Students seek more input in education college overhaul

Students in the education college said they feel left in the dark about the school's planned reorganization, a process some said they know virtually nothing about and have had little input in.

The reorganization, which Dean Donna Wiseman argued few students would even notice, would condense seven departments into three. Administrators aim to increase collaboration among programs and the eliminate unpopular degrees. The transformation of the college, proposed a year ago, will likely be finished in time for the fall semester. And that, students said, is part of the problem.

"It's like our concerns don't matter," said Laura Galanti, a junior special education major. "One, we don't know what's going on, and two, it's a little late at this stage to do anything."

Some students said they only heard about the reorganization from The Diamondback or when a professor forwarded them e-mails from the college, and that most of their friends in the major still knew nothing about the coming changes. The students' complaints are backed by an administration report warning students didn't have enough involvement in the changes.

"The subcommittee does have a concern regarding the extent of communication provided and input sought from the [education college] undergraduate and graduate student bodies ... particularly since involvement and buy-in by these groups will determine the hoped-for short and long term benefits," a report from the provost's Academic Planning Advisory Committee said.

Wiseman said she was aware of student concerns and was planning a meeting at the end of the semester to let them know exactly what was going on.

"They're not going to see any difference in their programs — nothing that they do day-to-day," she said. "If their programs were changing dramatically, you'd best believe they would know about it."

In the fall, seven current departments, including curriculum and instruction; education policy; special education; human development and the institute for child study; measurement, statistics and evaluation; counseling and personnel services; and education leadership, higher education and international education, will become three departments. One will house teaching and special education, another will focus solely on research and a third will focus on counseling, higher education and leadership.

Faculty and staff have already voted on most of the changes, which still must be approved by the University Senate and the provost's office, according to Wiseman. Wednesday, the senate approved a few of the measures, including eliminating several inactive graduate programs.

Student peer advisers are particularly worried about the changes and fear their unpaid positions may be cut when the departments reorganize, since they had heard advising will be centralized among the departments. Wiseman said no decision had been made on what to do with the advisers.

"It seems like all of this was suddenly brought to the table — it just smacked us in the face," said peer adviser and junior special education major Genevieve Bouquet. "All I hear is that other people's advising is terrible. I've never heard anyone complain about our advising."

Yael Esterson, a junior special education major, agreed.

"What's the need to fix [peer advising]?" she asked. "Why fix an already-good program?"

Junior special education major Kerry Donovan said she and other peer advisers were preparing a petition to give to the dean asking for more involvement and information.

Staff writer Lauren Redding contributed to this report. cwells@umdbk.com