Singapore — Dismay at the closure of Yale-NUS College, which was announced late last month, is continuing to reverberate in spite of assurances from Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and even from the National University of Singapore.
On Aug 26, Yale University made the announcement concerning Yale-NUS’ planned closure. Peter Salovey, the president of Yale, wrote in a statement that Tan Eng Chye, the present of the National University of Singapore, had informed Yale last month that it intended to merge Yale-NUS with its existing University Scholars Program “to form a new and larger liberal arts college that will not bear Yale’s name.”
In Parliament on Sept 13, Mr Chan was asked about the merger, and he said that it would make education both more affordable as well as more accessible.
NUS itself has said that “The formation of the new college is part of NUS’ roadmap to deliver flexible, interdisciplinary education more accessibly, and at greater scale.”
However, discontented rumblings have continued to be felt from among the students, alumni and faculty, some of whom spoke to TODAY for the first time.
On Sept 7, an open letter from a group of students and alumni was published on The Octant, a weekly student-run publication.
Addressed to Yale-NUS’ donors, as the group said they believe “that the resultant shift in the New College’s vision will be a significant departure from the promises that were made to you when you decided to support Yale-NUS as an institution.
As such, we urge you to reconsider your ongoing support to the NUS administration, and push for greater accountability.”
One of the issues of concern for the letter-writers is “the top-down decision-making” process involved in the closure, as this “reflects a continuation of a worrying practice by NUS leadership, with minimal regard for the impacts on and accountability to the stakeholders it is responsible for.”
And in a Sept 17 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the choice to close Yale-NUS in favour of the new merger was called a “flabbergasting” one.
Prof Linda Lim, the co-founder of Academia | SG, went on record to say that the surprise factor in the decision was “one of the most disturbing things about it,” adding, “That is not how things are done in academia.”
“Faculty were 100% blindsided. Students were blindsided including students who just joined and are freshmen. They just joined thinking it was Yale-NUS and suddenly had the rug pulled from under their feet. Nobody has given reasons why,” she told University World News.
On Sept 22, TODAY published an article wherein some faculty members spoke on the matter for the first time. They are part of a group that issued an anonymous public statement rejecting the justifications given for the closure of the college.
TODAY, which saw a copy of the statement, quotes it as saying, “Given (the) obvious negative outcomes for Yale-NUS College’s many stakeholders, who collectively put their trust in Yale and NUS… and given the many questions that remain unanswered about the rationale, process and timing of the decision, we express our disappointment, sadness and disagreement with the decision to close Yale-NUS College.”
The TODAY piece also says the faculty members have called the time after the announcement as a “harrowing” one, as teachers have been called upon to lend support to their students who are having to process the changes in addition to the need for looking after their own career prospects.
“I can’t even describe what it has been like, because everybody is going through their own process of assessing what their options are for the future. Should I stay or should I go, and if I go, where?
But we have to be the grown-ups to support our students and alumni whom we have such close relationships with, and senior colleagues have to support our junior colleagues who need professional advice as well. All of us are emotionally flooded and stunned,” said one associate professor who has been with the college since it began. /TISG
Jamus Lim calls loss of Yale-NUS ‘regrettable,’ announces WP will raise questions in Parliament