NEW BOOK: SEMO'S PROVOST ATTACKS `PUBLISH OR PERISH' RULE

The "publish or perish" syndrome on college campuses has led to a decline in the quality of teaching, a Southeast Missouri State University official maintains in a just-published book.

In his book, "Publish or Perish: The Wrong Issue," Leslie Cochran, Southeast's provost, calls for changes in the way teaching is evaluated and rewarded in higher education.

To that end, Cochran said, the university is seeking a $236,340 federal grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. The grant would fund a three-year project to set up a comprehensive method of evaluating faculty rather than one based primarily on how many scholarly articles and books they author.

Cochran said the grant is expected to be awarded in about six weeks. The university's proposal is on the final list of projects being considered for funding, he said.

"It would be a major grant. It would be one of the largest the institution has ever received," he said.

"It would provide release time for faculty members interested in working and developing the model," Cochran explained.

Cochran said the grant would allow Southeast to implement some of the changes suggested in his 170-page book.

Prestige and promotion in higher education are currently gained by research and publication, he said. Rather than focusing their energies on teaching, he said, faculty scramble to get published in scholarly journals.

Cochran said a "publication frenzy" has developed, with little or no effort made to assess the extent to which such scholarship is applied in the classroom.

Cochran's interest in this issue was sparked by a national survey he conducted four years ago. More than 1,300 chief academic officers of the nation's four-year colleges and universities responded to the survey.

"Colleagues across the country expressed high levels of frustration with the low level of commitment made to teaching on their campuses," he said.

Cochran said the general public continues to demonstrate a growing loss of confidence in higher education.

"It's little wonder that parents and students alike express their dismay with tuition increases that seem to include a devaluation of teaching, professors who are unresponsive and administrators who are inattentive," he said.

Cochran suggested faculty can be evaluated in other ways besides what they have published. He said faculty, for example, could be evaluated on the basis of materials used in courses and on professional services performed as consultants.

"Many of the things that are proposed in the book are really ideas that I have taken from various segments of the campus," he explained.

The issue has been a topic of national debate among educators for a number of years. "What the book does is make direct application to the classroom setting," said Cochran.

He said his book is targeted for the nation's deans, academic vice presidents and faculty leaders.

As Southeast's top academic officer, Cochran said he can encourage such changes on the Cape Girardeau campus, but he can't singlehandedly implement them.

"I can lead it. I can push in that direction and suggest that these issues need to be debated.

"If there are changes that you want, then it takes a united front from the faculty and the administration to do that," said Cochran.

"Publish or Perish" is available for $25 from Step Up Inc., 2 Spanish Street Court, Cape Girardeau, 63701.