I totally agree that universities have some sort of policies for it and named it a protected ground so you can use the power of law.

I didn’t realize how close I was to a higher education “big shot” until this semester. I hope that all of our questions don’t get on either of our uncles nerves! I think I’m also going to be keeping track of how my uncle’s seminary is doing to see if I can spot some of the ways he’s had influence on its direction.

I shared you skepticism of the mission statement, and hearing about the strategic plan concept helped me see how they accomplish the mission. Although I assume that there are universities that don’t use the mission statement as aspirations and informing of their plans; which instead use it solely as a PR tool.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to have more in-depth conversations with my uncle about higher education after this semester. It is a bit humorous that a university could change their mission statement as a response to changes instead of preceding changes. Institutions seem to like giving the impression that they know exactly what direction they’re headed.

Yes, I get worried about the little control that some professors at large universities have over the direction of the university. I wonder if a democratic system could be implemented into universities so that all professors are able to give voice to the vision they have for the university going forward. I think new members and junior faculty occasionally act in deceptive ways just to please a department head or other senior faculty, which I wish didn’t happen.

I shared some of that same surprise when I looked more at how varied each university can approach higher education. For instance my undergraduate university and my uncle’s seminary are both accredited by the same exact organization, which I thought couldn’t be more different.

I definitely see your point about university strategic plans getting separated from their actual actions. It makes me think that there might be an optimal size of university, just like there can be an optimal class size when it comes to teaching a single class.

Yes, students just pick easy A courses or elective courses that fit into their schedule. Many students do not pay attention to general education because they think that it is irrelevant to their major and interest. Re-designing general education is one future challenge of higher education.

You should consider taking the Ethics class. It’s offered in the CEE department and my advisor teaches it. It can be a bit messy, but I think that’s because it’s real life.

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I also agree that bullying shouldn’t be tolerated by an administration, but I sincerely hope that these investigations are coming in with unbiased minds, as much as possible. Especially when you get to graduate level educations, there is a level of intensity that I believe is necessary to push everyone to be their best. I don’t like the general trend of US society becoming more soft, for lack of better words, in the sense that everything has to be an ordeal and no one has backbone anymore. From my experience, a majority of time students that feel bullied haven’t communicated their situation and feelings to the superior, so there hasn’t been a healthy conversation about expectations vs production vs ability. Even if the student isn’t comfortable talking directly to the superior, there’s numerous different routes in universities to help, most of which can be anonymous if requested. No one should every be attacked personally or demeaned, but there’s nothing wrong with a “you can do better” that motivates a student to stay a couple hours later past “quitting time” and meet expectations.