news out of Annapolis today is that UM will lose a few hundred thousand dollars out of its budget because of the antics of its environmental law clinic, which got just a little too aggressive on the taxpayer’s dime – overboard some senators said – in matters of strong interest to the senator’s constituents. The system pays a price accordingly.

A week ago Brit Kirwan released a statement begging for more time in handling whatever is going on with Dr. Susan Aldridge’s situation (on which we reported previously). Still no word on what’s going on. If this was something simple then the folks at Metzerott Road know to get ahead of it early, not build some kind of suspense.

The only other data point we see at this point is via a criminal records search in the state, which indicate that in January she was cited for “failure to drive right of center” in Montgomery County. (We’ll forget trying to work in some joke about how the reverse is mandatory in that county…) This happened just before the abrupt campus change. The other day her citation turned up as a license suspension for “failure to comply.”

Narrowly – and there is no reason to believe this has anything to do with the change at UMUC – ether there is a lot of lawyering going on behind the scenes, for which this record leaked out around what is otherwise a gag order, or she is genuinely unavailable to have responded to some summons issued by the county. Neither of these foretell a pleasant situation. We continue to watch, and genuinely hope for the best all around!

In a puff piece written for (and possibly by) the campus administration, the Diamondback today laid out UM’s case for continuing race-based admissions practices, in light of the Supreme Court’s upcoming consideration of ‘equal opportunity’ in other states.

Under a smokescreen of lofty goals about diversity in the workforce, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Shannon Gundy fails to give any specifics of how race is factored into her office’s decisions about admission, and therein is the rub. The campus cites “26 factors” which contribute to any decision, but in fact, we track almost none of them, and the first shred of evidence has yet to appear to describe how admissions counselors (who review applicants) are directed to use these criteria. Gundy may give lip service to criteria other than race, but in the end, she and her crew all know what to admit when they see it. As a result, objectively unprepared students – who cost this campus dearly before minority students are sent packing without degrees after years of contributing to our diversity reports to Annapolis – displace objectively prepared students who were inconveniently Asian or White.

Asking the race-conscious Admissions office whether an African American applicant is prepared for College Park is like asking your barber if you need a haircut.

If there’s a reason our normally tight-lipped administration is trying to push out on race-based admissions practices, then it could be because the rest of the country may be moving past it. The Supreme Court case coming up is only one sign that maybe America is finally able to join the post-racial age, and even Time Magazine has carried research reports about the unintended, negative consequences of favoring one race over another in decisions. A pity that UM may once again – like with its race restrictions on law school admissions decades ago, and race restrictions on scholarships two decades ago – fight to stay on the wrong side of history.