Displaying items by tag: UA

Ode to an Antique Olive Jar:

"O Olive Jar! You are empty while I am sad. 

I cannot afford to fill thee with expensive imported olives."

The poem, written by University of Akron graduate and retired educator Wendy Duke, was intended to symbolize the feeling of disgust that many are attaching to an $556 decorative olive jar recently purchased for the university-owned presidential residence.

Duke and dozens of others waited nearly two hours outside the doors of room 339 inside the Student Union. UA Board of Trustees were scheduled to meet in a public session around 9 a.m. The nearly two-hour wait was plenty of time for protesters to voice their opinions and express their concerns surrounding UA's recent budget cuts, including the elimination of 213 jobs. 

Protestors chanting outside the doors of the UA board of trustees meeting... pic.twitter.com/MzkaUB07XT

— Amani Abraham (@AmaniAbraham) August 12, 2015

28-year veteran English professor Antonia Forster made it very clear why she showed up.

"Generalized rage about the way the university is being destroyed by this attitude that money is the only thing that matters," said Forster.

People like Forster are mad about the elimination of staff and proposed reconfiguration of the UA Press, EJ Thomas Hall and the hiring of an inexperienced company to provide success coaches to students.

"The faculty is being treated like morons and lied to all the time and each time one lie gets pointed out, they come up with another one," said Forster. "There's a pattern of getting rid of all the people who know how to do things and replacing them with cheap people who don't know what they're doing."

Kristie Kern and her 10-year-old son, Kenton, were also in attendance outside the board of trustees meeting, using their violins as a way to express their concerns and present a symbolic message to represent the changes and job cuts at EJ Thomas Hall. Kern's husband, Kevin, is a UA history professor and also a member of the UA Press board.

Kenton, 10, & mom Kristie Kern play their violins - a symbolic message following layoffs at EJ Thomas Hall. #uakron pic.twitter.com/SgKv5YsDiM

— Amani Abraham (@AmaniAbraham) August 12, 2015

"We, most especially, are upset about the situation with EJ Thomas Hall," said Kern. "This is why we brought our violins, my son and I, to represent the loss of performance opportunities at EJ Thomas."

But much of the attention was placed on the support offered for president Scott Scarborough, drawing snickers from people who were hoping to hear the opposite.While it was business as usual inside room 339 as UA board of trustees.

"We believe Dr. Scott Scarborough has appropriately and effectively addressed the issues presented to him," said Pavloff, who was then interrupted by the crowd's laughter. reconvened following an executive session Wednesday morning, Scarborough and Board Chairman Jonathon Pavloff did admit to making mistakes -- saying the administration could have done a better job delivering the message.

The board of trustees did not hear or answer questions from the public.

Previous Coverage:

Olive Jar Discussion Continues

Scott Scarborough: Unplugged

Eliminate UA Football: Not So Simple

UA President's House Repairs Cost More Than It's Worth

UA Planning To Cut Jobs, Baseball Program

The University of Akron is defending its decision to hire an outside company to provide student success coaches in the midst of a projected $60 million shortfall. Associate Vice President of Student Success Stacey Moore was part of the committee that recommended approving an $843,000 contract with Trust Navigator, a company with no prior experience working with a success coaching program. 

Trust Navigator was picked over InsideTrack, a nationally recognized program with around 15 years of experience. UA officials were impressed with InsideTrack's record, but the univeristy wanted to team up with a local program that would provide on-campus resources. Despite Trust Navigator's lack of student coaching experience, the university was interested with the company's goals -- including hiring UA graduates and working directly with students on campus. Moore said there's already research that proves direct and consistent contact with students improves retention. And that's what she said Trust Navigator is offering.

"We're not flying blind on Trust Navigator, even though they don't have a proven track record in higher education," Moore said. "It is attractive to us that they're hiring our own graduates, recent alumni. That means they're contributing to our student success after graduation."

Moore said tackling a program, like the one offered by Trust Navigator, on their own would require more money, more time and create a larger, more permanent risk.

"Keep in mind that this is a pilot [program], so we also want the ability to watch it, judge if it's successful and if it's not, then we can move outside of our contract pretty quickly, in a way that would not be as easy if we hired a whole set of people internally," said Moore. 

Moore estimates that it would have cost UA about $1.3 million, possibly more, to launch the program on their own. While InsideTrack would have cost the university around $1.66 million, Moore said one of the major disadvantages with the program would be the lack of on-campus coaching to provide face-to-face communication with students.

As for Trust Navigator's lack of prior experience in higher education, Moore continued to reiterate the fact that the university has the ability to terminate the contract at any time if they're not happy with the service. That's something Moore said wouldn't be easy if they hired their own staff. 

The program doesn't replace the role of advisors or counselors at the university. Moore said it's a service that adds a more personal coaching method that students can utilize both in and out of the classroom.

Moore admits that the committee didn't take a look at Trust Navigator's website before picking the company to launch the program at the university, but she says they focused on the responses to the request for proposal that was released in late June. Despite the university's recent budget cuts, including eliminating 213 jobs, Moore believes the process of making investments remains crucial.

"As challenging as it is, and we are certainly living the challenge of difficult fiscal times, if you fail to invest in anything, then I don't know how you move forward."

UA plans to take the lead on the project and oversee how Trust Navigator coaches are trained before meeting with students. 

Previous Coverage: 

InsideTrack: "We Had 8 Business Days To Respond"

REPORT: Trust Navigator Questions Building

Who -- Or What -- Is Trust Navigator?

UA Trustees Agree To Cut Jobs, Rescind Course Fee