Tag Archives: Erik Gilbert

International Agreement Concerns A-State Faculty

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By Jessica Ladd
Delta Digital News Service

JONESBORO — A recent dual-program degree agreement between Arkansas State University and the American University of Malta sparked concerns amongst A-State faculty. A gap in communication could be to blame.

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Agreement Signing-  Photo of A-State and AUM agreement signing in Malta. (from left) A-State Chancellor Kelly Damphousse, AUM President Dr. Walker and Malta’s Education and Employment Minister Evarist Bartolo. (photo from AUM’s Facebook page)

AUM, a private liberal arts college in Cospicua, Malta, signed an agreement with A-State in March 2019.  The agreement would allow students from A-State to attend AUM their sophomore and junior years, with their freshman and senior years being on the A-State campus. AUM students can take online classes through A-State for their first six semesters. Their senior year, students can attend classes on A-State’s campus full-time. Students would receive a degree from both universities.

Loretta Neal McGregor teaches psychology at A-State. She also serves as president of the Faculty Senate. McGregor said a breakdown in communication occurred and the issue of the Malta agreement didn’t come before the Senate until after it was signed.

“When the Chancellor came to the Faculty Senate, he said that he had talked to some of the deans from various colleges and department chairs from various colleges. But, the Faculty Senate is the governing body for the entire faculty. So, it was almost like there was a bypassing of the Faculty Senate to include deans and chairs. Then it was stated that since the deans and chairs are part of the faculty, their voice was representative,” McGregor said.

She said A-State considers itself a shared governance. The administration should work with the Senate to help make sure the university has policies that are beneficial to students and faculty members, and to help the university run smoothly.

McGregor said the university struggled with communication over the years. It’s important to have clear lines of communication because the faculty are the ones there day in and day out.  She said most of the faculty concerns center around the curriculum and courses students will be engaged in.

When asked why the Malta agreement wasn’t brought before the Faculty Senate beforehand, A-State Chancellor Kelly Damphousse said the Faculty Senate doesn’t have the authority to approve these agreements. The authority resides in the faculty. The administration took the issue to the faculty and they approved it.

The potential communication breakdown occurred as the administration spoke with chairs and deans, who weren’t elected to represent the whole faculty. The communication gap might not have been as big of an issue if AUM didn’t have a questionable history.

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AUM– Photo of the American University of Malta. (photo from AUM Facebook page)

AUM, a relatively newer university, opened in September 2017. The central Mediterranean institution managed to gather tons of publicity in its short operation. The Sadeen Group, a Jordanian construction and property development company, owns AUM. The company’s only background in education comes from its for-profit schools in Jordan. Their main developments include travel, tourism and hotels. In Malta, citizens protested the development of the university.  The two pieces of land granted to Sadeen for the development were considered valuable public property. Once the college opened, more odd events occurred.

Erik Gilbert, a history professor at A-State, said he was shocked after he conducted a quick Google search regarding AUM. He sent an email with a list of sources to all A-State faculty explaining what he found.

“There seem to be so many red flags there. They got fined for misrepresenting who they were, they seem to have mispresented their relationship with DePaul (university) and had to have that explicated. They fired all their faculty one semester into their operation and then rehired a bunch suggesting that maybe they still needed faculty, but they wanted different faculty, perhaps, cheaper faculty,” Gilbert said.

Seventeen students attended in fall 2017, a lower number than expected.  AUM fired 12 of its 13 professors in January 2018 after offering them three-year contracts. Maltese law legally allowed the firings.  At the end of their six-month probationary period, the faculty received notification of their termination. AUM claimed the firings were due to the low enrollment. AUM hired six new professors. They currently have seven faculty members including the provost.

Despite the controversy sounding AUM, Damphousse said he still sticks by his decision. He knows there is concern regarding faculty terminations there. He said, unfortunately, that happens when a university faces financial difficulty. It happens in America as well. Damphousse said he doesn’t have any concerns regarding the firings.

A lot of work goes into an agreement like this. Damphousse, Global Engagement and Outreach director Thilla Sivakumaran and Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications Bill Smith traveled to Malta to negotiate the agreement. Damphousse said he remains confident in A-State’s short-term study-abroad opportunities in Malta.

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Damphousse In Malta– A-State Chancellor at the agreement signing in Malta. (photo from AUM Facebook)

“I went there and visited the place. I met with the faculty who are there. I taught a class while I was there. I met with students who are there. So, I’m very comfortable with our decision to be partnering with AUM,” Damphousse said.

