The university is moving forward on several controversial changes to the relationship between the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences.

This summer, several faculty committees held meetings to discuss the possibility of creating Maxwell’s first signature undergraduate major, giving Maxwell greater decision-making power in undergraduate social science majors and allowing Maxwell to self-govern.

‘There have been a number of faculty groups meeting this summer to consider various aspects of the (Arts and Sciences)/Maxwell relationship, but there have been no reports from these committees yet,’ said Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost, in an e-mail.

Spina, Chancellor Nancy Cantor and administrators at both colleges worked together last spring to draft a proposal to give Maxwell more self-governance and a bigger hand in undergraduate programs.

The proposal, called the White Paper, was released to the faculty of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell, and was then the topic of a heated discussion at the last University Senate meeting in April.

At the USen meeting on April 21, many faculty members expressed concerns that the university was rushing ahead with the plans, which had not been carefully discussed at a faculty level.

And although the proposal called for faculty ‘task forces,’ professors at the April USen meeting and in the following weeks said they hoped work on various projects would be delayed until after summer.

In spite of this, three committees were formed this summer to analyze the proposals to make Maxwell more autonomous and involved with undergraduates.

The three committees — two comprised of Maxwell faculty and the third of both Maxwell and Arts and Sciences faculty — are expecting to present the first drafts of their work in October, Spina said.

Until then, committee members said they are reluctant to talk about the meetings.

‘There isn’t much to tell at this point,’ said Jeff Stonecash, cochairman of the joint Arts and Sciences and Maxwell study committee. ‘We are trying to sort the issues into those that might be serious and those that can be resolved with some minor changes. It is going to take another month.’

One of the most important changes included in the proposal for undergraduate and prospective students is the creation of a selective undergraduate program in Maxwell. Currently, there are no majors housed exclusively in Maxwell.

The signature program would capitalize on Maxwell’s reputation and attract exceptionally strong students, according to the most recent proposal concerning the relationship between Arts and Sciences and Maxwell.

Robert McClure, chairman of the Signature Program committee, said he did not want to talk about committee progress until an official draft of its work is presented to the rest of the faculty.

‘My presumption is that the Signature Program committee will distribute an interim report, certainly by some time in mid-October, that would apprise the community of where our thinking stands and invite reaction,’ McClure said.

The university has yet to determine how and when the committees will present their proposals.

McClure’s committee of nine Maxwell faculty members met several times this summer, once since school started and will meet again Tuesday morning.

During and after April’s USen meetings, professors in both Maxwell and Arts and Sciences expressed concern about the proposed Maxwell undergraduate major. Some said they thought it would take away from social science programs already in existence and that the undergraduate program would be started because of its marketability rather than its necessity.

McClure said the committee was formed to contemplate and respond to these and many other concerns.

This is not the first time McClure has led the creation of undergraduate Maxwell courses. He was the lead author of MAX 123: ‘Critical Issues for the United States’ and MAX 132: ‘Global Community.’

McClure said he is unsure how long it will take or if the Maxwell undergraduate program will be established. The two MAX courses he created took three years to become a reality.

But both supporters and opponents of the changes to Maxwell’s relationship with Arts and Science have only a few more weeks to wait before discussions and debates open back up.

‘All of us in the committee and across the school and college would be hoping to bring this range of issues to some sort of closure,’ McClure said. ‘I don’t know any of us who would like to make this as our life’s work.’

rastrum@syr.edu

Published on September 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm