Chancellor Joe Gow’s Open
Forum on March 11 started with a heated
discussion about the topic of students in the international studies
program.
Students are being overcharged, said Donna Anderson, Professor of Economics. Students are able to receive very limited help due to the school having a
lack of funds. However, she asked that if this was the case, why were two new staff members added to international
studies.
In response, Gow offered that a meeting be set up for a
later time because he wasn’t sure of what she was talking about. Gow said that
he “hasn’t been involved in this” so he would be unable to answer the questions.
Anderson added that there was a lack of safety felt by
the faculty being forced to work in this department in regards to a lack of
support towards the students studying internationally. She implied that the
only reason why the students that studied internationally were safe at all was
because of the faculty that accompanied them. Gow countered this by saying “to
imply that there are bad things going on, you can’t just do that!” He went on
to imply that Anderson was conducting an attack rather than asking questions
that she felt needed to be answered.
Anderson answered “it doesn’t have to be friendly….just because
I ask hard questions doesn’t mean it’s an attack.” In regards to the lack of safety, Gow said “I can assure you we are very particular
when people go abroad.” Shortly after this Gow opened the floor to the rest of
the room to see if he could get some different opinions from others that had
done international studies through the school,
leading to the end of the conversation.
