Eureka College is the alma mater of President Ronald Reagan. He has often said that Eureka College helped make him the man he was, and how much he valued his education at Eureka, 'neath the Elms.' However, what is often overlooked in the history of that institution and of Reagan is that Mr. Reagan played a valuable role in maintaining the excellence of that education. When Reagan was in school, it was during the Great Depression. Eureka was talking about firing a bunch of the faculty, resulting in numerous problems for students. Reagan was among the leaders of a group of students who felt left out of the equation. They did not want radical crazy action as the lunatics of the 1960s, they merely wanted to be heard and included in the process. During the protests, students staged walk outs of classes and peaceful petitions and protests of singing the alma mater. There were no crazy bombings or militant takeovers like the selfish self absorbed loons of the 1960s. Why am I talking about this? Eureka is in a similar state of affairs now. In fact, students have already begun peacefully protesting. I have a loved one who is attending Eureka. She went there in part because I talked about the value it had for Reagan and the dedication of its faculty. Those faculty are good people, and they are getting hosed. Let me tell you about what is going on, and let me then tell you what the students are doing about it.
The current administration under President Arnold has produced acrimony among the faculty at Eureka, leading to a deceptive firing of the athletic director (she was told to attend a meeting to talk about a new coach to be hired, only to see the President who told her to either resign or just go back to coaching and teaching, when the previous year she was ordered to become a full time AD by the same president); we have a faculty liasion who doesn't communicate and speak to faculty, but rather threatens them and doesn't communicate with these dedicated teachers. One prominent faculty member, who has turned down lucrative positions at other schools and institutions to stay at Eureka, is leaving because he is tired of seeing the nonsense. Others are leaving en masse, in similar situations, because of the toxic atmosphere created by this administration. The administration has cut the faculty off, and tells them to say nothing to students.
The students, the consumers of the educational product of Eureka, are left with no information or say. I have consulted with people whom I know active in student affairs at other schools, and all say that student govt. and organizations are kept apprised and often participate in discussions regarding faculty, but not so at Eureka. Students have been put out of the loop, I imagine for fear they might take their dollars elsewhere. Teachers have left meetings with administration crying, creating a volatile atmosphere, which was already bad because the admin was talking about redistribution of majors, leaving some students in the lurch.
And, from reliable sources, I hear this President Arnold has gotten into trouble in two previous positions at other schools for destroying faculty morale and handling personnel matters outside of protocol.
The trustees have sided with the president, telling the students to go spin, essentially. What are these students to do, who are concerned about a place they live in, and love, and want to flourish? Not to mention their own academic futures? They have decided to take a peaceful stand. I print now in its entirety the petition Concerned Students for Eureka passed around before they went on a walk out last week:
Student Petition to the Administration of Eureka College
Eureka College is currently at a critical point in development, growth,
and financial stability. While we recognize the significant
achievements of the present administration in generating revenue through increased
enrollment and the creation of a large weekend leadership cohort, we
feel that there is a need for more effective communication. Recent
actions have conveyed secrecy and tension, promoted isolation, and
prevented honest, inclusive, and constructive dialogue. Sources of
instability such as high faculty turnover, voiced alumni
dissatisfaction, the debacle that is major realignment, and an overall
devaluation of values such as community and "family" have
contributed to the current state of affairs. Therefore, the following are listed
areas of concern, along with tangible remedies that we believe are
reasonable.
In the spirit of the few brave individuals that had the courage to
stand up for our ideals on the front steps of the Administration Building on
April 8th, 2008, we, the students of Eureka College, have constructed
this petition.
Pegasus Reconstruction
In order to improve campus communication, we, the students, request
that one member of the administration contributes to the Pegasus at least
once a month. We also request the student editor is permitted to select
his/her faculty advisor for each new year. This faculty advisor is in
place to contribute advice, but will not be held responsible for
anything printed in the Pegasus. The student editor will be held fully
responsible for any of the decisions he/she makes when utilizing
his/her authority of having the final decision of what is included in the
Pegasus. We, the students, feel that any contributor should be
permitted to respectfully critique any aspect of the school we feel is
unsatisfactory and we strongly encourage those who are critiqued to
respond in kind.
