Call to action in defense of Dr. Alex Tan!
The Liberal Arts college is making a big mistake- Please read the following. It's long, but it has alot of info! This comes from Cable 8 Productions, a major force in trying to save Dr. Tan
====================================
In the immortal words of the Doors:
"The time to hesitate is through"
As a few of you know, our beloved director of the Murrow School of
Communication (Dr. Alex Tan) is being asked to step down from his post.
I thought I'd take this opportunity to answer any questions about this
matter and equip you with the knowledge to combat what we on the exec
board are so upset about.
Below is the link to the Daily Evergreen article covering the initial
event.
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=17751
<
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=17751>
If you read the article - not so carefully - you will find that the man
doing most of the talking for the school is the Dean of the Liberal Arts
College Erich Lear. It should be known that lots of us broadcasting
students and faculty aren't entirely excited about his leadership
skills. But what you should pay attention to in the article are the ways
that Dean Lear speaks of Dr. Tan's leadership skills. On more than one
occasion he makes reference to internal problems with Dr. Tan's
leadership and decision making.
Below are other people's assessments of Dr. Tan's leadership skills:
1)
Hey all,
I apologize for the subject title but I hope to get your undivided
attention. Please take a look at the article from the Daily Evergreen's
4/21/06 article. It is stating that Alex Tan, Director of the Edward R.
Murrow School of Communication is an unfit leader and WSU Administration
will be terminating him after this school year. This is ludicrous, so I
ask all of you, current students and especially alums to write a letter
to President Rawlins urging him that they are making a big mistake and
Alex Tan has the ability to help not only the school of communication
grow but WSU itself. Alex Tan has not only led the School of Com to
have a better program but has influence each of us in many different
ways. Please take the time to write this letter to President Rawlins
and let our voices be heard ya'll . . .
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=17751
Contact:
Office of the President
Washington State University
PO Box 641048
Pullman, WA 99164-1048
(509) 335-6666
PresidentsOffice@wsu.edu
I hope you all are doing well and feel free to hit me up for any
questions or need any information.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Granstrand
Edward R. Murrow School of Communication Graduate
Washington State University
2)
TO: Liberal Arts Distinguished Achievement
Awards Committee
FROM: Erica Austin, Professor
DATE: March 5, 2004
RE: Nomination of Alexis Tan
It is my great honor to nominate Alexis Tan, Professor and Director of
the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, for the Distinguished
Faculty Achievement Award. Dr. Tan's accomplishments as a scholar,
teacher and leader exemplify the ideals of the university professor and
leader.
In his nearly 20-year tenure here at WSU, Dr. Tan has transformed what
was then the Department of Communication into what is now the Edward R.
Murrow School of Communication, an internationally renowned center of
scholarship and professional education that has just expanded into a
state-of-the-art facility unmatched nationwide. During this period of
leadership, Dr. Tan has maintained his own internationally recognized
research program, has mentored many master's and doctoral students, has
served as the president of a major national communication association,
and has received a number of awards for his wide-ranging
accomplishments. Let me be more specific:
In terms of his personal accomplishments since coming to WSU in 1986,
Dr. Tan has maintained a steady publication record, publishing
approximately two dozen articles and book chapters and making
presentations on scores of conference panels. He also has never
compromised his devotion to teaching, with teaching evaluations that
hover near the top of our department and graduate students seeking his
assistance on master's and doctoral committees. Dr. Tan also has
maintained a heavy load of service to his field, serving on editorial
boards for several major journals, reviewing manuscripts for many
others, and holding key leadership positions in national organizations.
At WSU specifically, Dr. Tan has taken a leading role on a number of
initiatives related to diversity and campus culture. As a result of his
vision, dedication and skill, he has collected many significant and
diverse awards, including:
-2001 Distinguished Leadership Award, Association for Education in
Journalism
and Mass Communication (AEJMC), a national association of educators and
scholars in communication with over 3,000 members;
-2000 Asian American Living Pioneer Award, Northwest Asian Weekly
Foundation,
Seattle, WA;
-2000 Presidential Citation for diversity leadership, AEJMC;
-1996 - 1997, President, AEJMC;
-1993, Distinguished Achievement Award, Filipino American National
Historical Society, Seattle,WA.
-1988, Award for Leadership in Minorities and Communication Research,
AEJMC, Washington D.C.
And Dr. Tan's accomplishments go far beyond these personal achievements.
In his role as chair of the Department of Communication, the department
has evolved into the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, with
improved working conditions for faculty, improved learning environments
for students, increased enrollments, curricular improvements, and
increasing endowments. Some highlights of major initiatives that he has
led to fruition:
-A building addition just completed provides state-of-the-art, custom
designed teaching
and research facilities;
-A new doctoral program approved in 2002;
-A major university-level fund-raising campaign now under way;
-An active and supportive professional advisory board, established by
Dr. Tan;
-Nationally ranked undergraduate and graduate programs, with the
School's undergraduate programs ranked in the top 25 nationally, and the
broadcast news program ranked in the top 5; one recent national study
ranked the School's contributions to scholarship 13th overall, 1st in
Interpersonal Communication and Communication Apprehension, 2nd in
Organizational Communication, 4th in Public Relations and 6th in
Intercultural Communication. I should note that this particular study
did not examine areas of mass media such as advertising, broadcasting
and journalism. Our ranking in telecommunications improved from 24th in
1991 to 11th in 1996;
-Curriculum developments reflecting changes in the field, to include new
communication technologies, intercultural communication and ethics;
-Enrollment increases among undergraduate majors from 350 in 1986 to
about 700 in 2001, and among graduate enrollment from 12 in 1986 to over
80 by 2001. Enrollment in our graduate program has remained strong
despite the challenges presented by repeated budget cuts that have
affected assistantship funding.
Dr. Tan's curriculum vita will tell you all of these things and more.
But what it won't tell you is how grateful the faculty members in
communication are for his leadership. Dr. Tan's dedication to advocacy,
shared governance, creativity, and fairness has cultivated a collegial
and highly productive work environment based on trust and high
expectations. This period of phenomenal growth for our School has
coincided with extremely difficult years for the university. A number
of faculty who easily could go elsewhere have chosen to remain with the
university through these difficult times because of his leadership-I am
among them. In addition, excellent junior faculty have turned down
offers from other universities in order to join us. I have gradually
gotten used to other faculty from top schools asking me how we manage to
accomplish so many things, get along so well...and do we have any
openings?
The word is out that WSU has become one of the best places to study
communication and to teach communication. This is an extraordinary
achievement, and I cannot imagine anyone more deserving of WSU's Eminent
Faculty Award than the individual who has made this possible, Dr. Alex
Tan.
When I sat down with Dr. Tan I asked him if he had gotten any condolence
cards or if anyone had said anything to him about the whole ordeal. He
pointed to the stacks and stacks of letters, faxes, emails, and memos
that had been written within hours of the announcement. Over a hundred
letters in one day, from faculty, staff, alumni, and broadcasting
professionals. He also received several letters from the 30 person
advisory board which are made up of the movers and shakers of northwest
media: they're listed below...
Mike Shepard, Chair
Publisher
Yakima Herald-Republic
Yakima, Washington
John McDonagh, First Vice Chair
Publisher,
Vancouver Business Journal
Vancouver, Washington
Pat Patterson, Second Vice Chair
Director of Development
Childhaven Home
Seattle, Washington
Joyce Szymanski, Secretary
Manager, Strategic Communications
Mediatronic, Inc.
Redmond, Washington
Dennis Kelly, Past Chair
AM Group PD
Fisher Communications, Inc.
Mukilteo, Washington
A.L
. Alford, Jr.
Editor and Publisher
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Lewiston, Idaho
Mark Allen
President and CEO
Washington State Association of Broadcasters
Olympia, Washington
Randy Barney
Group Director, Client Results
Avenue A/Razorfish
Seattle, Washington
Peter Bhatia
Executive Editor
The Oregonian
Portland, Oregon
Frank Blethen
Publisher and CEO
The Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
Gordon Bryson
President
International Media Partners, Inc.
Bellevue, Washington
Maureen Chan-Hefflin
Communication Manager
Port of Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Ron Carter
Retired Radio Station General Manager/Consultant
Seattle, Washington
Paul Casey
CEO
Casey Communications
Seattle, Washington
Robert Dove
Vice President, Market Manager
Clear Channel Radio
Eugene, Oregon
Mark Dyce
Dyce Consulting, Inc.
Seattle, Washington
Jay Giesa
Retired
Redmond, Washington
Deesa Haas
Board Member
The Haas Foundation
Seattle, Washington
Marilyn Hawkins
President
Hawkins and Company Pr, LLC
Ashland, Oregon
Tom Hunt
Partner
Hunt Communication, LLC
Portland, Oregon
Nancy Jackson
Communications Director
Washington State Department of Information Services
Rochester, Washington
Kenji Kitatani
Executive Vice President
Sony Corporation of America
Les Smith Distinguished Professor,
Washington State University
Tokyo, Japan
Steve Lutz
President
Executive Vice President
Perishables Group
East Wenatchee, Washington
Virginia J. McCarty
President and CEO
McCarty & Associates "a marketing firm"
Shelton, Washington
Art McDonald
Consultant
Jeri McDonald Associates
Mukilteo, Washington
Norma McKinney
Account Marketing Manager
Microsoft OEM
Renton, Washington
Jim Moore
Sports Columnist
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle, Washington
Casey Murrow
Co-Director
Synergy Learning International, Inc.
Brattleboro, Vermont
Sherry Nebel
Vice President, Communications
Connexion by Boeing, The Boeing Company
Seattle, Washington
John Olson
Dean, Communications and Social Services
Everett Community College
Everett, Washington
Tim Pavish
Executive Director
WSU Alumni Association
Pullman, Washington
Gary Petersen
Manager of International Nuclear Safety
Battelle Corporation
Richland, Washington
Ken Robertson
Executive Editor
Tri-City Herald
Kennewick, Washington
Jay Rockey
President
Rockey Hill & Knowlton
Seattle, Washington
Guy Seese
Creative Director
Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
San Francisco, CA
Keith Shipman
President & CEO
Horizon Broadcasting Group
Bend, Oregon
Scott Simms
Public Information Officer
Portland General Electric
Portland, Oregon
Shirley Skidmore
Director of Communications
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Olympia, Washington
Les Smith
President
Kaye-Smith Enterprises
Bellevue, Washington
Mark Trahant
Editor, Editorial Pages
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle, Washington
Loree Wagner
Director of Marketing
Consolidated Restaurants
Mercer Island, Washington
Richard Warsinske
Senior Vice President and General Manager
KOMO TV
Seattle, Washington
Sharon Warsinske
President
Warsinske Association
Seattle, Washington
D.J. Wilson
President and General Manager
KREM-TV-KSKN
Spokane, Washington
Greg Witter
Principal
The Witter Group
Seattle, Washington
In my conversation with Dr. Tan I also inquired about his response to
the article written in the Evergreen and the events that have conspired.
I said he didn't want to comment because he thought it would be
self-serving. He's a class act. It's also rumored that he got a letter
from V. Lane Rawlins commending him on how great of a job he has done
with the school thus far.
Now, the dirt:
One of the projects Dr. Tan was pushing for (along with most of the
school of communication) was to make the Murrow School of Communication
its own college, thereby shedding the weight of the Liberal Arts College
that has traditionally taken about 40% of its revenue. Now if you've
connected the dots correctly you'll discover that the same person who
just succeeded in ousting Dr. Tan was very much against this
independence movement. Dean Lear has on several occasions resisted the
Communication schools' attempts to break off. One way in particular Dean
Lear seems taken with is to study the idea. Recently he recommended the
university:
"RECOMMENDATION #7: establish a task force led by the CLA (college of
liberal arts) dean with members to include the Murrow School director,
Communications faculty, and others to address the budget, development,
visibility, structure, and vision aspects of the Murrow School in a
systematic way with continued discussion of placement separately or in
the College of Liberal Arts"
Something to bear in mind: a 2 year study along the same lines was just
recently concluded. We don't know the outcome of that study and are
currently looking into the findings.
It was announced Wednesday April 19th, in a Murrow School of
Communication faculty meeting that current director Dr. Alex Tan will
not be reappointed to his post this fall.
According to student accounts at the meeting WSU Provost Robert Bates,
accepted the no reappointment recommendation for Dr. Tan from Dean of
Liberal Arts, Erich Lear. Lear is charged every year to review the
faculty and staff. Recently Dr. Tan was also placed as a finalist for
Dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, an
institution known for its Peabody Award.
Over his twenty years as a dedicated administrator WSU has seen its
communication school thrive to one of the most prestigious programs in
the nation.
We the students of the School of Communication as well as Cable 8
Productions are understandably perplexed and disturbed by this news.
This decision to not reappoint Dr. Tan is, in our opinion, a stepping
stone by Dean Lear as a means to an end. Over the past several years the
school of Communication, the faculty senate, and other WSU entities have
been examining an independent school of communication. Every study
committee, and general consensus agrees that the school should become
both financially and administratively independent. These steps are
necessary to ensure the school has the resources to continue the legacy
of Edward R. Murrow. It is our opinion that this action against Dr. Tan
is one in a series of steps to prevent this from happening and
furthering the personal agenda of Dean Lear. Presently a significant
portion of your tuition as a Communication student taking communication
classes is redirected to support other programs within liberal arts. In
the summer of 2005 over $100,000 of your dollars were used as a crutch
for these other programs, imagine what we could do with $100,000 for
summer session alone. This could be the jump start to the new studio
that is currently unfinished in the basement of the Communication
Addition. This could be the hiring of additional faculty to allow more
seats in classes that desperately need them.
In the words of our most distinguished alumni:
"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be
credible; to be credible, we must be truthful." - Edward R. Murrow
We challenge Dean Lear and Provost Bates to be credible and truthful
with Dr. Tan, the constituency of the Murrow School of Communication,
and the university community at large. Additionally, we challenge
President V. Lane Rawlins to personally look into this matter.
We ask you to stand with us by emailing the following individuals:
* V. Lane Rawlins
* Provost Bates
* Len Jessup
* Alton Jamison
* Sally Savage
* Michael Tate
* Francis McSweeney
* Erich Lear
====================================
In the immortal words of the Doors:
"The time to hesitate is through"
As a few of you know, our beloved director of the Murrow School of
Communication (Dr. Alex Tan) is being asked to step down from his post.
I thought I'd take this opportunity to answer any questions about this
matter and equip you with the knowledge to combat what we on the exec
board are so upset about.
Below is the link to the Daily Evergreen article covering the initial
event.
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=17751
<
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=17751>
If you read the article - not so carefully - you will find that the man
doing most of the talking for the school is the Dean of the Liberal Arts
College Erich Lear. It should be known that lots of us broadcasting
students and faculty aren't entirely excited about his leadership
skills. But what you should pay attention to in the article are the ways
that Dean Lear speaks of Dr. Tan's leadership skills. On more than one
occasion he makes reference to internal problems with Dr. Tan's
leadership and decision making.
Below are other people's assessments of Dr. Tan's leadership skills:
1)
Hey all,
I apologize for the subject title but I hope to get your undivided
attention. Please take a look at the article from the Daily Evergreen's
4/21/06 article. It is stating that Alex Tan, Director of the Edward R.
Murrow School of Communication is an unfit leader and WSU Administration
will be terminating him after this school year. This is ludicrous, so I
ask all of you, current students and especially alums to write a letter
to President Rawlins urging him that they are making a big mistake and
Alex Tan has the ability to help not only the school of communication
grow but WSU itself. Alex Tan has not only led the School of Com to
have a better program but has influence each of us in many different
ways. Please take the time to write this letter to President Rawlins
and let our voices be heard ya'll . . .
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/disp_story.php?storyId=17751
Contact:
Office of the President
Washington State University
PO Box 641048
Pullman, WA 99164-1048
(509) 335-6666
PresidentsOffice@wsu.edu
I hope you all are doing well and feel free to hit me up for any
questions or need any information.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Granstrand
Edward R. Murrow School of Communication Graduate
Washington State University
2)
TO: Liberal Arts Distinguished Achievement
Awards Committee
FROM: Erica Austin, Professor
DATE: March 5, 2004
RE: Nomination of Alexis Tan
It is my great honor to nominate Alexis Tan, Professor and Director of
the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, for the Distinguished
Faculty Achievement Award. Dr. Tan's accomplishments as a scholar,
teacher and leader exemplify the ideals of the university professor and
leader.