He said A-State is always looking for ways to make itself distinctive. Malta, a country rich in history, brings in students from across the globe. Most of the professors come from America and all classes are taught in English. Damphousse also said Malta can be a great European location for A-State faculty members to plan short-term study abroad and research opportunities. ASU prides itself on being diverse. This agreement would help expand that diversity. ASU has similar agreements with other universities, and they’ve been successful as well as beneficial. He also said A-State did not invest any money into the actual agreement. According to The Sun, travel expenses to and from Malta totaled $7,000.

As for the confusion among faculty regarding the agreement, Damphousse said currently a plan is in motion to keep it from happening again. The provost has been working with A-State’s international program to develop a process to ensure the faculty all have a say in determining when the university gets involved in relationships like the one with Malta. The new policy should be completed shortly.

Campus Concealed Carry Remains Contentious

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by Christopher Lee
Delta Digital News Service

JONESBORO — New interests in school safety have emerged with the mass shooting at Parkland, Florida, and the Westside Shooting’s 20th anniversary fresh on everyone’s mind.

In light of the Parkland shooting, President Donald Trump advocated for arming teachers in the hopes of preventing more mass shootings in a tweet.

The debate of having firearms on campus is not isolated to public schools; it provides a point of contention for colleges and universities as well.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 10 states including Arkansas currently have provisions allowing concealed carry on postsecondary campuses. Provided a person has passed the required courses — including the standard concealed-carry courses and the specialty enhanced-carry courses — gun owners may legally carry their weapon on college grounds.

Dr. Michael McDaniel

Dr. Michael McDaniel, A-State Faculty Senate chair (photo by Christopher Lee)

Arkansas State University Faculty Senate chair Michael McDaniel explained how A-State’s Faculty Senate reacted to the new law.

“It’s hard to speak for the entire faculty. About the only thing I feel comfortable saying is that I believe that the faculty were reasonably comfortable with the situation we had prior to this new law,” McDaniel said.

Prior to House Bill 1249, now Act 562, colleges could opt out of allowing concealed carry on their premises, but with the passing of Act 562 this is no longer an option.

“With the new law we lost that option, so now we can’t opt out. It is the rule and it is the law,” McDaniel continued.

Bill Smith, A-State’s associate vice chancellor for marketing and communications, echoed the idea in a short but strong statement.

“The law is the law and we can’t change that,” Smith said.

Even though the law has officially gone in effect, understanding faculty and student opinions about the new conceal carry law is important for gaining insight into how the law and its implementation are perceived.

Some faculty members like associate professor of political science Richard Wang said they feel they were ignored.

“As you know, the university said, ‘No, we’ll opt not to have concealed carry on our campus.’ Joining with A-State are all the other universities in this state, plus junior colleges, plus the campus police forces, plus the local police, the county police and county sheriff offices all around the state, joining … It’s a coalition, and they all said, ‘No, we want to keep the local option, the option here,” Wang said.

Wang has taught at Arkansas State University for 31 years. He said he was surprised to hear the law  passed. You can hear more of Wang’s opinions about the concealed carry law by watching the video below:

Dr. Brandon Kemp, interim Dean of associate engineering programs

Dr. Brandon Kemp, interim Dean of associate engineering programs (photo by Christopher Lee)

Brandon Kemp, A-State’s interim associate dean of engineering programs, echoed this sentiment when he heard the new concealed carry law had gone into effect.

“My first opinion was that it was ridiculous. As a faculty we have voiced our opinions over and over again that we don’t want guns on campus,” Kemp said.

A Jonesboro native who has worked at Arkansas State University for over seven years, Kemp said allowing guns on campus added unnecessary risk to the campus. He said it also adds confusion to first responders during an active-shooter threat.

“If we have an active-shooter situation and we have people on campus — whether it be faculty or students — who are pulling out their firearms to combat the situation, then the first responders — the police and SWAT — now they have a much more difficult situation,” Kemp said.

Dr. Erik Gilbert

Dr. Erik Gilbert, professor of history (photo courtesy of Arkansas State)

While concerns about increased gun violence with more guns on campus is rational, Erik Gilbert, professor of history at A-State, has already written two articles about the topic of concealed carry on college campuses.

Gilbert cited his articles as his opinion of the new concealed carry law.

