The time has come for a fresh wind to blow through the University of Alaska system. That wind is change, but not from the direction the president and Regents want, it is toward the direction the university needs.
The time has come for the breakup of the statewide university system with the overarching UA system of control.
As each campus, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Anchorage (UAA) and Southeast (UAS), are each independently accredited, they can choose which credits they accept from transfer students. I have a friend who is caught up in the UAA teaching program debacle. She wanted to transfer to UAF, but they would not accept the majority of her credits. This would have required her to start from the beginning. Come on — she lives in Anchorage and is a student of the UA system!
Each campus has a chancellor and full staff, plus a local advisory board. They have the capacity to be self-governing for their region. The statewide UA’s position of president, regents and their staff are an extra financial burden that students should not have to bear.
Just as our ancestors threw off the yoke of tyranny from a foreign king, so to must UAA throw off the yoke of the UA system and breath the air of independence and freedom. The time has come for UAA to secede. Viva la educacion revolucion!
Sean McGrane
UAA Alumnus
Anchorage
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