In his nearly 20-year tenure here at WSU, Dr. Tan has transformed what
was then the Department of Communication into what is now the Edward R.
Murrow School of Communication, an internationally renowned center of
scholarship and professional education that has just expanded into a
state-of-the-art facility unmatched nationwide. During this period of
leadership, Dr. Tan has maintained his own internationally recognized
research program, has mentored many master's and doctoral students, has
served as the president of a major national communication association,
and has received a number of awards for his wide-ranging
accomplishments. Let me be more specific:
In terms of his personal accomplishments since coming to WSU in 1986,
Dr. Tan has maintained a steady publication record, publishing
approximately two dozen articles and book chapters and making
presentations on scores of conference panels. He also has never
compromised his devotion to teaching, with teaching evaluations that
hover near the top of our department and graduate students seeking his
assistance on master's and doctoral committees. Dr. Tan also has
maintained a heavy load of service to his field, serving on editorial
boards for several major journals, reviewing manuscripts for many
others, and holding key leadership positions in national organizations.
At WSU specifically, Dr. Tan has taken a leading role on a number of
initiatives related to diversity and campus culture. As a result of his
vision, dedication and skill, he has collected many significant and
diverse awards, including:
-2001 Distinguished Leadership Award, Association for Education in
Journalism
and Mass Communication (AEJMC), a national association of educators and
scholars in communication with over 3,000 members;
-2000 Asian American Living Pioneer Award, Northwest Asian Weekly
Foundation,
Seattle, WA;
-2000 Presidential Citation for diversity leadership, AEJMC;
-1996 - 1997, President, AEJMC;
-1993, Distinguished Achievement Award, Filipino American National
Historical Society, Seattle,WA.
-1988, Award for Leadership in Minorities and Communication Research,
AEJMC, Washington D.C.
And Dr. Tan's accomplishments go far beyond these personal achievements.
In his role as chair of the Department of Communication, the department
has evolved into the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, with
improved working conditions for faculty, improved learning environments
for students, increased enrollments, curricular improvements, and
increasing endowments. Some highlights of major initiatives that he has
led to fruition:
-A building addition just completed provides state-of-the-art, custom
designed teaching
and research facilities;
-A new doctoral program approved in 2002;
-A major university-level fund-raising campaign now under way;
-An active and supportive professional advisory board, established by
Dr. Tan;
-Nationally ranked undergraduate and graduate programs, with the
School's undergraduate programs ranked in the top 25 nationally, and the
broadcast news program ranked in the top 5; one recent national study
ranked the School's contributions to scholarship 13th overall, 1st in
Interpersonal Communication and Communication Apprehension, 2nd in
Organizational Communication, 4th in Public Relations and 6th in
Intercultural Communication. I should note that this particular study
did not examine areas of mass media such as advertising, broadcasting
and journalism. Our ranking in telecommunications improved from 24th in
1991 to 11th in 1996;
-Curriculum developments reflecting changes in the field, to include new
communication technologies, intercultural communication and ethics;
-Enrollment increases among undergraduate majors from 350 in 1986 to
about 700 in 2001, and among graduate enrollment from 12 in 1986 to over
80 by 2001. Enrollment in our graduate program has remained strong
despite the challenges presented by repeated budget cuts that have
affected assistantship funding.
Dr. Tan's curriculum vita will tell you all of these things and more.
But what it won't tell you is how grateful the faculty members in
communication are for his leadership. Dr. Tan's dedication to advocacy,
shared governance, creativity, and fairness has cultivated a collegial
and highly productive work environment based on trust and high
expectations. This period of phenomenal growth for our School has
coincided with extremely difficult years for the university. A number
of faculty who easily could go elsewhere have chosen to remain with the
university through these difficult times because of his leadership-I am
among them. In addition, excellent junior faculty have turned down
offers from other universities in order to join us. I have gradually
gotten used to other faculty from top schools asking me how we manage to
accomplish so many things, get along so well...and do we have any
openings?
