|
CAP status for gen ed freshmen
reduces risk of admission delays
By Tom Cronin
Campus administrators are
planning to use the Capital Scholars New Program Request, or the
CAP NEPR, to admit the proposed group of general education
undergraduates because it is uncertain whether a new NEPR
authorizing UIS to admit freshmen without a CAP designation
could have passed the Illinois Board of Higher Education without
a significant delay.
In an e-mail sent to The Journal
on Monday, UIS Chancellor Richard Ringeisen said that the
university is not pursuing a new NEPR because such action would
not be necessary for the expansion of the lower division. Using
the CAP NEPR to admit the general education freshmen would allow
the campus to meet its goal to begin enrolling these students in
fall 2006, he said.
“There is a window of
opportunity right now because, there has been a ‘baby boomlet’
in Illinois that is increasing the pool of high school graduates
for the next decade or so,” Ringeisen said. “That gives UIS an
extraordinary opportunity to attract more of our share of
college students. If we wait too long, we could miss that
opportunity. This is such a great place, we should do everything
possible to get more students here.”
Karen Moranski, director of both
the CAP Program and the General Education Working Group, said in
a message e-mailed to The Journal on Saturday that she received
a letter from the chancellor on Oct. 6 requesting that the CAP
Program be changed so it could include the new group of
students.
Moranski, an associate professor
of English, said it is her understanding that IBHE Interim
Executive Director Tom Lamont recently sent Ringeisen a letter
stating that UIS was authorized to offer the CAP Program, as
long as the students were highly qualified and the class sizes
were “relatively small.” Ringeisen declined to discuss the
letter.
“The letter represents the view
of the IBHE staff, and it has been seen as clarification of the
scope of the Capital Scholars Program – a scope that allows for
the admittance of more students and a second curriculum,”
Moranski said.
SGA President Tyson Roan said
that the IBHE’s interpretation of the CAP Program is “against
the grain” of the understanding that the Capital Scholars have
had of their program for more than three years.
“Previously, we were under the
belief that Capital Scholars was an integrated, team-taught core
curriculum for first- and second-year students in the
living-learning community,” Roan said.
At the Oct. 24 Student
Government Association meeting, Moranski said that the
university is planning to offer a CAP Program with two tracks by
fall 2006. The first track would be an honors program with the
living-learning community and the interdisciplinary curriculum
that are part of the current CAP Program. The second track would
be a more traditional program with a general education
curriculum.
Students in both tracks would be
admitted under the CAP NEPR that the IBHE approved in 1999,
Moranski said at the SGA meeting.
In an interview with The Journal
on Aug. 31, however, Moranski said that members of the Working
Group were putting together a separate NEPR that would have
allowed UIS to begin admitting non-Capital Scholar freshmen in
fall 2006.
“We are not calling them Capital
Scholars, and they are not being admitted under the CAP NEPR,”
Moranski said in the interview. “That’s the purpose for
developing the New Program Request is that this will be a
different body of students with a different curriculum, so that
the Capital Scholars Program will be separate.”
In Saturday’s e-mail, Moranski
said that she did not know about the chancellor’s decision to
admit the new students as Capital Scholars at the time of the
interview, and she did not expect the change.
Roan said that the expansion of
the CAP Program is likely to benefit the entire university, but
he is unhappy with the administration’s course of action. The
process, according to Roan, represents a “lack of transparency”
on the administration’s part and, as SGA Treasurer Jason Kennedy
put it, has painted the students into a corner in which they
have little choice but to go along with the administration’s
plan.
“If they would have told us nine
months ago, ‘Thank you for your concerns, but we’re still going
forward with our original plan because it’s what’s best for this
university,’ I think it would have been political suicide for
them, but I think it would have been the right thing to do,”
Roan said.
“If they would have sought a
NEPR, and if that NEPR had failed,” he added, “then I think that
the students would be much more apt to take into account other
ways of resolving this issue between Capital Scholars and
general education.”
Despite his objections to the
process, Roan said that expanding the CAP Program would be a
positive change because it would bring more full-time and fully
engaged residential students to campus, and it would allow the
CAP Program as it exists now to become an honors program.
According to Moranski, it is the
position of the CAP Steering Committee that designating the
current CAP Program as an honors program would be the best way
to ensure the program’s integrity.
“We would never do anything to
diminish the reputation of that program,” Ringeisen said last
April. “… If we need to name people, we’ll figure out a way to
do that so that everybody’s happy. I think that the current
Capital Scholars ought not worry so much about that particular
issue.”
Roan said that he hopes that
students and the administration will be able to reach the “best
possible compromise,” even if neither side is completely
satisfied with the final agreement.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to
be happy when we get done, but I hope that it’ll be what’s best
for this university,” Roan said. “… I hope that the chancellor
doesn’t get his way, and I hope that I don’t get my way, but I
hope we can find a compromise.”
END GAME: ADAMS MOVING ON
Embattled athletic director sees greener pastures
in Maryland
By Jason
Stuebe
Oh Maryland, my Maryland!
Eight months after being reassigned and five months after being
reinstated, UIS Athletic Director Nick Adams will be leaving UIS
to become the assistant athletic director at the University of
Maryland.
Adams’ final day on the
job at UIS will be on November 11th, and he will
start at Maryland on November 15th, well before
December 31st, which is when his current contract
will be allowed to expire.
The chief job for Adams
will be the marketing of Maryland athletics which involves
everything from promotions to ticket sales.
The move east is viewed
by Adams to be a positive career move for him and his family.
“The move is pretty incredible; I’m excited about it...to see
more students rushing the field after Maryland defeated Florida
State than I have seen in attendance at any previous institution
I’ve been associated with is pretty powerful.”
As reported earlier, the
absence of an athletic director will present the need for
someone to fill the role on an interim basis until the new one
can be found. Vice Chancellor Christopher Miller has not made
that determination as of press time.
Chancellor Ringeisen, who
brought Adams on board in the spring of 2002 stated that he
believed the appointment of Adams in Maryland was a very good
opportunity. “I’m sure Nick is looking forward to his new
appointment,” said the Chancellor, “I wish him luck and think
him for his service to the university.”
It is no secret that a
certain degree of edginess has existed within and around the
Athletics Department since the release of the Task Force Report
but Adams looks on his time spent at UIS in a positive light.
"In two years we have
moved mountains, there’s a lot that is here now that wasn’t here
awhile back,” said Adams, “did it come with some costs? Of
course, but you are going to have that whenever you grow like we
did.”
Among Adams’ proudest
accomplishments include the exceptionally high graduation rates,
the passing of a referendum that will fund UIS’ new athletics
facility and the introduction of men’s basketball and women’s
softball programs. On the other hand, Adams is disappointed that
he will not see the completed sports complex and it will not be
as large as originally planned.
While Adams has remained
tightly lipped about the events leading to this moment, he did
offer some words about the future of athletics at UIS. “This
university needs to figure out who it wants to be and where it
is going. Will it be NCAA or NAIA? Will it be division II or
III?”
Although Adams’
excitement can be seen on his face he is sad to be leaving UIS
for several reasons, the biggest one being the people. “I will
miss the community and some good friends but most of all I will
miss the athletics staff and our athletes.” |
