Memo:

To:                   Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes, President

                        Dr. Walter Harris, Provost

                        The Loyola University Board of Trustees

                        The Loyola University Faculty Senate

From:              The Standing Council on Academic Planning

Re:                   SCAP response to Pathways Plan

Date:                May 10, 2006

SCAP met on April 18 and voted on a response to Pathways.  The response was drafted by a subcommittee of SCAP that worked diligently in a short time frame and with the data available. SCAP voted unanimously to send the subcommittee’s report to the Faculty Senate and to the Administration, even though individual members of SCAP did not agree with all elements of the report.  SCAP also decided at that meeting to meet again and make additions to the report concerning areas that members thought needed further discussion and refinement.

SCAP met again on May 9 and May 10 to continue the discussion. Serious concerns about the content and process of the Pathways Plan were raised at those meetings, so it was decided to send this letter as a supplement and corrective to the original report.

• There is serious concern that the selection and analysis of data used to make cuts were inaccurate and misleading. For example, data submitted for Education and Computer Science in response to a motion from the College of Arts and Sciences and in support of Pathways demonstrated the following errors.

Education (Attachment 1):

• Salaries included professionals who do not teach Education Courses (they teach Counseling) and Professors who were not teaching in the academic year upon which the revenue data was based. (Professors Anderson-Pie, Cowen and King)
• No revenues are credited for courses taught by an Education professor in Mathematics; however this faculty’s whole salary was included in the expense side of the equation. (Professor Melancon)
• When revenues and expenses are properly accounted for, Undergraduate Education produces a positive net flow of over $150,000.

Computer Science (Attachment 2):

• The listed revenues for Computer Science in the College of Arts and Sciences omitted $189,169 in Advanced Common Curriculum proceeds.
• Adding together the revenues from COSC in the College of Arts and Sciences and CISC in City College mixes two programs that are really unrelated.
• Adding together salaries and benefits from COSC in the College of Arts and Sciences and CISC in City College mixes two programs that are really unrelated.
• When separated, the COSC program from the College of Arts and Sciences produces a positive net flow of over $50,000.

We address some specific errors here that suggest symptomatic problems. If this data is flawed, a question arises about the accuracy of other data used in support of Pathways.

• SCAP strongly encourages the Board to keep in place or create structures to meet the special needs of the adult, non-traditional student that have been served in the past by City College. The structure would include a director to oversee the offering not only of evening courses but also of evening programs across colleges for the non-traditional students, programs that would recognize the distinct academic and pedagogical needs of these students. Staff should be retained that could meet the special needs of these students with regard to recruiting, admissions and academic counseling, as well as other services not offered through the regular University structures.

In order to honor the distinct goals, pedagogies, administrative structures and types of students served by the Department of Religious Studies and the Loyola Institute for Ministry, SCAP recommends that these two programs be kept as separate units in the University and not joined together under one school. Sharing of resources can be promoted where appropriate without joining the two programs.

SCAP also recommends that the Loyola Institute for Ministry (LIM) retain its name. LIM has spent over twenty years building a reputation in dioceses around the world. LIM is an immediately identifiable designation that connects the Institute with a history of service in the Church. The retention of the name is essential for the continued growth of the program in continuity with that history.

• SCAP again unanimously rejects the creation of any new college at this time.  We can save on administrative costs by not replacing City College by a new College.

Members of SCAP are well aware of the challenges of the post-Katrina world and the need to make changes in the University.  Though it is too soon to know exactly how drastic those changes will have to be, it is clear that fiscal demands may well necessitate elimination or cutting back certain programs to deal with reduced revenue.  Loyola will be a different University.  The concern of SCAP is that changes will be made without complete and reliably analyzed data, and without any articulated rationale for the changes.  In the end, this will be harmful not only to individual faculty, students, and staff and to historic programs at the University, but also to the viability and growth of the University and to its mission.

Attachment 1

Attachment 2