The word is out that WSU has become one of the best places to study
communication and to teach communication. This is an extraordinary
achievement, and I cannot imagine anyone more deserving of WSU's Eminent
Faculty Award than the individual who has made this possible, Dr. Alex
Tan.
When I sat down with Dr. Tan I asked him if he had gotten any condolence
cards or if anyone had said anything to him about the whole ordeal. He
pointed to the stacks and stacks of letters, faxes, emails, and memos
that had been written within hours of the announcement. Over a hundred
letters in one day, from faculty, staff, alumni, and broadcasting
professionals. He also received several letters from the 30 person
advisory board which are made up of the movers and shakers of northwest
media: they're listed below...
Mike Shepard, Chair
Publisher
Yakima Herald-Republic
Yakima, Washington
John McDonagh, First Vice Chair
Publisher,
Vancouver Business Journal
Vancouver, Washington
Pat Patterson, Second Vice Chair
Director of Development
Childhaven Home
Seattle, Washington
Joyce Szymanski, Secretary
Manager, Strategic Communications
Mediatronic, Inc.
Redmond, Washington
Dennis Kelly, Past Chair
AM Group PD
Fisher Communications, Inc.
Mukilteo, Washington
A.L
. Alford, Jr.
Editor and Publisher
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Lewiston, Idaho
Mark Allen
President and CEO
Washington State Association of Broadcasters
Olympia, Washington
Randy Barney
Group Director, Client Results
Avenue A/Razorfish
Seattle, Washington
Peter Bhatia
Executive Editor
The Oregonian
Portland, Oregon
Frank Blethen
Publisher and CEO
The Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
Gordon Bryson
President
International Media Partners, Inc.
Bellevue, Washington
Maureen Chan-Hefflin
Communication Manager
Port of Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Ron Carter
Retired Radio Station General Manager/Consultant
Seattle, Washington
Paul Casey
CEO
Casey Communications
Seattle, Washington
Robert Dove
Vice President, Market Manager
Clear Channel Radio
Eugene, Oregon
Mark Dyce
Dyce Consulting, Inc.
Seattle, Washington
Jay Giesa
Retired
Redmond, Washington
Deesa Haas
Board Member
The Haas Foundation
Seattle, Washington
Marilyn Hawkins
President
Hawkins and Company Pr, LLC
Ashland, Oregon
Tom Hunt
Partner
Hunt Communication, LLC
Portland, Oregon
Nancy Jackson
Communications Director
Washington State Department of Information Services
Rochester, Washington
Kenji Kitatani
Executive Vice President
Sony Corporation of America
Les Smith Distinguished Professor,
Washington State University
Tokyo, Japan
Steve Lutz
President
Executive Vice President
Perishables Group
East Wenatchee, Washington
Virginia J. McCarty
President and CEO
McCarty & Associates "a marketing firm"
Shelton, Washington
Art McDonald
Consultant
Jeri McDonald Associates
Mukilteo, Washington
Norma McKinney
Account Marketing Manager
Microsoft OEM
Renton, Washington
Jim Moore
Sports Columnist
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle, Washington
Casey Murrow
Co-Director
Synergy Learning International, Inc.
Brattleboro, Vermont
Sherry Nebel
Vice President, Communications
Connexion by Boeing, The Boeing Company
Seattle, Washington
John Olson
Dean, Communications and Social Services
Everett Community College
Everett, Washington
Tim Pavish
Executive Director
WSU Alumni Association
Pullman, Washington
Gary Petersen
Manager of International Nuclear Safety
Battelle Corporation
Richland, Washington
Ken Robertson
Executive Editor
Tri-City Herald
Kennewick, Washington
Jay Rockey
President
Rockey Hill & Knowlton
Seattle, Washington
Guy Seese
Creative Director
Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
San Francisco, CA
Keith Shipman
President & CEO
Horizon Broadcasting Group
Bend, Oregon
Scott Simms
Public Information Officer
Portland General Electric
Portland, Oregon
Shirley Skidmore
Director of Communications
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Olympia, Washington
Les Smith
President
Kaye-Smith Enterprises
Bellevue, Washington
Mark Trahant
Editor, Editorial Pages
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle, Washington
Loree Wagner
Director of Marketing
Consolidated Restaurants
Mercer Island, Washington
Richard Warsinske
Senior Vice President and General Manager
KOMO TV
Seattle, Washington
Sharon Warsinske
President
Warsinske Association
Seattle, Washington
D.J. Wilson
President and General Manager
KREM-TV-KSKN
Spokane, Washington
Greg Witter
Principal
The Witter Group
Seattle, Washington
In my conversation with Dr. Tan I also inquired about his response to
the article written in the Evergreen and the events that have conspired.