In the first article, “Stop Worrying About Guns in the Classroom. They’re Already Here,” published in The Chronicle of Higher Education in March 2016, Gilbert spoke to college faculty in Texas about their concerns with the concealed carry law.

In the article, Gilbert encouraged faculty to relax about the idea of guns being on campus.

I can almost guarantee that if you have a few semesters of teaching under your belt, at some point there have been students with guns in your classroom. If those illegally armed students were not moved to violence by the content of your course or the statements of their fellow students, it seems highly improbable that a new group of legally armed students will prove to be more volatile or violence-prone than their scofflaw peers.

Gilbert ended the article by stating, “Don’t worry about the presence of legally carried guns in your classrooms. If you are going to worry, worry about someone illegally bringing a gun on campus with the intention of causing mayhem, not someone who legally carries a gun in the hope of protecting himself from harm.”

In his second article, “Campus Carry Is Not About Preventing Mass Shootings,” Gilbert argued the choice to allow concealed carry on campus is less about the ability to stop mass shootings and more about letting individuals choose how they wish to defend themselves.

Gilbert wrote, “If you happen to be locked down in a classroom during a mass shooting, wouldn’t you rather be able to shoot back if the shooter comes through the door? If you would rather resort to throwing coffee cups or iPads, as some campus police might advise, that’s a valid choice and I would not try to dissuade you.”

The article, published by Inside Higher Ed in 2017, cites many sources to show how concealed carry has affected mass shootings in states where it is allowed, and how concealed carry benefits students.

College Republicans Rep. Chandler Jones

College Republicans Rep. Chandler Jones (photo by Christopher Lee)

Members of both the College Republicans of A-State and the Young Democrats discussed their opinions on the topic of concealed carry on campus.

“I’m thankful for the state of Arkansas legislature to pass this because it shows that they think of us as humans, they think of us so that we’re allowed to protect ourselves,” College Republicans Rep. Chandler Jones, a pre-professional biology major, said. “I’m thankful and I do think it will be more of a preventative measure; someone who is mentally ill would know that they’re also going to be met with force.”

Jones said he sees the new law as an opportunity, ensuring students have the right to defend themselves if necessary during a mass shooting. You can listen to more of his points below.

Dominique Phillips and Anthony Sumlin of A-State’s Young Democrats discussed the organization’s opinion of the law.

Young Democrats Rep. Dominique Phillips

Young Democrats Rep. Dominique Phillips (photo by Christopher Lee)

Phillips also serves as president of student diversity and recruitment.

“I feel like I speak not only for myself but for my party when I say that I feel like the new laws might cause a bit of a problem,” she said. “In general, you can’t fight violence with violence, you can’t fight fire with fire. You’re allowing guns to be on campus now, even going throughout the so many courses that you have. That doesn’t change when a person has a mental breakdown or a mental issue.

“As far as someone acting as a guardian, it’s a little tricky because I see that and I can see the positive side of how they will be able to fight back,” Phillips said. “But at the same time, is it guaranteed that someone will be able to muster up enough courage to go out and shoot someone back?”

While the College Republicans and Young Democrats sit on opposite sides of the concealed carry on campus debate, both parties agreed mental health reform is necessary to prevent mass shootings like Westside and Parkland.

“I feel that not only in public schools — in high schools and elementary, middle schools — but also in colleges there needs to be a more open discussion about mental health awareness,” Phillips said.

A-State’s Young Democrats Anthony Sumlin, a biology and chemistry major, echoed Phillips’ opinion.

“I think the response should not be, ‘Oh well, let’s give more people guns to hide on themselves.’ Personally I feel like we should do more with educating teachers on how to spot mental health issues and really getting rid of that stigma that mental health is something to be ashamed of,” Sumlin said.

You can listen to more of Sumlin’s statements below.

Jones also said he believes mental health reform provides the key to stopping mass shootings.

“Restricting buying guns now really isn’t going to slow down someone who wants to get a weapon from getting it cause they’re on the streets, they’re sold illegally. So I think it needs to be more mental health,” he said. “Screening these people, getting more help for these people, more … maybe facilities. More money distributed there, I think that’s what needs to be our first step.”

The new conceal carry law has clearly struck a nerve with faculty and students alike, but it is unclear how it will affect the educational climate of colleges and universities. Even with the division the new law has caused, what is clear is the law will continue to create debates about campus safety.

Featured image made by adapting Ibro Palic’s “Gun Holster” [CC BY-SA 2.0]