'Color Purple' hailed...page 4
February
Bronchos storm Panhandle...page 6
No. 31
New ROTC prof likes campus...page 8
VISTA
Tuesday Edition
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
North Central calls for follow-up in 1989 By Curtis Killman Editor
Dr. Bill Lillard announced Monday at a press conference that the final North Central Association report granting 10-year-accreditation had been received and that spring enrollment had topped a previous record. The president said the 10-year-accreditation, the highest an institution can be granted, was the most positive NCA report the University had received in 30 years. But while granting an initial 10-year-accreditation, the report calls for administrators to provide the NCA with an additional report by spring of 1989 addressing problems specified by the review team. "Overall, CSU is doing well," the review team said in the report, but "notwithstanding the positives, serious issues remain and must be resolved. Some of them are overdue for resolution." The report, due in spring of 1989, will be used to determine if an additional "focused visit" will be necessary or if "the time to the next comprehensive visit should be re-examined," the team said in the report. Lillard said the report that will be required in spring 1989 is not uncommon of universities experiencing rapid growth. "I'd say most accrediting reports usually require some sort of report (that follows the comprehensive review)" Lillard said. A focused visit is a personal visit by a NCA team that addresses areas of concern only. A comprehensive visit, as was last had in October of 1985, is a personal visit by a NCA team that reviews the institution in total. Lillard said administrators have the choice of accepting the NCA report or appealing it. Lillard said that decision has not been made yet, but will be addressed within 10 days. The NCA report cited several strengths and suggestions for change at CSU. Areas that the team said were some of CSU's strengths are: ■ Fiscal management. "Historically efficient fiscal management has been a strength of Central State," the NCA report said. ■ Faculty. The report said that one of the university's biggest pluses was in the area of quality adjunct faculty. Student morale. The report said that most ■ students speak positively of the university, faculty, staff, services and facilities. ■ Service to the community. "CSU's response to the needs of the region is excellent," according to the report. ■ Faculty salaries. The report noted increases in the last 10 years to faculty salaries. Some suggestions for change were made by the NCA team after strengths were noted. Lillard, in a press release said, we recognize the fact that any institution of this size always has room for improvements. ■ Compression of faculty salaries. The report said faculty salaries topped the regional university
average in a 10 state region at the lower three ranks (associate professors, assistant professors and instructors). But, the report added, "Unfortunately this is not true for the professors or administrators leading to salary compresion of lower ranks against these and leading to some dissatisfation." The faculty salary structure, the report said, is based on factors to assure equity for women and minorities. The report called salary compression a "serious problem" resulting in recruiting and retention difficulties in areas such as computer science and business. Quality of instruction and departmental stability seems to be affected the report concluded. ■ Faculty loads. The report cited progress in reducing faculty loads, but said loads remain high. Some full time faculty here teach 27 credit hours per year and 24 credit hours per year for graduate faculty. ■ Academic authority. The report said the "perception exists that the vice president (of academic affairs) has little genuine authority focused primarily on a lack of involvement in the budget building process, allocation of funds, and general control over academic budgets. "It is perceived that the vice president of academic affairs is bypassed on important budget decisions and enjoys little impact on decisions in general." Lillard said no specific suggestions were made in the NCA report concerning improving authority in the vice president of academic affair's office. But, the NCA report did recommend that "definition and establishment of the budgetary authority of academic administration" be addressed in the spring 1989 report. ■ Library facilities. The NCA report said that the W. Max Chambers Library collection is "good for undergraduate purposes, but is not good for graduate study and research purposes." ■ Planning. The NCA report said that the university needs a more centralized strategic planning process. The NCA report said the need for planning "is exasperated by present planning which seems short term and budget oriented..." The report also said enrollment growth coupled with resource decline appeared to be a factor resulting in lack of strategic planning. Lillard said administrators were moving into a strategic planning process about three years ago, but were hampered by budget cutbacks. Lack of financial support. The NCA team ■ characterized the financial support of CSU as "barely adequate." The team said that as enrollment increases additional financial support will be needed. "There is a need for additional classroom and laboratory space," the report said. The report said that considering "the general fiscal condition of the state, CSU fiscal facilities from buildings on down are okay, becoming less and less so with growth and shifts in priorities." The report concluded by saying "overall, CSU is doing well" and that significant progress has been made since the last comprehensive visit. The last comprehensive visit prior to the 1985 visit was in 1979.
Photographic services: Dan Smith
Dr. Bill Lillard, president, explains the North Central report to reporters. Lillard held the press conference Tuesday here on campus.
Accreditation: How does it affect students? By Curtis Killman Editor
University accreditation — what does it mean to the student, faculty member or administrator? "Accreditation is, in a since, a stamp of quality on the programs that the university offers," according to Dr. James Perry, vice president of administration. "It allows a certain amount of respectability for the program that we offer." Perry said accreditation means programs offered by a university are consistent with similar programs at other universities. Without accreditation, Perry said a student would have trouble transfering credit hours accumulated to another institution. "People do not recognize degrees from unaccredited institutions," Perry said. "People (other institutions) do not readily accept transfer students from unaccredited institutions. In fact, in our state we have a policy whereby if you're coming from an unaccredited institution, you must validate your work through advanced standing on a course by course basis." Perry said in addition to having work accepted at other institutions, a student going on to graduate school would be able to transfer work to other colleges and universities. "A Stanford, a Harvard, a University of Chicago, a University of Pennsylvania — they don't need accreditation as such," Perry said, "because they have international reputations that are of the very highest quality. "However, a major regional university needs accreditation as a stamp of indication to the outside academic world that they are offering quality programs. "A regional university such as Central State, we need that stamp to show that our programs are quality and are competitive." The NCA, in addition to Oklahoma, evaluates universities in a 18 other states, Perry said. Perry said accreditation is a major factor considered by faculty members seeking employment at educational institutions.