I said he didn't want to comment because he thought it would be
self-serving. He's a class act. It's also rumored that he got a letter
from V. Lane Rawlins commending him on how great of a job he has done
with the school thus far.
Now, the dirt:
One of the projects Dr. Tan was pushing for (along with most of the
school of communication) was to make the Murrow School of Communication
its own college, thereby shedding the weight of the Liberal Arts College
that has traditionally taken about 40% of its revenue. Now if you've
connected the dots correctly you'll discover that the same person who
just succeeded in ousting Dr. Tan was very much against this
independence movement. Dean Lear has on several occasions resisted the
Communication schools' attempts to break off. One way in particular Dean
Lear seems taken with is to study the idea. Recently he recommended the
university:
"RECOMMENDATION #7: establish a task force led by the CLA (college of
liberal arts) dean with members to include the Murrow School director,
Communications faculty, and others to address the budget, development,
visibility, structure, and vision aspects of the Murrow School in a
systematic way with continued discussion of placement separately or in
the College of Liberal Arts"
Something to bear in mind: a 2 year study along the same lines was just
recently concluded. We don't know the outcome of that study and are
currently looking into the findings.
It was announced Wednesday April 19th, in a Murrow School of
Communication faculty meeting that current director Dr. Alex Tan will
not be reappointed to his post this fall.
According to student accounts at the meeting WSU Provost Robert Bates,
accepted the no reappointment recommendation for Dr. Tan from Dean of
Liberal Arts, Erich Lear. Lear is charged every year to review the
faculty and staff. Recently Dr. Tan was also placed as a finalist for
Dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, an
institution known for its Peabody Award.
Over his twenty years as a dedicated administrator WSU has seen its
communication school thrive to one of the most prestigious programs in
the nation.
We the students of the School of Communication as well as Cable 8
Productions are understandably perplexed and disturbed by this news.
This decision to not reappoint Dr. Tan is, in our opinion, a stepping
stone by Dean Lear as a means to an end. Over the past several years the
school of Communication, the faculty senate, and other WSU entities have
been examining an independent school of communication. Every study
committee, and general consensus agrees that the school should become
both financially and administratively independent. These steps are
necessary to ensure the school has the resources to continue the legacy
of Edward R. Murrow. It is our opinion that this action against Dr. Tan
is one in a series of steps to prevent this from happening and
furthering the personal agenda of Dean Lear. Presently a significant
portion of your tuition as a Communication student taking communication
classes is redirected to support other programs within liberal arts. In
the summer of 2005 over $100,000 of your dollars were used as a crutch
for these other programs, imagine what we could do with $100,000 for
summer session alone. This could be the jump start to the new studio
that is currently unfinished in the basement of the Communication
Addition. This could be the hiring of additional faculty to allow more
seats in classes that desperately need them.
In the words of our most distinguished alumni:
"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be
credible; to be credible, we must be truthful." - Edward R. Murrow
We challenge Dean Lear and Provost Bates to be credible and truthful
with Dr. Tan, the constituency of the Murrow School of Communication,
and the university community at large. Additionally, we challenge
President V. Lane Rawlins to personally look into this matter.
We ask you to stand with us by emailing the following individuals:
* V. Lane Rawlins
* Provost Bates
* Len Jessup
* Alton Jamison
* Sally Savage
* Michael Tate
* Francis McSweeney
* Erich Lear