Daily Egyptian Editor 19

The two-year tool and manufacturing technology program in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts has been recommended for elimination by the Faculty Senate so the program’s funding can be used for other four-year programs within the college.

The Faculty Senate voted 24-5 on Tuesday to eliminate the program. It also voted 14-13 to maintain a two-year dental technology program in the same college, citing that it is one of the few such programs in Illinois.

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John Jackson, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and provost, said COLA needed $500,000 to start the 1997-98 school year, and that much of the money has to come from reallocation of programs.

Jackson said a 1991 restructuring of COLA resulted in the colleges having many eliminated programs in which students were left in the pipeline.

We don’t just abandon the students, and we still have to let them complete their degree, he said. But that’s a long and expensive process.

Prior to the vote, Jackson said both the tool and manufacturing technology program and the dental technology program could be eliminated and their funding could be used elsewhere.

Jackson said that a similar tool and manufacturing technology program should be offered at John A. Logan Community College by fall 1998.

James Schultz, one of the instructors in tool and manufacturing technology, said that such a program would not be of the same quality and encouraged the Senate to reject the resolution calling for his program’s elimination.

The program has 13 students enrolled and is taught by two full-time faculty members and one part-time faculty member, who all are term faculty.

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We need to question what we can offer better at SIUC rather than a community college, he said. We invest 15 hours in lab work but most community colleges can only offer eight.

Our students graduate with more experience in our labs.

Al Melone, chairman of the Undergraduate Education Policy Committee, said the program’s elimination would save $133,000. He further said the proposed John A. Logan program would offer employment opportunities for faculty displaced by the elimination.

This program properly belongs at a community college, he said.

But Schultz called the Logan proposal a phantom program and said there are no guarantees that SIUC faculty will be hired in the program or that such a program will be implemented at all.

This is definitely uncertain at this point, he said. This provides a false sense of security.

Jackson said the vice president of Logan said the program has been approved and that SIUC’s program will be maintained until Logan begins to admit students into its program. Students in SIUC’s program will be allowed to graduate before the program’s elimination.

Although the Senate recommended to eliminate that CASA program, the body also voted to maintain a different degree from the college.

Prior to the vote to maintain the dental technology degree, Melone said the program is one of a few such programs in the country, and that the program’s elimination would result in a savings of $37,000.

We recommend to maintain this program because its elimination will not result in appreciable cost savings, he said.

Jackson, however, said reassignment of faculty could result in cost savings. There are five tenured faculty in the program. He further said the program was not a high priority and was not central to SIUC’s mission statement.

Dennis Laake, an associate health care professor, however, pointed out that health care is a high priority of the University.

Dental Technology is a part of health care, he said.

Following the debate, the Senate voted by a narrow margin to maintain the degree.

The recommendations now go to Jackson’s office. He said the recommendations of the faculty likely will be followed.

It’s very difficult for faculty to vote to eliminate any program, and it’s always a fight and always a battle, he said to the Senate. But folks, we have to get this money from somewhere.