Publisher: The Collegian: Student written Student edited

Recommendations made by Ashland University President Fred Finks and Provost Frank Pettigrew have been pulled from Board of Trustees consideration following a statement to all faculty by Finks on Friday afternoon. Finks and Pettigrew presented a list of recommendations to the Board of Trustees Executive Committee on April 10, without consulting faculty or the Academic Council. The recommendations included restrictions to tenure-track hiring, reducing the core requirements for students, replacing department chair positions with full-time administrators, establishing an Adult and Online College outside normal faculty channels and returning to the 24-hour load for tenure and tenure-track faculty and 27 hours for non-tenure-track faculty. The document is currently before the board’s Academic Affairs committee. It was given to The Collegian on Tuesday. Thursday night, The Collegian posted a story in which many faculty voiced their frustrations with the list of recommendations. Also on Thursday, Faculty Senate President Jim Rycik called for a special executive session of senate to be held on Wednesday at 3 p.m. to discuss a resolution to the board regarding the recommendations. All faculty have been invited to the meeting. On Friday afternoon, Finks released a statement in an email that was sent to all faculty in response to their concerns and questions. In it, Finks requested that the document be removed from Board of Trustees consideration. “This will ensure that a full collaborative process can transpire on the many challenges facing the institution,” Finks said. “It is important for our campus community to be unified and not divided by actions which would cause disruption.” Rycik said on Friday night that while faculty appreciate that Finks is making an effort to repair the damage, it’s difficult to “unsay” what they had already read with regard to the list of recommendations. “The exact outcome of Wednesday’s meeting is not predetermined,” Rycik said. “It will provide members of the faculty with the opportunity not only to formulate a unified response to the recent memo but also to address the role we hope to play in advancing the future of the University.”