Campus Blogs

We are heading into the final weeks of summer, the weeks before the semester begins.  Teachers and professors everywhere are beginning to have dreams, literally, about the academic year.  Some of these are nightmares, and some are pleasant.  They are part of the rethinking process.  What will I do differently this semester?  What worked and what didn't?  How did students respond to a particular discussion or project?  What new information needs to be incorporated?  What new resources are available? This is really why we are here doing this thing called education. Soon we will see more faculty members around campus (there are already some) working in their offices. (We used to head to the library, but now we can get current journals online at our desks, as can students--this has set a new standard for currency of information in both student projects, and in teaching.) We will be working on syllabi, lecture and discussion outlines, setting up discussion boards for student use, taping and cliping videos or use in class, or simply rereading and rethinking. I am doing the same for my business ethics class which I will teach twice this year--a required course for business majors. This is a tricky course to teach.  In many places and among many students, the current wisdom is that all morals and ethics are based on subjective "values," the free, unconstrained, choices of individuals, about which we cannot judge whether one or another is better.  Judgment would imply the existence of an objective standard beyond the subjective choice of the individual. This notion is so prevalent that it shows up in the reasoning of supreme court opinions. Another prevalent opinion, which also shows up in Christian instituions like Fresno Pacific, is that our values can only be received as a divine command through revelation--for example the ten commndments, or the explicit commands of Jesus.  All other values are merely subjective choices.  Or people are generally so corrupt, in theological language so sinful that they, or we, cannot know or choose values that are in some measure good. Sometimes I find that these two claims go together.  A student might say that they realize that all values are subjective, they would not want t impose their's on anyone, but they have chosen to follow Christian values simply as a personal choice.  In both cases this imposes a particular burden on the teaching of ethics for business.  We can, I suppose, turn to conseqences.  For example people who do not trust a business will not become or remain customers.  And so a business person should want to adopt the value of truthfulness even if there is no deeper, truer reason why one might want to become truthful, that is, even if truth is not good itself. But then we are all capable of finding our way around values that we choose.  We are especially adept at this when we endorse them not in-and-of themselves because we know they are good, but instrumentally for another purpose. I will present students with another bit of evidence this year.  The Institute for Global Ethics (http://www.globalethics.org/mission-and-values.php)  has identified five core values that are found in every culture.  They have adopted these as their core organizational values and committed themselves to be (the following is a direct quotation):

• Honest and truthful in all our dealings
• Responsible and accountable in every transaction
• Fair and equitable in each relationship
• Respectful and mindful of the dignity of every individual
• Compassionate and caring in each situation

Some ethicists might call these "hyper" or "meta" values.  They touch a deeper level than say, I value having a new car, or even I value education. It would seem that something that is found everywhere, in all cultures, might indeed be something more than merely subjective.  A couple of writers, Lennick and Kiel in Moral Intelligence use a similar set of "universal" values (integrity, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness--it seems to me they leave out the meta-value of justice or fairness, but still there is a basic similarity) to form the basis for their moral intelligence test and counsel for organizational leaders. I will couple the discussion with a reading of C. S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man. Lewis makes a philosophical case for the existence of universal values, what he calls the Tao, and offers a list from a variety of cultures throughout history. Some see The Abolition as his most profound piece of writing. It can be difficult for some, but is well worth the reading. The anthropoligist Donald Brown in Human Universals offers another slant on the topic, as does James Q. Wilson in The Moral Sense. In answer to the Christian student who understands the scriptures to point to a divine command theory of basic values, I think I will point to the classic passage theologians used throughout the early and medieval church (and later) from St. Paul in the letter to the Romans(see 1: 18-2:16, here quoting 2:14-15 from the NRSV): "When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requries, these, though not having the law, are a law unto themselves.  They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience bears witness..." Lewis as a Christian writer will help make the case as well. It seems to me that without this recognition of basic, hyper-, or meta-values we won't get very far in teaching ethics. And when presented with a basic list like the one quoted above, no one whom I have met wants to deny that they are truly good values that we all ought to embrace. At least this is my experience from the classroom. Today we have to make strong case for the existence of these universal values. If what I intend to outline and argue for with my students is correct, we should be able to get some kind of rough and ready agreement.  I hope it will be a good discussion. If not, I will be re-thinking again for the spring semester.

