By By Rob Tokanel, News Staff
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Northeastern Provost Stephen Director released a memorandum to members of the university community last week to ‘report on the status of the inquiry into the possible restructuring’ of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the College of Criminal Justice (CCJ). Director reviewed to date the actions of the ad-hoc committee charged with assessing the advantages and disadvantages of structural changes and outlined what the memo called an ‘extensive’ six-step process to determine a course of action to take in regards to the two colleges.
Director said the committee has met with faculty, students and academic leaders 20 times since its appointment last December, providing its members with ‘an extremely valuable and diverse range of perspectives on the activities of both colleges.’
The prospective restructuring has been a contentious issue for many Criminal Justice students and faculty, who have recently formed an opposition group to organizational changes in their program. In an April 13 issue of The News, several of them said they thought the restructuring was a foregone conclusion.
Professor and former Dean Jack Greene, who graduated from CCJ in 1973, said in a letter to the editor in the April 9 issue of The News that the process was ‘a calculated and engineered strategy that will decimate criminal justice at Northeastern.’
In his statement, Director said the committee was initiated to inform thinking, explore ideas and broaden understanding of the two schools, but it will not be providing any plans for a course of action.
‘The committee is not making any recommendations, nor drawing any conclusions,’ Director said. ‘Their charge has been an educational one, designed to open our eyes to the possibilities.’
Director announced a timeline for deciding a possible plan after the committee finishes its work. He said the committee will be providing a report to Director on or before May 15,’ at which time he said he would discuss its findings and then release them to the Northeastern community.
In June, he said there would be a day-long ‘retreat’ with representatives from both colleges as well as’ deans, administrators and Faculty Senate members in order to explore the options for restructuring. Following the retreat, he will appoint a small advisory group to work with him in making a recommendation and explaining its rationale. He said this would be available in late August.
Director said the plans would be open for discussion again in early September, at which time he would also seek the support of the Faculty Senate. After this period, any recommendations for changes would be submitted for approval by the Senior Leadership Team and the president. Director said changes to academic administration should be viewed as a means to a goal, not an end.
‘Our shared goal is to use every opportunity to advance our educational and research mission,’ he said. ‘We must never lose sight of the fact that administrative systems and organizational designs are simply vehicles by which we pursue our ambitions.’
Greene said in a letter in today’s issue of The News that he thought the release of the plan and statements about restructuring were ‘public relations spin.’
‘I think this approach is best characterized as a post-hoc re-construction aimed at ‘damage control,’ not much more,’ he said in the letter. ‘This is the first revelation of any process whatsoever since Dec. 19, 2008, when the provost first announced this review and incidentally about one month before his process produces a Committee report.’
Director said his focus would remain on the quality of the university programs throughout the process.
‘I can assure you that my focus is on the excellence we all desire to have in our programs, the distinctiveness that sets us apart from all other universities, and the innovation that will ensure a very promising future,’ he said.
