Statesman

Issue date: 11/18/09 Section: News

Media Credit: David Cowardin Colin Smith stands outside the three Academic Coordination Center (ACC) offices.

UMD junior Colin Smith drops by the Academic Coordination Center (ACC) in Solon Campus Center on a weekly basis, gaining insight and assistance from ACC Director Kim Roufs. For Smith, the ACC is where he receives his primary student support. Come June of 2010, however, the ACC will cease to exist.

"[The ACC] has become so diverse in their function that I think they lost the initial intent as to why it was created," Vice Chancellor Vince Magnuson said.

The ACC was created to be a drop-in crisis center for students with urgent questions. Its goal, Magnuson said, is to direct students to the answers they are looking for answers. The decision to cut ACC was made in late October.

Eliminating the ACC will reserve roughly $175,000 in the Academic Administration's budget, but money was not the main reason the administration decided to make the cut. Magnuson said it's a matter of efficiency and effectiveness, and while the ACC provides valuable services to the student body, there are overlaps in the services they provide.

Since advising can be obtained through various means on campus, a task force comprised of students, faculty and UMD administrators has been formed to review the current advising structure.

The task force will identify strengths and weaknesses of the current system, define faculty advisor responsibilities, recommend strategies to improve the effectiveness of advising and propose a campus advising vision and mission statement. The task force will meet for the first time on Nov. 18, and is expected to conclude their work by March 10, 2010.

So doesn't that mean the task force should determine whether or not the ACC should remain an entity on campus? According to Magnuson, it depends on your point of view, but their decision to cut ACC was one they saw necessary due to the growth of advising in collegiate offices. Now, he said, the task force will enter the issue with the cards already on the table and it's up to them to decide how to build on the current system.

Magnuson said he could not specify which services the ACC provides that may not remain available after it is cut, but he said the most important services are valued and will need to continue. He said he expects the task force will discuss how those important services will be allocated throughout the current advising system.

In the meantime, Smith is concerned for the three employees of the ACC who will have their positions cut and has started to gather the ground works for a petition.

He has created a Facebook group titled "SPEAK OUT!!" The group has just over 200 members who have shared their opinions and stories regarding the ACC and its valuable services.

One group member, Andy Kadlec, wrote "From a university standpoint, the Academic Advising Department has paid for itself by helping students to stay in school when they need help the most." Kadlec went on to write how cutting the ACC is "ludicrous."

Smith is also creating "SPEAK OUT!!" T-shirts with the help of local sponsors. He hopes that administrators will notice people wearing the shirts and reconsider their decision to cut the ACC.

Will it work?

Magnuson said that he is willing to listen to any rational argument to convince them to change their minds, but he is not encouraging it.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools