The former president of Vermont's Middlebury College believes there is something seriously wrong with the college establishment - and now that he has stepped down he has spoken out.
In an opinion piece The New York Times published about three weeks ago, John McCardell remarked on college life, including tenure for professors, the professor-student ratio and the drinking age.
"There are many things I suspect university presidents would like to say to their various constituencies but dare not," he wrote.
McCardell, who was traveling and unavailable for comment, is now a Middlebury professor with the title of president emeritus.
In the editorial, he said it was "a bad social policy and terrible law" to have the drinking age be 21, which it has been legally since 1984.
He said that the law has nothing to do with drunken driving. If this was true, the driving age should then also be raised to 21, he said.
"Campuses have become, depending on the enthusiasm of the local law enforcement, either the arms of the law or havens from the law," he wrote. "No college president will say that the drinking has become less of a problem in the years since the age was raised."
Instead, McCardell believes that responsible alcohol consumption and education should take place openly on campuses.
Alex Koroknay-Palicz, a former AU student who is the executive director of the National Youth Rights Association, also said the drinking age creates more problems than it solves and encourages students to drink more than they normally would. He considers AU's status as a dry campus and its parental notification policy to be especially detrimental.
AU notifies parents the first time officials find students under 21 drinking alcohol, The Eagle reported last fall. The policy also applies to other illegal drugs.
Koroknay-Palicz said he has spoken to professors who were at AU when the drinking age was lower and people drank openly on campus, and the professors said it was a "friendlier, safer environment."
"It is amazing that someone can steal a car and not have any problem with their parents finding out because they are a legal adult," he said. "If they drink too much and require medical attention, then their parents have to find out. It's like being in high school."
AU Provost Neil Kerwin said colleges realize that underage drinking is a problem, but he is unsure why McCardell commented on the drinking age.
"The dry campus at AU contributes to our most important concern, which is a serious academic atmosphere," Kerwin said. "We are making a statement here."
Another issue McCardell raised was the importance of the faculty-student ratio at a college, which he wrote is an overrated measure of how good a college is. A college's average class size, average faculty instructional load, percentage of full-time faculty members and the frequency with which professors have office hours or eat their meals in the student dining area measures quality more accurately.
Koroknay-Palicz said that small class sizes are important. However, he said, there are better methods of teaching, such as allowing self-directed learning and greater freedom in the classroom.
"There has been so much discussion on student-professor ratio that the subject has been taken beyond relevance," Koroknay-Palicz said.
Kerwin called the ratio "a supposedly easy-to-communicate number that tells you almost nothing about an institution."
He said that how often an institution takes students' opinions is more important.
"American University is deeply committed to teaching evaluations," he said. "They are done every semester, for every professor, by every student."
McCardell also addressed the issue of faculty tenure, or professors earning the right to teach without undergoing constant contract renewals.
"Why must institutions make a judgment that has lifetime consequences after a mere six or seven years?" McCardell wrote. He added that professors can take a long time to publish books and family situations can disturb one's career.
Kerwin said he disagrees and does not see a large degree of difference between the way tenure is awarded and McCardell's statements.
"Tenure is a benefit that is offered to valuable university professors," Kerwin said.
"Professors feel both more secure and a part of the community," Kerwin said. "I am a supporter of tenure, I was a supporter before I became provost, and I will continue to be when I am no longer provost."
Kerwin said that perhaps McCardell was not as courageous making these statements as he might have been as a leading member of an institution.
AU senior Ray Stankiewicz agreed.
"It's sort of stupid to make those kind of statements after you've already relinquished your power," he said. "It would have made more sense to say it while he was still in a prestigious position"
