BY BILL MULLEN WITH “LISA BARRISTER”

In May of 2017, Purdue University announced that it had purchased Kaplan University, an on-line University, with the intention to turn it into a part of Purdue University. Since that time, Kaplan has been renamed Purdue Global University, and has already graduated its first group of students.

Criticism of the Kaplan purchase and Purdue Global launch has been fierce. The Purdue Faculty Senate gathered signatures from more than 300 faculty members protesting the Purdue administration’s refusal to honor faculty governance in the purchase of Kaplan. In February, thousands of faculty nationally joined elected officials in supporting an AAUP petition to reject the Kaplan purchase and keep Purdue University public.

Most recently, the AAUP called on Purdue Global to cease mandatory signing by faculty of Nondisclosure Agreements meant to curtail their right to own classroom materials, and to stifle public criticism of the University. After the public protest, Purdue Global agreed to cease the use of the Nondisclosure Agreements.

After reading about AAUP protests of Purdue Global in the Lafayette Journal and Courier newspaper, a Purdue Global faculty member has come forward anonymously to discuss working conditions within Purdue Global. Lisa Barrister (not her real name) reached out to an AAUP member at Purdue, saying she/he shared many of the criticisms made by the AAUP.  Below is an interview conducted by Bill Mullen, a member of the AAUP’s Purdue chapter, with Barrister by email.

How long have you worked for Kaplan?  For Purdue Global?

I have worked here over 10 years.

What brought you to teaching?

I truly believe that education is a gateway to opportunity and I wanted to be part of helping people find and succeed in those opportunities.

What is your own assessment of why Purdue Global purchased Kaplan?  What were PG faculty told was the reason?  Have things panned out the way you were promised? 

PG faculty were told that Purdue bought Kaplan because Purdue wanted to have a bigger foothold in the online arena, purchasing Kaplan allowed them to fast-track that. We were told that Purdue researched schools and picked us. However, I have read news stories that said someone from Kaplan approached Mitch Daniels proposing the deal, I am not sure which is true. We weren’t made many promises regarding the transition, only that nothing would really change for us and so far not much has.

How does faculty governance work at Purdue Global?  Do you feel as a faculty member you have a voice in governance?

When I compare faculty governance from other institutions where I have worked to this one there are significant issues with what happens at PG. I have never, at PG, been given the opportunity to vote on any policy. I honestly can’t think of one thing I have ever been allowed to vote on. Faculty are generally handed down information and directives about what is going to happen or what has happened, we are not asked our opinions, even in matters that directly impact the classroom. We do have a faculty senate but I have never once received an email from them or minutes from their meetings. I have visited their website but have not been able to see their meeting agendas or minutes. I have never received any communication from them soliciting issues to take forward on behalf of the faculty.  These are all pretty standard things that are done at institutions who truly have shared governance. We are definitely a top-down institution. Even in my own department, I have never once been asked to review program changes within the curriculum or vote on them. I honestly don’t know who makes those decisions for the program, I am assuming the department chair does. Interestingly, the Purdue WL [West Lafayette, Indiana] faculty were so upset that they weren’t consulted about the PG purchase but PG faculty weren’t because we would never have expected to be consulted. That isn’t how PG works.

What have you been told about the relationship of Purdue University to Purdue Global?

We have been told that Purdue Global is now a branch of Purdue University, part of the Purdue system although we do not have access to any of the Purdue resources.

Apparently, Purdue University faculty will be or are being offered opportunities to teach Purdue Global courses.  What do you think about that?

The faculty at PG are not territorial people and would gladly welcome Purdue faculty. However, as a faculty, we also understand that poses a risk to us. One of the biggest concerns expressed by our faculty at the news of the transition was that we would all be replaced with faculty from the WL campus. There have been significant rumors of WL faculty “shopping” us to determine if we are good enough to stay. As you can imagine this creates distrust where we should instead have collaboration. Keep in mind that we have seen layoffs of faculty for several years, for each class that a Purdue faculty member teaches at PG that is a PG faculty member that isn’t teaching. Given the majority of our faculty are adjuncts it poses a significant issue for them. What I would love to see is Purdue faculty filling in gaps so PG faculty could have non-teaching terms every year. Right now PG faculty teach year round with one week between terms. We still work during that week preparing for the next term, connecting with students, prepping the classroom etc. So as you can imagine, finding time for vacation,  scholarship, or just renewal is a real challenge. If Purdue faculty were used strategically to provide some relief it would be welcomed.

Have Kaplan/Purdue Global faculty ever discussed forming a union?  What was the administration response?

Yes, years ago the faculty attempted to form a union but that was viewed as a threat that had to be dealt with.

What do you think of the arbitration agreements PG students must sign before taking classes?

This is actually the first time I have seen this. Honestly, I think the university has a little bit of an identity crisis. They are still operating like a for-profit institution instead of a public land-grant institution.

Please feel free to add any other thoughts.

Purdue Global has some amazing faculty and a mission that we believe in. Each of us works tirelessly every day to help adult learners earn their degree without putting their lives on hold. There is significant potential in this union of Purdue and Purdue Global, but the first step really needs to be restructuring PG to run more like an academic institution and less like a for-profit business entity. As faculty, we have been operating for years trying to “do more with less.”  It would be nice to attempt doing more with more. A good starting point is giving the faculty more resource support and more of a voice.