July 08, 2010
Thursday PM

Dear Sitnews Editor:

A recent announcement that the position of UAS Ketchikan Campus Director will be filled for the next year by a temporary troika of people is yet another blunder by the UAS Juneau based administration. This administration has dictated Ketchikan campus policy since 1987 when Ketchikan Community College was eliminated. When the local Campus Director announced her departure in early May, a search for a replacement could have promptly started. Such a search could be conducted efficiently and fairly in about three to four months. This schedule would have allowed one month for advertising, one month for screening applications, and a third month for interviews and hiring. Now we have a needless delay that will drag this process out for another year, perhaps longer! When the long overdue retirement of a UAS provost was finally announced in 2003, pending a replacement being hired, it took 7 years for UAS to hire that replacement.

Many of us wonder why there is a need for such delays. Is some sort of monkey business is going on? The departing director was hired without any search at all. Perhaps the position of campus director is not really necessary? How does this Ketchikan troika have time to take on "extra" duties? Do these Juneau bureaucrats running the campus fear that a prompt hire would increase the danger of an independent person coming to Ketchikan? Would this person have the courage to propose and promote a separate community college for Ketchikan? Perhaps these Juneau administrators are just pompous, lazy, and regard Ketchikan as low on their list of priorities?

Most of this dither seems irrelevant, however. Since 1987, Ketchikan Campus has lost its significance to our community. Local citizens no longer have any real voice in appointing a local campus director. Why should they care? Today, most current and future students in Ketchikan must focus their efforts on selecting a REAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY to serve their educational needs. Getting involved in more fun and games at UAS Ketchikan would most likely be a frustrating waste of time.

Robert D. Warner
Ketchikan, AK

Received June 08, 2010 - Published July 08, 2010

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