Continued sensationalization of the King Road homicides was a part of considerations in Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.
A new degree in criminology and the demolition of the victims’ home touched on this common thread. The senate also heard plans to reduce campus phone lines and further conversation on standardized testing.
Masters of Criminology draws concerns
Brian Wolf, chair of the Culture, Society and Justice department introduced the proposal of a masters in criminology.
“There’s a huge internal need for this within our state,” CLASS Dean Sean Quinlan said.
Considering recent events, Faculty Sen. Liz Wargo shared concerns that people may tie this degree to the tragedy of last semester’s homicides.
“I can see this being sensationalized,” Wargo said.
Faculty agreed the degree would not appear to have bad intentions but could be used by the media to tie it to the murders.
“I think there’s a lot of misconceptions about what criminology is,” Wolf said. “We’re obviously going to take a year to roll this out and we are going to work very closely with the university marketing.”
A long time coming; the degree will be the first of its kind in Idaho according to Wolf.
King Road demolition
Provost Torrey Lawrence spoke on an update from the university about the King Road homicides home and other memorialization efforts.
This includes plans to demolish the home, scholarships in honor of the victims and a memorial garden.
“These scholarships have very generously been started by some alums,” Lawrence said. “Ideas about the healing garden concept and a memorial to those four students.”
As for the home demolition, Lawrence said it isn’t far along in terms of planning.
“This was a surprise to many of course,” Lawrence said. “The future of that is really unknown… but it was the right thing to do.”
Phone lines aging out
Many phone lines across campus will be removed in the next 16 months, Vice President of Information Technology Dan Ewart told the senate.
Hundreds of phone lines on campus have gone unused, with faculty opting for mobile devices and Hyflex tools. Each of these unused lines costs the university about $12 a month.
IT’s goal will be to transition faculty to Microsoft Teams instead, with a pilot program testing out this switch.
Ewart acknowledged some faculty may need a physical landline, and it will remain an option.
Standardized testing up for vote
The senate dove further into the consideration of removing standardized testing requirements and hoped to place a vote in the future.
A previous emergency order by President Scott Green temporarily placed a pause on ACT and SAT requirements for admissions at the university. The order will expire by Fall 2024.
With a test poll showing 95% of faculty senators in support of extending the emergency order, it will be put to an official vote next week.
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq