For GSE, rebuilding is the key to the future

Plagued by academic conflict, poor internal leadership and an alleged history of mistreating women and neglecting students, the Graduate School of Education is struggling to resolve its problems -- even if it means major reorganization. Over the past month, several senior GSE faculty have contacted The Daily Pennsylvanian with horror stories about mismanagement, abuse of power and a rivalry between two academic factions within the school that has boiled over to affect key decisions. Many of these faculty members said they feel the inaction of the school's former dean, Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson, exacerbated these problems. "Under Lazerson there was an emphasis on image as opposed to substance," said one GSE faculty member, who wished to remain anonymous. "No one is dealing with fundamental issues." In addition to the case of Helen Felsenthal, an administrator pressured into early retirement after her program was cut out from under her, faculty members provide other examples of mistrust and poor procedure. A faculty hiring committee for the Psychology in Education Division of the school, chaired by Professor Erling Boe, recently planned to hire a white male candidate for an open position. They did this, without considering any other candidates, despite the fact that women and minorities were underrepresented in the division, according to a female student who protested the hiring along with 200 others. Lazerson seemed unwilling to take any action until confronted by the protesting students and an advocacy group of female faculty members from across the University, a senior GSE faculty member said earlier this month. Then Lazerson terminated the search and the committee resigned in protest, another faculty member said. Now, everyone is angry. Some because Lazerson intervened in a hiring decision, which they feel is the faculty's exclusive domain. Others because it took Lazerson so long to take the necessary action. "The [University's] Affirmative Action Office said they hadn't done it correctly," one senior faculty member said of the search. "[Lazerson] got backed into a corner. He had to act." Boe would not comment on the case, but one faculty member close to the search committee said that the Psychology in Education Division is still upset over the incident. A former GSE faculty member, Michele Fein, said she left the school four years ago to teach at City University of New York, in part because she was frustrated and disgusted with its internal problems. "I've been out of there for about four years," Fein said last week. "I did leave because I was not in a professionally comfortable climate." Fein refused to comment extensively on the exact conditions which prompted her departure. Lazerson said he and Michael Aiken, former University provost, tried to keep Fein on the faculty, but she left despite their efforts. "Michele Fein is a great teacher," he said. "The provost and I made every effort to keep her at Penn, but Michele absolutely loves New York." Lazerson added that if Fein wanted to stay at the University, she could have joined the Educational Leadership Division of GSE, which split from the Psychology in Education division following a period of intense internal feuding. Lazerson also said that during his time as dean, conditions for women and minorities generally improved. "The school certainly had a problem [with women and minorities] in the past," he said. "But of the 10 people who received tenure when I was dean, seven were women." He added that the school has several women in high level positions, including its acting dean, Nancy Hornberger. Lazerson is credited with improving the school's financial prowess. While he was dean, GSE was one of the only schools in the University to run a consistent budget surplus. He also created the school's Board of Overseers and increased GSE's national reputation. But while many faculty applaud Lazerson for his efforts, some say the school has a long way to go. A document, drafted by several concerned faculty members and obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian, lists five steps which the school must take to correct the current problems. "The constant fight between [the Psychology in Education Division] and [the Educational Leadership Division], in which every course decision, every tenure decision, every issue, gets caught up, must stop," the document states. It also states that Hornberger must receive mentoring. A senior faculty member said that this step has already been taken. "The closing or putting on hold of programs with students in them, and the recruitment of students to programs that are not really extant? must be stopped and brought to the faculty for full consideration," the document states as the second step. The document continues to state that "abuse of students must stop." It also states that the "treatment of A-1s, students and woman faculty must be improved." A-1s are full-time, monthly paid, non-clerical staff. Finally, it recommends "there should be full disclosure of the situation at GSE to the candidates for [permanent] dean." It urges the school to hire an organizational consultant to help the new dean. GSE is currently contemplating a split that would create two departments within the school, instead of the current four divisions. Lazerson said this shift represents a long-term trend of consolidating divisions at GSE, and that the shift should help improve inter-faculty relations. "The school is contemplating an excellent idea," he said. "The more the school simplifies its structure, the more efficiently you can run the school and the more faculty can spend time on research and teaching." He also said the new dean will need to focus more on internal conflict than he did. "I did not concentrate on organizational issues within the faculty," Lazerson said of his own tenure as dean. "I think that my own read of the next dean is that she will need to spend more time internally organizing the faculty than I did." Lazerson, who said he will be returning to GSE to teach when his term as provost is up in June, said he is cautiously optimistic about the future. "With a new dean, spirits change," he said.