Since the tenured faculty is responsible for all aspects of the college, and since the college does not exist without teaching and students, I submit the tenured faculty is also responsible for instilling in these students a strong sense of the integrity and honor of knowledge and scholarship, and the demand for the highest ethical standards in their pursuit. In this light, I applaud the behaviors of Mr. Kerkvliet of Oregon State, and Mr. Ybarra of Duke, described in the article. They indicate a deep respect for the scholarship of teaching. Students, administrators, alumni, and the public expect the highest ethical standards for the scholarship of research, and should expect no less for the scholarship of teaching. I agree with this perspective, and so disagree in part with Mr. Truitt.
Tenured faculty are responsible for the academic life and work of their institutions.
They cannot shirk their collective academic duty and responsibility in the area of the scholarship of teaching, by pretending to ignore the issue, as Mr. Truitt claims occurred at the U. of Washington. But if a faculty does not confront the issue, and actively promote the highest standards in the classroom, then I submit individual faculty must still do so. Again, it is an issue of accountability and responsibility. Such cynicism is unconscionable. Again, the tenured faculty are responsible for setting these standards.