Oklahoma’s Only Public Liberal Arts College Is at War With Itself

By Andrea Eger, Oklahoma Watch

A dispute over the future of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma has erupted into an unusually public confrontation between faculty and the university’s administration, with professors warning that proposed changes could fundamentally alter the state’s 118-year-old public liberal arts college.

On Sept. 3, USAO faculty voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution of no confidence in President Kayla Hale and Vice President for Academic Affairs Makenna Garrison. The vote was 40 in favor, one opposed and four abstentions.

That resulted from mounting concerns over a slate of proposed policy and structural changes faculty leaders say would lead to larger and more online classes, greater reliance on adjunct instructors, the elimination or consolidation of academic programs, changes to USAO’s distinctive academic calendar and a transfer of authority over the curriculum from faculty experts to administrators. 

Those proposals, and the elimination of tenure not just for new hires as required by a new gubernatorial executive order, but of all references to tenure in school policy, are on the agenda for a Thursday meeting of the USAO Board of Regents.

Faculty members recognize that the university’s administration must contend with politically motivated changes being imposed by both state and federal officials and to update an outdated faculty handbook. But they describe the slate of new policy proposals as excessive and draconian.

“I’m not saying our ideas are right or their ideas are wrong,” said Jeannette Loutsch, professor of biology and president of the USAO Faculty Association. “But without that transparency to be able to work together to come up with the solution, it’s not going to be well received. Until 6 months ago, we had that voice. 

“The faculty is bright, caring and we are able to solve problems when problems are brought to us,” Loutsch said. “This last two weeks has exploded in terms of how the president is acting in a non-transparent way, destroying shared governance – which is a requirement of our accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission.”

Shared Governance At Stake

USAO is one of only 30 public liberal arts colleges and universities in the U.S., focusing on broad study in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts rather than narrow professional or vocational training.

The Higher Learning Commission, its accreditor, says effective administrative structures should facilitate collaborative processes such as shared governance and appropriate engagement with internal constituencies, and that institutions should demonstrate that faculty are substantially engaged in the academic enterprise. 

Faculty leaders have asked the Board of Regents to postpone approval of the policies so they can be independently reviewed. Their resolution calls for independent fact-finding, substantive consultation with faculty and corrective measures.

Among their chief policy concerns is removing all references to tenure, not limiting the ban imposed in February by Gov. Kevin Stitt to just new hires.

That language has prompted concern among tenured professors about their future job security and about the role academic freedom would play under a new employment structure.

Academic Shakeup

Jacquelyn Knapp, professor of art and coordinator of the art department, who serves as vice president of the USAO Faculty Association, said the school’s administration demanded that arts, music, and theater majors be reclassified as multidisciplinary majors by the faculty, or else those changes would be imposed.

But Knapp said shifting to ambiguous-sounding degrees would make USAO graduates less marketable in their fields.

“We were told you have to redefine what you are doing; you can’t call it art anymore,” she said. “We already create workforce-ready students. We provide them with internships. We responded to student demand for museum management and administration programs.

“I think the public opinion is if you’re an art major, you’re going to be a starving artist. But that’s not what they do,” Knapp said. “They go to banks as graphic artists, they open their own businesses, they work at museums. It is frustrating when some of these students want to leave Oklahoma because of the political environment. They feel like they’re under attack.”

Loutsch, meanwhile, disputes the notion that a liberal arts education is incompatible with workforce preparation.

Because USAO is such a small college built around close faculty-student relationships, its faculty is more responsive to students’ goals and demands than larger institutions. And faculty members wear many more hats than typical college professors.

Faculty leaders cite recent examples of adding environmental studies and overhauling the physical education program to add rigorous courses in chemistry and anatomy and new tracks in sports management or fitness training. 

“This notion that we’re not doing what the State Regents for Higher Education and the state lawmakers want in terms of workforce ready is not true,” Loutsch said. “We are teaching students to think and to approach a problem from a multidisciplinary view. We have business students getting jobs in chemistry labs from their exposure to multidisciplines in biology, etc.”

The proof, they say, is in the student body, which just hit a 20-year high enrollment of 1,100.

“We teach everything in every class,” Loutsch said. “We recruit students. We don’t have graduate students, so we do all of the teaching, lab setup, grading. Faculty don’t come here for money. They come here for the students.”

The longest-serving instructor on campus said many of the administration’s proposals threaten the university’s mission and that the current conflict could be historic.

This is likely the first no-confidence vote since USAO’s founding in 1908, said J.C. Casey, who has taught there since 1992.