Deans Review Committee
In the spirit of fostering the perpetual improvement of our educational
community, we, the students, put forth the following recommendations
pertaining to the evaluation of faculty members by the Office of the
Dean of College. Faculty members shall be designated, for the purpose
of evaluation, according to the following criteria:
New Hire: Any faculty member who has served no more than two semesters
at Eureka College, including faculty members who came to Eureka having
received tenure at a previous institution. Faculty members designated
as a New Hire shall be considered to be working under probationary status.
Non-Tenured: Any faculty member who has served no less than three
semesters at Eureka College, but has not yet received tenure.
Tenured: Any faculty member who has served no less than three semesters
at Eureka College and has previously received tenure.
The Dean’s Office shall evaluate the faculty according to a schedule
that shall be determined by the designation of the faculty member. New
Hire faculty members shall be evaluated once per semester. Non-Tenured
faculty members shall be evaluated once per academic year. Tenured
faculty members shall be evaluated once every two academic years.
A satisfactory evaluation shall result in no change to the evaluation
schedule. An unsatisfactory evaluation of a faculty member shall result
in the Dean’s Office conducting evaluations of said faculty member
according to the folsatisfactory evaluation: New Hire faculty members
shall be evaluated twice per semester. Non-Tenured faculty members shall be evaluated once per semester. Tenured faculty members shall be evaluated once per
academic year.
Faculty Evaluations of the Administration
We wish to allow the faculty to create a form in which they may
anonymously evaluate the administration. This form will be given to the
administration, while copies will be given to other faculty members and
the Board of Trustees. This topic must be addressed in the next faculty
meeting and that information must be relayed to the students through
appropriate channels. The faculty will be in charge of the construction
of the form, the timeline of the construction of the form, and the
frequency with which the evaluations are administered.
Student Evaluations of the Administration
Students shall be presented with evaluations of the administration in
much the same way that they are presented with evaluations of
professors. These reviews shall be made available electronically at the
end of each semester. Evaluations will be given to the administration
and a copy of the evaluations shall be made available to the Board of
Trustees.
Community Relations Team
We, the students, support and encourage the implementation of the EC
Community Relations Team. This group will work as an open communication
committee between the four major constituents in the Eureka College
Community: Administration, Faculty/Staff, Students, and Alumni.
Membership of the team will be as follows:
Administration: Three representatives from any administrative position
and/or the Board of Trustees. Representatives shall be chosen by
popular vote of members of the administration and Board of Trustees.
Faculty/Staff: Three representatives of the faculty/staff to be chosen
by popular vote of members of the faculty and staff.
Students: Three representatives of the student body to be chosen by
popular vote of the Student Senate. Membership of the Student Senate
need not be required or even considered for a student to be chosen as a
representative.
Alumni: Three representatives of the Alumni Board to be chosen by
popular vote of members of the Alumni Board.
The EC Community Relations Team will meet at the College or at another
location voted on by the members. They will initially meet quarterly,
but will meet more or less frequently as needed. Reports from each
meeting should be submitted to the Board of Trustees. An annual report
should also be submitted to the Board of Trustees.
Actions That Will be Taken if Our Voices Are Ignored
Student strike (no class)
Sit-in of Administration Building
Formal letter to trustees & press
Student strike (all other Eureka College functions, outside of class)
Call for resignation of Administration Heads
We thank you for hearing what we have to say and we hope that you take
into account the morale of the college and the solutions that we have
offered to offset the disconnect between students and the College.
Good people are being forced out by an administration that doesn't seem to care. I take high offense to this, and encourage people to call and email the trustees of Eureka and tell them this type of nonsense should not stand, to open a dialogue. This is not 60s radicalism run amok, but common sense collaboration between providers and consumers. I encourage people to write, call, and email Michael Reagan and donors to Eureka to let them know about the toxicity of the current atmosphere of their alma mater or cherished school and get them to take some type of action. Such good small schools are hard to find, and I am sure Ronald Reagan is turning in his grave to see his cherished place of development in such straits again, due to the deaf and tin ear of a president who seems more consumed with his own power than the students.