Yesterday I was interviewed by our local Fox affiliate KMPH regarding Fresno Pacific University and the news from Fresno State and other CSU campuses that class sections are being cut  as a result of the expected state budget.  This followed news last week that they would not accept further applications for the fall semester or for next spring.  Clint Olivier did the interview and asked a question I wasn't ready for. (You can see the report at http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=10727883&nav=menu612_2 click on the camera symbol.) Whenever we are called on to do these interviews, we rapidly clear our calendars, begin to anticipate the questions, review notes, and check with others on campus to confirm the information we have.  (And in my case, make sure that my head isn't shiny). Then we spend 20-30 minutes or so with a reporter.  Clint told me as we were setting up that I would be on the air for about 8 seconds. This was a good chance to let people know that Fresno Pacific has room for more students on the main campus and in our regional centers, we are accepting applications, we have increased our financial aid, and that we are trying to meet the needs of students who think they may be without a place to study. In our institutional economy more students equals funding available to provide more classes. We've been investing in academic programs and facilities, and faculty are ready. Then Clint asked how we at Fresno Pacific felt about the news at Fresno State. I had to step back for a second. I wasn't prepared for this one. I have been at meetings throughout the last year with representatives from all of the regional colleges and universities, public and independent, coordinated by the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium.  We have been working on how we can cooperate to raise the number of students finishing their degrees, and ultimately the higher education attainment level for the Valley.  We are in this work together, and whenever one of us suffers, we as a community and as sister institutions all suffer.  We've been through some budget cutting, and we know what it feels like. The news yesterday was painful to hear (it doesn't help that I am a Fresno State graduate). The most disheartening part of the current crisis, for me, is knowing that there are numbers of serious students who will struggle, be delayed, not find courses available and perhaps will stop out completely.  We need more educated members or our community, not fewer.  We should encourage those with intellectual curiosity, perhaps a hint of scepticism, a desire to understand, and the persistence and openness required to gain that understanding. These are gifts and attitudes that need nurture. They don't come easily. For those of us who have been kicking around colleges and universities since we were teenagers, it is almost like our world is falling apart. We are learning to live with it, as is everyone else, and every other profession these days. But for students it can seem like the end of a dream for the future, or the closing of doors on opportunities they were hoping for. This is the real crisis. Those students, the deepened understanding they gain, and the successes they achieve benefit all of us, and help make us a thriving and we hope a more just people and place. All of us are doing what we can to make this an opportunity for as many students as possible. So, that is my answer to Clint. Couldn't fit it into 8 seconds.

This one was forwarded to me by a colleague at Fresno Pacific, and I think deserves a comment.  On June 6 The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124424363293190441.html) posted an article entitled "The Less Educated Take the Worst Hit."  The gist of the story was that those with less education have been hardest hit in this recesssion, more so than in previous recessions like 1990/91 and 2001.  Those with higher education more often have skills that are transferable to other work, or know how to start their own business.  The unemployment rates are illustrative:  without a highschool diploma, 15.5%; graduated from high school, 10%; four year college degree, 4.8%.  This pattern (without the extremes) is also evident in non-recessionary times. So what can we learn from this, as the professors say?  Finish college!  And much more.  Education is one of the surest ways to economic success and stability.  In past recessionary times, colleges and universities saw a jump in enrollment.  People needed to re-tool, jobs were more scarce than in previous years. And so it seemed wise to start or finish that degree that they had dreamed of. If it was a good investment then, it still is now.  One of the most disheartening events of this recession is the number of students seemingly holding off on their education when it is one of the single things that will help them to be more employable in the future.  It may in fact be one of the best uses of time right now. If there is one other thing that is certain--beyond the marketable value of an education--it is that education stimulates the desire to learn, to know and to understand.  It appears that we will continue to experience change and to prepare for that we need not only to know, but to know how to learn.  There is no better way to develop the habit of learning than to immerse oneself in learning.  It may be those who are learning now who find ways to rise out of  our current decline.  And they will be the ones ready to go when the economy begins to boom again.

