My letter to President Knight. I encourage all of those who are concerned to make your voices heard and to write her as well. Dear President Heather Knight, My name is Vladimir Rednikov, and I am a junior Social Work student. I am writing to you to express my deepest concern with the events that are taking place in the Psychology/Social Work Department. The Chair of the Department, Monte Butler, is leaving next year, and it appears that quite a few other professors may join Professor Butler in the nearest future. There is an evident lack of information on the matter, therefore I ask you to forgive me if I am misled on anything I am about to write. President Knight, I would like to share with you that I am very disappointed. I am disappointed because these professors we are losing are the people who make the Department; these are the people who have been making our Social Work and Psychology programs stand on a level many other universities wish they could reach. These are the people who have worked at PUC for twenty, thirty, and even forty years — giving their best: their hearts and their professionalism, for the better of their students and for the better of our school. I am an older student, I am not a member of the SDA Church, and I also happened to be an immigrant. God knows — it was not easy for me to blend in, to make PUC my new home. At first I even considered transferring out; but I did not. I can thank the professors of our Psychology/Social Work Department for that. Their support was overwhelming. People like Fiona Bullock showed me that SDA and PUC are full of caring individuals, and it is through their work and their sincere involvement that, I believe, I was able to experience Christ and his love. It makes me sad and even angry to see these wonderful people having to choose between their professional values and their love for PUC, to possibly see them leave this college and us, their students. Ever since coming to PUC, its students and its faculty have become my community, while the Psychology/Social Work Department has become my family; which seems to be true for many other students of our Department as well. So many of them are also very concerned. We are concerned with whether our education has become compromised, whether it is no longer transparent, and whether the administration of this school is no longer devoted to providing high-quality modern liberal education, which is inseparable from teaching critical thinking skills, from exposing students to the realities of life they will come to encounter after their graduation. Again, there are a lot of students who are worried about what is taking place in the Department of Psychology/Social Work: I hear it every single day in the hallways, and I see it on the social media. Everybody, as one, seems to disapprove of what is happening. I am so proud to observe that these forward-thinking students, who are the future of SDA, want progress and transparency. When I was coming to PUC, I was coming to be taught by Fiona Bullock, Monte Butler, Aubyn Fulton and the other dedicated professors of this Department. I refuse to believe that compromise cannot be reached, and that these highly valued professionals cannot be retained. I will feel cheated by the administration if I end up seeing them leave. But, I will still support them in their decision, as I respect them for following their professional values as Educators, as Psychologists and as Social Workers. Having them choose between their jobs and their professional ethics is an unfortunate fact that cannot be ignored by anyone. This fact makes me concerned as a current student, and as a future Social Worker; it also makes me concerned as a consumer who is paying for this education and who has the right to expect continuous and transparent training. If my currents professors are to be replaced by new people who are willing to compromise their professional integrity and submit to this new concept of “Academic Freedom” — what kind of example will this set for our students? I have successfully worked in the field of public health for over 5 years. My decision to come to PUC was primarily influenced by the reputation that its Social Work program had been able to obtain through the people who have long been in charge of it. Quite frankly, I am afraid of this program losing its reputation, and perhaps even its accreditation, as I am aware of what Counsel on Social Work Education requires of accredited Social Work programs. If professors cannot teach the values of the profession — I am frightened of the consequences this may bear. This makes me feel unsure of the future. I need to know that I will be able to graduate from an accredited program under direction of ethical experienced people such as the people we are losing. President Knight, I wholeheartedly apologize for having written this email in such a passionate manner. This communication is solely meant to bring up a genuine concern, and to offer what might be a slightly different perspective of an older student. Respectfully, Vladimir Rednikov
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 02:39:06 +0000
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