By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Faculty develop courses. Linda Forte, who chairs the BGSU Board of Trustees Committee on Diversity and Belonging, opened the committee’s meeting Friday morning reiterating that fact.
In September, the committee received a report on a concept for a course on cultural diversity and belonging. At the time, Jennifer McCary, chief diversity and belonging officer, said a pilot of the course would be offered in spring, 2022. Faculty who would develop and teach the course had not been identified.
As Provost Joe Whitehead said this week, that was an overly ambitious timetable.
The lack of faculty involvement drew the ire of faculty about 10 of whom attended Friday’s meeting. About 150 people logged onto the Faculty Senate meeting earlier in the week where the issue was discussed.
Faculty are concerned not just because they were not involved in creating the course as required by the Academic Charter, but also during the presentation to trustees, McCary said it would not teach Critical Race Theory nor was it intended to make any student ashamed.
Forte stated Friday morning that there was no course BGSU 1914. What was shared was a concept for a course “in a very early stage,” she said
“Like any new course, its development will follow the required process. There is always a clear understanding that the faculty are responsible for the curriculum at Bowling Green State University,” she continued. “This is required by the BGSU Academic Charter, the Higher Learning Commission, and the fundamental principles of all universities. The board understands that any new course must go through the formal process that requires faculty approval.”
Later Trustee Howard Traul II asked for any update. He said trustees were told they would be kept informed as the course was developed.
Provost said that if there was an outline it would be very broad. There is no syllabus, he said. BGSU 1914 is just a concept, not a course.
Christopher Frey, the chair of Faculty Senate, said he appreciated that the trustees recognized the presence of the faculty members at the meeting. Still the basic questions he posed in his presentation on Tuesday to Faculty Senate have not been answered.
‘Nothing has changed since Tuesday,” he said. “A problem remains. … the good intentions of the board notwithstanding.”
There’s still the sense that “something is going on that we’re hearing nothing about.”
It needs to be clear, he said, that the trustees hearing about a course on “a sensitive and politicized subject, even in a public meeting, is unprecedented.”
“Faculty are not brought into administration plans when it deals with courses. They either initiate or partner from the very, very beginning. That happens with everything at this university which is why it’s never been a problem before. But in this specific case there are way too many questions that still have not been answered.”
President Rodney Rogers said an open forum would be held on Dec. 17 at a time to be determined.
