Excellence Uber Alles

Accreditation and Faculty

http://chronicle.com/article/AccreditationFaculty/131577/?sid=ja&utm_source=ja&utm_medium=en

"A faculty more engaged with the accreditation process would be
more aware of how excellence throughout a campus is as vital
as excellence in their own departments.

Accreditation is essential to sustain the quality and integrity of
American higher education. "

Not necessarily. Sounds good, but break it down.

    Excellence throughout a campus is as vital as excellence
                       in our own departments?

What kind of statement it that? Mothers and Apple Pie?
 Who's going to question excellence? The benefit of Excellence?
Excellence is good, who can quarrel? Do we we become more
aware of it by engagement in accreditation? In renewable tenure?

What generates "excellence" (which word,. by the way,
literally means view from the column, from the hill: 
   
          "Look! Look! the  Indians are coming,"
                shouts the scout from the hill.
    "Excellent," reply the settlers. "Excellent in deed!"

Heisenberg's Indeterminacy:  we can measure velocity or we can
measure position but not both simultaneously, that's for sure.   A
conversation can proceed down the road at all deliberate speed
using notions like "excellence" and  "liberal art" and "humanities"
and "vital" with all hands on deck if  you don't mind mixed meta force.
Full steam.

OR - as soon as anyone says: "well, what do you mean by "excellence"
and "democracy-needs-humanities"  and "essential-to-sustain-quality
-and-integrity"?  that's a course of another collar and down and down
wet go, round and round we go   spinning that old black magic we love
so well.  (Applied Critical Thinking?)

Mostly we prefer velocity.

Couple years ago I told a student "don't apply what we do here
(anti-velocity tactics)  in them other classes," and he did, the very
next class,  and the professor walked out. It's demoralizing.
Monkey wrench.

Excellence?