You may have seen or heard about the USA Todayarticle on June 3, based on an American Enterprise Institute study of graduation rates at colleges around the country, "4-year colleges graduate 53% in 6 years." In the first line the author of the article reports that the study calls the 6-year graduation rate esentially a failure, and goes on to note that there many schools with rates much, much lower.  For those who expect to get into college, concentrate on it, and get done, it seems less than a success, especially when so many opportunities exist for highly qualified students (from AP courses in high schools, to online courses, let alone that simply taking a full load (15-16 units each semester) will give you enough course work to finish in four years. When, as some have argued, the mission of higher education is "access" for those whose early opportunity did not prepare them fully for college level work is considered, graduating in six years might seem like a great success. But there are many other things to think about.  For instance: why not report on the four and five year rates?  These tell you how many students at a university come in ready to go.  Many will get out in four years, and the five year rate picks up those who often need a couple of courses (perhaps summer will do) or the fall to finish.  Even for schools who admit many "first generation" students (whom recent research tells us graduate at much slower and lower rates, in all racial and social categories) the four and five year numbers are a good test of how well the institution is working with those students to encourage success and steady progression toward a degree. So what does this mean? We should be (and are) looking at our four year rates, at least as much as our six year.   Our four year rate ranges from 49-51%, and our five year around 56-59% over the years.  We are proud of this success, especially since about 40% of our student body are first generation students.  You can compare this with some universities in California where the four year rate ranges from 12-18%. But the real meaning of this is for students.  Those who can pursue their education full time, and work on the side, have the opportunity to concentrate, to see the connections between one subject and another, and to form ways of thinking and experiencing that create depth and understanding.  They work with other students who take learning seriously, spend more time on campus and with their professors, and develop deep habits of learning.  They move into professions, careers and service, sooner and gain experience earlier.  The university's role, which we takc seriously also, is to bring students into this life of learning in depth.  A university which is seeing the kind of success outlined above has professors who are engaging in study and research, in discussion and writing with their students, who are inviting students into that life of learning and scholarhip, and are modeling what it means to be a professional for them. Parents--and those paying the bills--might be especially interested because the shorter college period, moves the student to independence sooner, and to adulthood and full responsibility for themselves and others, something we hope our children want to achieve.  Or as one practical parent told me "it get's him off my payroll and on to someone else's."  There is something to be said for that. These seem to me to be some of the meaning behind the numbers. Shouldn't we be pushing those numbers back?  How can we encourge students to finish in four years?  How can we develop the habits of deep learning that will propel them through their lifetimes?  How can we prepare students for lives of professional accomplishment and service?  How do we encourage in them ethical and spiritual sensitivity so that their work and lives are healthy for themselves and others, and full of meaning?  All of this takes concentrated attention to learning, focus, dedication, support, and a lot of determination when so much around us invites distraction, and the standard is to slow it down and take your time, to cram four years into six.  It takes this dedication on the part of the student and the university. One piece of advertising--see our Four Year Graduation Guarantee for incoming freshman at www.experiencefpu.com.