“They won’t listen,” said Casey, professor emeritus of communication who retired as a full-time faculty member in the spring but is teaching two tutorials this fall. “I believe the faculty thought this is the only way we are going to get anybody to listen to us.” 

Casey said she understands business and industry demands for the workforce, as well as political pressure from the governor and other lawmakers for public colleges and universities to respond to those demands. 

But she said one-size-fits-all mandates don’t serve all students’ needs or the common good.

“I think we are the victims of false narratives that are out there about higher education,” Casey said. “Harvard and M.I.T. get so much national press, people forget there are lots of little schools down here that have unique problems and unique things to offer. 

“When the state first created this school, they had a motto: ‘Education not for livelihood, but for life.’ Even back then, they recognized college was supposed to be more for living than the job you were going to have to have.”

Students Say They Were Left Out, Too

Student Body President Mason Alldredge said USAO’s administration has kept students in the dark about a recent tuition and fee hike and proposed policy changes that would change the academic calendar and reduce or eliminate access to specialized, small classes. 

A native of Binger, Alldredge followed in the footsteps of his mother, who graduated from USAO in 2000, and his sister, who graduated in 2023. But he chose USAO because he knew it would prepare him for a career in music, and it’s already paying off.

“This new state policy of measuring success with one career statistic comes from a fundamental misunderstanding by the regents and the state of Oklahoma,” said Alldredge, a senior majoring in piano and voice performance. “It underestimates how much a regional university faculty is willing to pour into their students and how many opportunities we have because of those faculty members. I am already working as a collaborative pianist in Edmond and earning a livable wage. And it was the faculty at USAO that plugged me into the connections that got me here.”

Alldrege has plans to study vocal coaching and organ performance in graduate school because he learned at USAO that those professional skills are in high demand and hold opportunity for sustainable and even lucrative careers

“There are careers where you graduate from college and instantly make a great salary, and I think that’s fantastic,” he said. “But in the arts and many other career paths, sometimes you start with a lower wage to get an opportunity, and that can lead you to a more fulfilling salary over time.”

Regents Face Pressure to Balance Two Visions

JJ Francais, a USAO graduate who now serves as a regent, said public colleges are under enormous pressure to become leaner while aligning degrees and student outcomes with workforce needs.

Francais, who works as assistant vice president of external affairs for Hilliary Communications and is mayor of Elgin, said he supports new certificate programs and bachelor’s degrees requiring 90 credit hours rather than the traditional 120, but he doesn’t think they should come at the expense of the deeper liberal arts education USAO provides.

“I truly think Oklahoma would be better served by both sets (of options),” Francais said. “If you get out of USAO, you have very low student loan debt. As a history major, it would have been great if I could have received a micro-credential in management, copywriting or another applicable skill. But I think there is still plenty of bandwidth out there for a 120-hour bachelor’s degree where you take a deeper dive into academia and learn about the world around you.”

On the breakdown in relations between faculty and administrators at his alma mater, Francais said he wants to foster mutual understanding.

“As a regent, I will encourage every line of communication between the faculty and the regents and the faculty and administration to be open,” Francais said.

Board Chair Amanda Conley declined to comment.

The regents’ 1 p.m. meeting on Thursday could become an important test of whether the competing visions for USAO can coexist: a more streamlined institution designed around workforce needs and new credentialing options, or a continued emphasis on the small classes, interdisciplinary study and faculty relationships that have defined the university’s identity.

The administration has not publicly laid out its case for the broader policy changes, and USAO President Kayla Hale refused a request for an interview seeking information about her basis for these new policy proposals.

Sheppard McConnell, vice president of enrollment management and student life, said it would be inappropriate for her to comment publicly before Thursday’s USAO Board of Regents meeting.

Hale became USAO’s 13th president in August 2023. The university said she spent 25 years at the University of Tulsa and has 35 years of higher-education advancement experience. Faculty leaders said Garrison is the fourth vice president of academic affairs to serve under Hale.

Faculty, meanwhile, said the issue is bigger than any single proposal, and comes down to what kind of institution Oklahoma wants USAO to remain.

Their no-confidence resolution asks the regents to slow the process down, establish the facts independently and restore faculty participation in academic decision-making.

“This is not the school for everybody,” said Casey, the longtime faculty member. “Many of our students would be lost at a big university. This is also not the school to teach at for everybody. But if you’ve really got the desire to help and serve and advise and mentor students, this is the perfect school for you.”

 

Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.

Andrea Eger covers a variety of topics for Oklahoma Watch.