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BYU's Kennedy Center Facing Major Overhaul
PROVO, UTAH -- BYU's David M. Kennedy Center for International
Studies is facing major changes after a review questioned the
academic rigor of some of its programs. The review suggests that two
of the center's undergraduate programs be terminated, along with a
master's degree and a program on developing nations. The center's
director, Don Holsinger, a tenured professor, has also been told that
his contract will not be renewed. But some faculty criticize the
review, claiming that it is a biased and detrimental to the
University, and the center is leading a petition to urge the
University to ignore its recommendations.
The center serves thousands of students through its management of
BYU's study abroad program and serves as the home for six
undergraduate degree programs and several graduate programs. It is
also the home of the International Society, a professional society
for LDS Church members who work in internationally-oriented
positions, which works to support the Church's programs around the
world. The center's study abroad programs are known as the largest in
the U.S.
The David M. Kennedy Center was established in 1983 through private
donations, and named after LDS Church member David M. Kennedy, former
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon and
ambassador at large for the U.S. After leaving government service,
Kennedy served as the LDS Church's ambassador at large until his
death in 1996. The center was envisioned as a interdisciplinary hub
that would bring the expertise of faculty from across BYU to give
students an international education.
The review bases its suggestions on a several-month-long study of the
center, requested by Academic Vice President Alan L. Wilkins and
chaired by by BYU Associated Academic Vice President Noel Reynolds.
In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Reynolds downplayed the
importance of the overhaul, "We terminate somewhere between 10 and 20
programs a year," he said. The review blames the center's
difficulties on its drain on other departments in the University and
on its failure to raise adequate funds.
But faculty dispute many of the review's conclusions, especially the
funding claim. Political Science professor Valarie Hudson, among the
most vocal opponents of the review, claims that the center has
actually been prohibited from raising its own funds, because its
efforts competed with BYU's own efforts. She also claims, in comments
posted with her objection on the center's petition, that the center
was promised $5 million in funding as part of BYU's 1990s "Lighting
the Way" campaign, but that the University never delivered the
promise funding.
Hudson worries that the changes effectively gut the center, leaving
BYU without the ability to take advantage of one of its strongest
resources, "BYU boasts one of the most internationally minded and
multilingual student bodies in the nation, perhaps the world, a
resource the center's founders wanted to tap. Killing this program is
a very retrograde step to take," she says.
Other professors worried about the fallout from weakening the center,
with geography professor Chad Emmett wondering what international
students will do if their major is dismantled. Another professor,
sociologist Lynn England, claims that the Reynold's panel was stacked
with academics who opposed the center's interdisciplinary approach.
But regardless of the review, Reynolds emphasizes that any decision
on the center is weeks or months away, "International programs are
still a high priority of university. But what we're finding now is
that departments are developing their own international emphases."
Source:
Ax Poised at BYU International Studies Center
Salt Lake Tribune 3Jan02 D3
By Kirsten Stewart: Salt Lake Tribune
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