
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 28, 1993                   TAG: 9401140034
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WILLIAM H. VOIGE, CAROLINE T. MARSHALL and JAMES J. LEARY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JMU FACULTY STRESSES ACADEMICS

WE WERE interested in Ray Garland's Dec. 2 column (``At JMU, president's call for reform gives profs fits'') concerning the role of faculty and administration in influencing changes at James Madison University. One of us was quoted in the column, and we're writing in the hope that we may clarify some of the points made.

The great issue for the JMU faculty is not change per se. After all, in the past three decades we've embraced change often, beginning with the decision in the late '60s to transform the teachers' college into a mainstream, liberal-arts institution. The important issue for us is that we have been frozen out of academic decision-making until the academic credibility of JMU is in question. Three years ago, Phi Beta Kappa refused JMU a chapter and cited as a primary reason the ``faculty's seeming disengagement in the process of institutional governance.''

There are in every academic setting at least two schools. There's the school of learning and teaching, computers and libraries, students and teachers, and, in addition, there's the school of buildings and grounds, health centers and dining halls, athletic programs and recreational facilities, etc. Of all the colleges in the commonwealth, JMU is the only one to charge Virginia students more for nonacademics (fees, not including room and board) than it does for academics (tuition). This reflects the values of the administration rather than the values of those who teach and those who learn. Surely an adjustment in the breakdown between tuition and fees is a better way of giving students and parents value for their money than any mere squeezing of four academic years into three calendar years.

Garland cited UCLA statistics on faculty workloads in his column. We should like to point out that JMU President Ronald Carrier has stated publicly and for the record that JMU's own statistics show that our faculty work an average of 52 hours per week.

As Phi Beta Kappa's rejection of JMU indicates, all diplomas aren't equal. Scholars are no braver than other people, but we do have one sacred duty, and that's the promise we give that the courses and programs we offer are valid and in good order. This is the only part of governance in which we have an absolute interest. We hold the value of the diploma in trust to guarantee that it is at least as valuable as all the money, effort and hope our students and their families have invested in it. The faculty of JMU wants change, but we want it to be meaningful and constructive.

William H. Voige is professor of chemisty, Caroline T. Marshall is professor of history and James J. Leary is professor of chemistry at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.

by CNB