Yesterday the Governor of California announced a budget for the coming year which would slash (this appears not to be an exaggeration) away funding for many state services—in health and welfare, education and public safety to name a few. Of course little seems to be said about making the state more business-friendly to raise tax revenue, or easing the regulatory burden that seems to have driven some away. But all that is another story. Among the cuts proposed is the Cal Grant. Last year and for about a half dozen years prior, students from families who were below stipulated income ceilings, and with reasonably good grades (the kind that would put a student among the average incoming scores at the California State University system) could receive about $9,700 per year toward tuition at an independent college or university in California. Through the ‘90s the Cal Grant grew from around $5000, and then was lowered and returned to its high point where it has remained form most of the last decade, even as tuition has increased at both state and independent schools. It’s always on the list of possible cuts in our seemingly never ending cycle of budget crises, even though it is cheaper for the state to offer the Cal Grant to educate a student at an independent university than it is to educate a student at a state supported institution. California has some of the lowest tuition rates in the country for its three state college/university systems, as well as having still some of the best universities in the world. The Cal Grant is more than just financial aid, leveling the playing field for low-income students who want to attend Fresno Pacific University or another institution. It is the door of opportunity for these students. In the Central Valley many Cal Grant recipients are from small rural communities, most members of ethnic minorities, and the ones I have spoken with are grateful for the chance to continue their education at a university where they will receive the courses and the mentoring they need to graduate in four years, and begin their careers. Let me profile a couple I spoke with yesterday. The names below are not those of the students, but the rest is how they reported it to me. Rosa is from the small town of Madera, just north of Fresno. She graduated this May after four years at FPU. She qualified not only for Cal Grant but also for the federal Pell grant and SEOG scholarship funds for low income families. In addition, she took out loans to bridge the gap between the scholarships and grants she received and the full costs of her education. Next year she will go into the teacher preparation program. She hopes to return to her home and teach. Rosa has worked all through her college years, and was able to graduate so quickly because the Cal Grant allowed her to be at a school where over half of incoming students graduate on time. She has friends who faced similar challenges – coming from low income families living in small towns - who needed the help of the Cal Grant to attend college and graduate. One of those friends, from Bakersfield, has a brother who has not received the Cal Grant and will probably not be able to attend FPU. He is still working on an appeal, and hopes to continue with his Fresno Pacific education just as his older sister did. A second student whose future was changed by the Cal Grant is Ruthie. She is a graduate of Dos Palos High School and just completed her freshman year at FPU. She would have been unable to come to FPU without the Cal Grant/Pell Grant/SEOG package. Ruthie is proud to be the first member of her family to go to college. Had she not received the Cal Grant, she says, she probably would have tried to find a job, take some classes at a community college, and save money to go to a state college. She is planning to major in psychology and wants to be a school counselor and psychologist. Her younger brother will be a senior in high school next year, and he too wants to come to FPU and needs the Cal Grant to do so. Because their family income is fairly low, each of them will be supporting themselves as they progress through their college years. Ruthie mentions that she wants to stay on track to graduate in four years, and work toward her goals. These two students are representative of many of the students who attend FPU – first- generation college students, ethnic minorities, responsible for themselves at an early age, aware of the value of the opportunity they have received, and determined to succeed. They want to return to their homes to teach, become professionals, and continue to serve as role models and a source of inspiration to those who come after them. Fresno Pacific prides itself on working with these students, and others like them. They receive academic scholarships from FPU - usually ranging from $5,000-$10,000 and some receive performance awards as well for music or athletics for example - often work on campus, and are encouraged and mentored by faculty members who get to know them and their struggles, work with them to succeed, and take great pride in seeing them graduate and move on to help others. Both the students and the faculty realize that without this opportunity many students in this kind of situation would take much longer to graduate, or would not graduate at all. The Cal Grant provides a means of access to education for children of farm workers and others in the rural areas of Central California who graduate, then return to their homes as professionals who give back to their communities. They have already begun this work as they inspire their younger brothers and sisters to dream of a university education. As long a California determines to provide universal access to higher education, I hope they will remember the influence of the Cal Grant and the good it has done for many citizens of this state. Given that it is cheaper than an education at a state school, it seems like a good deal for everyone.

