The Aptness and Aptitude of Chancellor Reed

It was amusing to note the intense vitriol being heaped on Cal State University Chancellor Charlie Reed by faculty concerning his re-marks about their workloads (“Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” by Kenneth R. Weiss, Nov. 28). Many professors teach two or three days a week. Add generous Christmas and summer breaks, and methinks they doth protest too much.

Joseph A. Lea

Associate Professor Emeritus

CSU Long Beach

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Chancellor Reed is symbolic of the anti-intellectual times in which we live, when individuals with virtually no teaching experience or scholarly accomplishment are elevated to the highest positions of responsibility in public universities, where they denigrate the university’s most valuable resource, its faculty, while pandering to the political flavor of the month. And we wonder why Johnny can’t read, write or think.

Jerome S. Kleinsasser

Professor of Music

CSU Bakersfield

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Reed is following in the footsteps of Barry Munitz, who thought that CSU could somehow educate growing numbers of qualified students without obtaining additional resources from the state. It can’t be done. Higher education is labor-intensive, particularly when it includes the role modeling and mentoring that many of our students require. If the chancellor and trustees do not convince the Legislature and governor that a 20% increase in student population requires a 20% increase in the CSU budget, then the quality of education at CSU inevitably will decline.

John Olmsted

Professor of Chemistry

CSU Fullerton

Sadly, in all of the discussion of appeasing faculty, this article provides only a vague reference to meeting the needs of California’s K-12 students. With the demise of affirmative action and with college tuition costs sharply rising, the incoming faces at our universities clearly reflect the disparity of resources among our K-12 public schools. One must remember that, ultimately, a successful and prosperous business is one that caters to the needs of its clients, not to its own self-interests.

Kathryn Walker

Santa Barbara

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Reserving comment on the aptness and aptitude of Chancellor Reed, I commend Kenneth Weiss on his evenhanded portrait. However, I wonder about all the facts when one bit of information is obviously erroneous: Cal State does grant professional degrees and PhDs. Take a look at the San Diego State catalog and you’ll see a passel.

E. N. Genovese

Professor of Classics and Humanities

San Diego State University