news story / By Heidi Walters

Change U.

HSU is moving forward with a systematic shake-up, and many are applauding

(March 12, 2009)  Monday was a fine and blustery spring day, a perfect time for a little hope and renewal. And, not to be too rich about it, that seemed to be the mood inside the Kate Buchanan Room at Humboldt State University, where about 150 faculty, staff, administrators and students gathered at noon for a public forum to talk about change.

At the head of the room in a long line of chairs sat a cabinet of 13, plus HSU President Rollin Richmond. This was, in fact, the Cabinet for Institutional Change, formed late last year after a devastating one-two punch — first, a report from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the body that accredits HSU, which noted systemic fragmentation in decision-making on campus and was so doubtful of the university’s ability to pass the accreditation review that it was put off for a year; second, the infamous Keeling Report, from New York consultancy firm Keeling & Associates, which described a campus culture so far sunk into organizational dysfunction and depression, from the president on down, it’d take a dozen Dr. Phils to bring it around.

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Plus, there was the state budget crisis: The already bare-bones university, facing millions in cuts, had to find a way to avoid the vital organs and major arteries.

Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Bob Snyder sitting next to Richmond, noted some of the high points from the WASC report — including the observation that one of HSU’s historic strengths has been its focus on sustainability and caring for the planet. But, yes, there were loads of problems.

The cabinet, split into teams, would tackle five areas for comprehensive reform: university vision; student success; campus governance; collegial, respectful and responsive community; and a culture of evidence.

Undergraduate nursing student Beth Weissbart admitted she felt anxious about the area of focus she and astronomy Professor Dave Kornreich would be coordinating, “collegial, respectful and responsive community,” saying it wasn’t “very focused” yet. But she did know that, among the student body, even people who hadn’t heard of the WASC and Keeling reports could “feel that something’s not right on campus.”

Weissbart, however, sounded determined to make the change process inclusive, and certain that things were going to get better.

Others spoke likewise, and from the sound of their enthusiasm this wouldn’t be yet another university undertaking that ends up bound and languishing on a shelf somewhere. This, as cabinet member Matt Johnson, a Wildlife professor, told a group after the meeting, was really “going to shake things up.”

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