We are getting ready for commencement this week.  Students are taking and faculty are grading final exams.  By the middle of next week, students will be off to summer work, or missions, or camps, or study-travel tours--or taking more classes to catch up or get ahead.  The pace will change, and most will take mental rest for a few days. Believe it or not, the last month of a university year is hectic, demanding, and exhausting.  Saturday, May 9, about 400 students--bachelor's and master's candidates will walk across the stage to the cheers of their friends and families. This last few weeks at Fresno Pacific we have had a host of events in the traditional undergraduate program--the annual honors convocation, a research fair, dinners or deserts for many departments, senior thesis presentations, musical performances, senior recitals, the mainstage play, championship tournaments.  Everything comes to its conclusion and is celebrated. It is a wonderful time of the year, and the calendar is busy.  We all wish we could get to more events than we can possibly attend. It struck me this week that we had more than the usual events.  Our students and faculty were engaged as well with political and social issues and hosted events to educate themselves and the broader public.  One such event was the "Encouraging Care of Creation" conference to discuss sustainable agriculture, natural habitats, water shortages and air pollution.  The faculty organizers invited speakers from throughout the region--specialists in technical fields and activists.  A student group, Democracy Matters, hosted a showing of two films, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Fahrenhype 9/11 (including free food--always encourages student attendance). The students seem to have wanted discussion, and debate. I couldn't be there, but wish I could have heard the conversation.  We had discussed how to understand the problem of terrorism in the modern world the same week in a class I teach on the history of political theory. Some of the students involved were in that class. And another student group, the Sunbird Conservatives, organized a day long conference attended by about 300, on the state of conservatism in California and in the US.  Somehow they managed to get two congressman, local politicians, a radio personality, alumni, faculty members, and the nationally known commentator and classicist Victor Davis Hanson to speak or participate (truth in advertising--I gave a brief talk and serve as an advisor to the club). Along with some cheering and gnashing of teeth over the loss of conservative representation as a result the last election, there was a good deal of debate and disagreement about what conservatives think, why they have trouble agreeing, what is happening in the world today and what might be done about it. All of these events took place on the FPU campus. Students and professors, along with the public, listened, considered, discussed and debated.  They put their energies behind their passions.  They carried what they are working on in their courses out into the world they live in and will someday lead. They discussed ideas and needs using the intellectual tools and ethical sensitivities they have gained in their science, history, biblical studies, and literature and social science courses. FPU does not and should not, I believe, take official political positions, but neither should it ignore the issues of the day. Here three groups--students and professors-- came together, planned, organized, and hosted events to continue the discussion of ideas about the state of our region, cities, churches and nation. They did this out of their sense of personal calling and as an offering to the public. All three were gifts to the university community. This is what a good university does.

4-24-09 Honors Convocation

It seems to me that in popular opinion education is about facts, useful processes or knowledge (how things work and how to make things work), and critical thinking. This can be so in relatively simple ways and in very complex ways. For instance if we know the genetics code, the Genome, then we can potentially reprogram our genetic patterns, correcting defects, guarding against disease, and generally making things work better. This is amazingly complex, and requires great depth of critical thought to sort through, test hypotheses, and processes. But it is not different in kind from examining how an engine works, how to manage finances, or sorting through the efficencies of an organizational structure. There is another kind of knowledge that is also involved in the thought hinted at above which is harder to grasp which is that mysterious creativity that we as humans posess and exercise.  It might be the creativity that produces music, art, fiction, poetry.  This is the knowledge or insight, or even vision (a metaphor that doesn't quite work for music) that cannot be contained by facts, processes and critical thinking. But these do not seem to me to be the end of it. There is a further form of human insight and experience that might be even more, or at least as intense and deep as the two I have now hinted at.  That is the experienc of wonder, and of faith that we experience as contingent (not existing of ourselves), limited beings who desire something, someone, or the good, the beautiful, the true, and that which is truly and permanently existent--the absolute, what "is"--or God.  For this kind of education we must exercise a particular kind of openeess to human and divine experience, and openness to the possibility of a divine encounter, of something beyond us.  It also might require a willingness to probe with our critical and imanginative faculty the record of the human religious experience, of revelation, and of its tangible effects in our history--religious faiths, theological ideas, churches and communities of faith, the great saints. I often hear that the first kind of knowledge is the real knowledge, the second a nice kind of addition, and the third, well, a hold over from past, prescientific ages, or just something personal. But it might be that we have the order reversed.  Perhaps the third form of knowledge I have hinted at is the deepest, the second a reflection of this, and the first just the outer layer.  A full knowledge, and an more profound university education, will build from on to the other and back, and engage us with knowledge not only about how things work--of course we need this--but also about those transcendtal goods that pull us toward the goodness and fullness of ultimate reality, and God. This all seems terribly abstract, but it seems to me to be the general outline for why a Christian education, and a university that allows for it, and pursues it offers an education in depth and breadth that might not be possible elsewhere. Could it be that our conventional notions of education (the first form above) are so limited we ought not to consider them a full and complete education? Could it be that only when we encourage the exercise of the faith dimension that we truly pursue education?  I have often thought that students studying in universities with religious aspirations and commitments have a more difficulty task than others.  They must not only master the knowledge of the first two forms, but go beyond to something more ultimately difficult and profoundly compelling.

4-17-09 Karen Crozier- Special Assistant to the Provost

4-15-09 Dennis Janzen Fresno Pacific University's Athletics Director