MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon addresses the board as professor Sue Carter, Steering Committee chairperson, looks on Sept. 10 in the board room of the Administration Building. Khoa Nguyen/ The State News
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon urged professors to be wary of classroom speech in the wake of a scandal involving English professor William Penn.
As the MSU Steering Committee met for the first time for the 2013-14 academic year Tuesday, Simon dived into a hot-button topic that drew national attention last week.
Penn went on what some are calling an anti-Republican rant.
She noted how the university can use the reassignment of Penn’s teaching responsibilities as a “learning moment for all of us.” Simon urged committee members to be “respectful of a personnel process … if you were the individual, you would want to be (respected).”
Simon discussed the university’s responsibility to its “novice learners.”
“(Students) … have come from a learning environment where this kind of debate and dialogue are not the norm,” she said. “We need to be very sensitive to our responsibility … to promote a learning environment that sparks debate.”
Simon also cautioned professors need to be aware of the prevalence of technology in the classroom.
“There are aspects of this that are very troubling,” Simon said during the meeting. “Technology permits the editing of sound bites.”
Steering Committee Chairperson and journalism professor Sue Carter echoed Simon’s statements during the meeting from the perspective of a professor.
“A lot of people are concerned about any 10-minute section of our pedagogy being used against us,” she said.
The committee also moved to approve an amendment to the university’s policy on academic freedom to clarify protections for professors’ right to speak out. Philosophy professor Debra Nails submitted the notion, and said through email the academic freedom she is discussing and the freedom many are citing in defense of Penn are not the same.
Nails said professors should be able to discuss their views on university policies or actions without fear of repercussion.
“The amendment is related to speech about the institution, which is not explicit (though it is widely assumed) in existing policies,” she said.
Nails said she submitted the proposal in June in response to an Inside Higher Education article supporting the right of faculty members to “speak out on matters affecting the university.”
Athletic Council Chairman Michael Kasavana delivered a report. Kasavana said MSU’s student-athlete graduation rate was above the NCAA level and the instillation of two postgraduate scholarships in the past year for $7,500.
Kasavana said during the meeting he hoped more scholarships will be added in the future.
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