The attached "Design Thinking" document was distributed at the Council of President's meeting last week. It came from the Department of Academic Affairs and states that "the intent of this document is to contextualize our department's ideas, which have been guided by the Design Thinking process both as a staff and within our individual teams." While we don't know if these ideas are being seriously considered, this document clearly applies a corporate mode of thinking to our institutions. For example, "#53. In collaboration with Academic Affairs staff at the Colleges, select, configure and implement a better process for course evaluations and other student surveys so that the Colleges can get the data they need to make better decisions." Course evaluations are subject to collective bargaining and should be done to inform the faculty teaching the course. And "#56. Leverage technology to ensure that students can access the information and services they need without staff intervention. Once that is in place, optimize staffing at the Colleges to provide additional support for students who need assistance." We encourage you to read through this document.
The next BOR meeting will be held on Thursday at 10am at the System Office (61 Woodland St, Hartford). As always, there will be 30 minutes for student, faculty, and staff comment at the beginning of the meeting. Union members from the 4Cs, AAUP, and SUOAF will be there to ask questions about this new document.
Also, be on the lookout for an announcement this week from the CSCU/BOR with names of those appointed to the planning teams.
There continues to be much press on the reorganization: