Faculty Senate to respond to conflict of interest claims, distance learning

Three proposals dealing with issues related to ASU's involvement with online education and the recent news that ASU administrators held positions in areas that would possibly pose a conflict of interest are being presented at Friday's Faculty Senate meeting.

The first proposal, submitted by professor of history Alex Sydorenko, cites several grievances related to the involvement of the ASU system with private online education company Academic Partnerships, formerly Higher Education Holdings. The proposal document cites a lack of shared governance in decision-making, a lack of student choice in course offerings and a "web of intertwined interests," among others.

Sydorenko declined to be interviewed.

William Maynard, associate professor of history and former faculty senator, said this proposal was a faculty collaboration with advice from the American Association of University Professors. According to its website, aaup.org, its purpose is to "advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good."

Maynard said the AAUP provides legal resources to faculty and a national perspective to events and issues on individual campuses.

The proposal calls to create a Faculty Senate committee to review the ethical concerns in the partnership ASU has with AP and to enact a moratorium, a temporary ban on activity, on any new involvement with the company or with any other "for-profit private" business until the existing relationship is "fully investigated."

 "I think the bottom line here is the institution is becoming more interested in money than it is in education," said Bill Rowe, professor of art. "There may be laws broken here."

 According to the proposal, for each course developed with AP the department chair for that course currently receives $1,000, faculty members developing the course receive $4,500 and departments receive bonus payments of $500.

Beverly Boals Gilbert, Faculty Senate president and professor of teacher education, said faculty compensation for developing online courses is fair.

"Historically, we have been doing that since we began putting courses online," Boals-Gilbert said. "In addition to your regular teaching load, that is very time consuming."

Jack Zibluk, professor of journalism and Faculty Senate president-elect, pointed out faculty only receive compensation if they develop online courses. Faculty members developing traditional courses taught in the classroom receive no extra compensation for their work.

The second proposal, authored by professor of communication disorders and faculty senator Mike McDaniel, deals with faculty primacy and would give faculty and colleges the opportunity to vote on whether they offer courses online in any format, whether through a private partnership or through a university-controlled medium such as Blackboard.

"I trust faculty to make the right choice. I don't think we need a watchdog or someone to oversee," Boals Gilbert said.

The third proposal, submitted by Zibluk, deals with distance learning programs in general.

Similar to the conflict of interest proposal, it would enact a moratorium on further involvement with AP as well, but Zibluk said the two differ in their focus.

"I think they both have valid points," he said. "We're just coming to the same thing from a different direction."

He said the conflict of interest proposal focuses more on concerns related to ASU administration, whereas his is broader.

Faculty members have expressed concerns about the AP involvement with ASU long before now.

"The whole partnership with HEH/AP is extremely questionable on many levels," Zibluk said. "It was entered into with minimal discussion among faculty and staff."

Also on Friday's agenda is a resolution to update the university's diversity statement and employment policy.

Wordage used to describe physical disability would be updated and sexual orientation would be added to the list of recognized items.

 "We wanted to update the statement to reflect the rest of the colleges' and departments' policies and to make the statement more inclusive," Armany Saleh, professor of leadership and special education, said. "That definitely is a main goal, that this statement will help us to include more faculty and students."

Though senators won't vote on these issues during Friday's session, Boals Gilbert said they will vote at the Dec. 3 meeting.

Concerns of conflict of interest were brought up when last month it was discovered Dan Howard, interim chancellor of ASUJ, was serving on the board of a subsidiary of AP, and Les Wyatt, former ASU System president and current ASU professor emeritus of higher education and art history, was found to be serving as president and chairman of American University System, another AP subsidiary.