-JH

“humiliated to teach at Clark�
It is clear that Clark College needed to change. It was clear before Dr. Branch’s arrival.

     Clark was becoming irrelevant to the community. Faculty taught classes when they wanted, not when students wanted to take them. Distance learning was limited to a few telecourses. Classes in the evening taught by tenured faculty were rare. Classes on the weekend were almost non-existent. The faculty had avoided any organized requirements for assessment that didn’t involve hefty stipends. There was no program review. The college offered programs because there was faculty to teach them rather than what the students wanted. It was a great place to work, but not such a great place to be a student. Under the leadership of Dr. Branch I believe that this is a better place for students. There is still a lot of work to be done, but at least the college has begun focus student and community needs.

     Previously there had been a lack of strong leadership and faculty took advantage. I have struggled working with fellow faculty on this campus. I have witnessed a faculty member tell a groundskeeper that isn't it nice that he works in a place that someone like a groundskeeper can have lunch with a person like himself. I was humiliated not for the groundskeeper, but for the faculty member. I have witnessed classified staff being verbally abused by faculty. It is common knowledge that faculty have discussed their grievances with Dr. Branch in their classes. Students have told me that their instructor had complained that Dr. Branch was behind the new parking meters and damn him. (This actually came from a recommendation from a campus wide committee that included faculty.) This has saddened me. Hostile and inappropriate behavior has been perpetrated and tolerated under the guise of academic freedom. As a dissenter among the ranks of faculty I have fought for students but kept silent for fear of retaliation from other faculty. Tenure has been used to shield faculty from any consequences of billigerent and destructive behavior.