How Tulsa University Was Turned into Toxic University

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | March 25, 2020 | Jacob Howland

[karpov]

Suffering from self-inflicted wounds, the University of Tulsa is sick and getting sicker. This is a case study in how “progressive” academic leadership can wreck a once-excellent university.

Last April 11, the university’s administration rolled out “True Commitment,” a radical restructuring that gutted the liberal arts, raised course loads, dissolved academic departments, and effectively turned the university into a technical and vocational school. I wrote about the turmoil that caused in this article for the Martin Center, but I’ll recap the events below.

A campaign of opposition to the restructuring formed immediately, sparked by the circulation of an article that appeared in City Journal on April 17. Concerned Faculty of TU (CFTU) was born at a meeting attended by four hundred people. Faculty votes in the colleges of Law and Arts and Sciences overwhelmingly rejected True Commitment. Students drafted a petition and held a funeral for the liberal arts. Facebook pages and a website were launched, and roughly 20 academic associations and societies wrote letters condemning True Commitment.

The administration quickly launched a venomous counterattack, attempting to muzzle and intimidate faculty and student critics. One low point was an Astroturf email campaign orchestrated by president Gerard Clancy. In September, four college deans and several other administrators denounced the “selfishness and negativity” of the “faceless faculty members”—or perhaps just the “anonymous message board troll”—known as CFTU.

[IronJack]

Word wall that goes on and on but doesn't say what got cut and what remains.

I actually support a robust liberal arts environment at a university. Universities are not supposed to be tech or vocational schools. Students go to the U to obtain a UNIVERSAL education, not just classes in their specialty. Teach basic math, grammar, and composition skills, along with offerings of literature, music, and visual arts. Use those courses to complement the major subjects, but do NOT offer them as majors. And eliminate the fluff entirely.

[OKSooner]

"Tulsa really didn’t care what this guy had to say."

Don't be surprised if it someday comes to light that TU is being run by an over-reliance on foreign money.

[Ford4000]

The current crop of liberal arts is the social justice agenda. Good riddance.

[Ford4000]

If it were robust and elective I would agree. Unfortunately a lot of LA has become scholarly post-modern nonsense. Bring back western civilization, please.

[IronJack]

I called for a liberal arts curriculum that was purged of all the nonsense and fluff. I think that’s what you meant too.