“World Class Education, Dirt Cheap”

I gave up this blog back in March when it appeared that its readership was only about six people, besides myself, who were already familiar with the events I was trying to chronicle.  I decided that I could talk to myself with a lot less time and effort.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a useful exercise to see what level of interest exists out there, even–especially–among academics. It could be they don’t see it as relevant to their careers. It could be my method of presenting the material wasn’t interesting or provocative enough; let that be a pedagogical lesson to me, if ever I decide to teach.

Why don’t I let it go? Friends ask me that all the time. I reply in the most melodramatic way I can, although it’s not far from the truth: Twenty years ago I was witness to a murder. No one was ever held to account for it. The victim was a vibrant institution of higher learning built by the hands and minds of countless dedicated teachers over decades. Careers were destroyed overnight, and all their work and reputations trashed. The perpetrators were the people in whose trust the school was placed, and after they sold out, they retired content and happy and even gave themselves awards for their dedication and heroism. They were congratulated in the local press. Well…life goes on, right? This happens every day. Why even talk about it?

But then I never got to the end of the story.

Of course the school sold out to the Unification Church, which saved it from oblivion. The union negotiated a settlement to the strike and dissolved in 1992. UB retained the academic policies the union struck against, and continues to do so to this day. So? What happened over the last 18 years? How is UB doing today?

Two summers ago I was compelled to research UB’s academic standing for an op-ed in the Connecticut Post. I quote the salient points below:

Here are some stats on UB which are easily obtainable from public sources, including the US Department of Education, the Connecticut Post, the UB catalog, and online college guides.

• The 10,000 students [the Moonies promised to deliver] have yet to arrive. Full-time undergrads number only about 1400.

• Enrollment may be rising, but retention figures are more significant.  Only about half of incoming freshmen at UB return for a second year, according to college guides like Princeton Review (49%).  By comparison, Fairfield U. has a return rate of 90%, Sacred Heart 80%, UConn 93%, and University of New Haven 78%.  Less than a third (28%) who enter UB as freshmen graduate in four years, compared to Fairfield U (78%), Sacred Heart (60%),  UConn (56%), and Quinnipiac (64%).

• Three-quarters of the faculty at UB are part-time.  Factor in grad students who teach, plus the non-tenure-track full-time faculty, and it appears that a whopping 83% of UB’s teaching employees work without the protections of tenure and due process (US Dept of Education numbers). If they’re like most “contingent” faculty in private colleges, they also work for low pay, no benefits, and no say in governance. “World-class” education, dirt cheap.

• Average full-time faculty salaries at UB are the second lowest in the state (after Albertus Magnus College).

• Low faculty wages do not translate into low tuition, which is about $25,400 a year, with mandatory fees.

• Most of the recent renovation of decaying buildings at the private school has been paid for by taxpayers, including a $21 million grant from the state.

• In 1989, the school’s endowment was about $4 million. Two decades later, it is only $6.7 million, hardly enough to buy a house in Greenwich.

• What about protecting academic freedom? In 1993, UB promised the Board of Governors of HIgher Education that it would strictly abide by the AAUP 1940 Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure.  The following year, AAUP censured the school for violating those principles.  Fifteen years later, the school is still under censure.

• Online Radar Magazine has named UB “The Worst College in America” two years in a row. And while it may not be fair to take that at face value, it should make anyone wonder what the President of the Regional Business Council is thinking when he says that UB’s academic reputation is improving.

Die-hard supporters will say that even “The Worst College in America” is better than nothing, and that the takeover was the only alternative to closing the school.  The truth is, the Moon offer was the only one the trustees would accept, for reasons of their own.  And for reasons of their own, which had more to do with jobs, bank loans, and economic development rather than education, the city leaders got on board.

The shorthand is, I guess, you get what you pay for (except if you’re a student or a parent). The city only wanted the school to stay open. The leaders of UB wanted a school run on the cheap, without interference from labor unions, or professional associations, as so many private and public colleges are proposing to do now, across the nation. That is why UB, in my opinion, is still immensely relevant. It’s on the cutting edge. It’s a model for the future, even as it is a shell of its former self. Take a good look at UB when you want to see where bottom-line education leadership takes you, after you’ve removed every possible protection of academic freedom, tenure, and personnel protections. When the priorities are $$$$ and not education.

Want to work there? Take a shot. It seems they’re always, always hiring new professors.

Better still, go down to campus, mingle with the crowds of lively students and breathe in the vitality, the energy of that intellectually vibrant community. You might mistake it at first for an abandoned corporate park, which, come to think, is too ironic. But rest assured, the doors are open, and it’s up and running.