SFSU Students Demand Competent Instructors For Teachers In Training

SFSU Students Demand Competent Instructors For Teachers In Training
Student Petition: Adequate SS300 & SS301 Instruction

To: Robert Cherny, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, ADM 447

Helen Goldsmith, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies, ADM 216
Joel Kassiola, Dean, College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, HSS 359
Dawn Terrell, Associate Dean, College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, HSS 359

Who we are:
· Liberal Studies students/Teachers in Training.

· Our taxes and tuitions pay the salaries of SFSU staff.


Our concerns:

· In order to teach in CA public schools, we must pass all California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) licensing tests, including the CSET exam.

· SFSU Liberal Studies Bulletin promises the program will prepare students to pass the CSET exam.

· SS300 and SS301 instructors must be able to adequately teach in all the areas of social science that are covered on the CSET exam.

· Two of the current instructors do not have adequate social science backgrounds or experience:

T. Chitewere—PhD, Cultural Anthropology (2006)—work experience focused on environmental issues.

L. Hennessy—PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, and Mgmt. (2005)—work experience focused on environmental issues.


What we want you to do:

· Ensure that all SS300 and SS301 courses are taught by instructors with social science backgrounds who can adequately teach all social science areas covered on the CSET exam.

· If no action is taken, we will file California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) citizen complaint forms.

MEETING WITH SFSU PROVOST AND ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT, DR. JOHN GEMELLO



MARCH 17, 2008

Student, Reporting



On March 17, 2008, I met with the Provost and Academic Vice President of SFSU, Dr. John Gemello. I represented not only the 9 or 10 other students who came with me to this meeting, but rather 47 Liberal Studies students who had, in Fall semester 2007, signed a petition (appended) to remove Tendai Chitewere and Logan Hennessy – two new full time, tenure track Assistant Professors in the SFSU Liberal Studies department – from teaching Interdisciplinary Social Science courses SS 300 and SS 301 at SFSU, as both Chitewere/Hennessy are not actual social scientists capable of providing the Historical, Social Scientific, and Political-Economic knowledge SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training require to pass the California K-12 CSET exam, an exam that must be passed if a newly educated future teacher is to become a licensed, credentialed, and permanently employed educator in California.

In meeting with Dr. Gemello, my intention, as a representative of now more than 50 SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training, was to get the chief "academic quality of instruction" SFSU official – Dr. Gemello, to remove Chitewere/Hennessy from teaching the only 2 Social Science classes required to graduate from SFSU, for Liberal Studies students/future teachers at SFSU (such as myself). The two new, tenure track, full time Assistant Professor hires made by the Liberal Studies Department – though they do most of their teaching in the College of BSS, Interdisciplinary Social Science (ISS) Program – are, again, Tendai Chetewere and Logan Hennessy. It is clear that neither of them possess the educational background or educational experience to be teaching Interdisciplinary Social Science to future teachers at SFSU (see entire 14 January 2008 Manders' Whistleblower Report, and current Spring 2008 course syllabuses for Chitewere's ISS 300 course and Hennessy's ISS 301 course, included and appended).

I came to the meeting with 9 or 10 other students. Unknown to me, Associate Dean of BSS and Director of the SFSU Program in Interdisciplinary Social Science, Dr. Dawn Terrell, as well as Dr. Robert Cherny, the Dean of the SFSU College of Undergraduate Studies, along with SFSU Academic Vice President, Dr. John Gemello, were waiting for me and the students who accompanied me. First, I pointed out that in the SFSU Bulletin in the section for the Liberal Studies major it states that, "The liberal studies program is also recommended as preparation for students who aspire to become elementary school teachers." And that it also states "The major along with additional subject matter preparation courses (listed after the major, required courses) provides the broad academic background necessary for teaching in an elementary classroom and for passing the CSET Multiple Subjects (California Subject Examinations for Teachers)." Cherny responded by saying the important part of that sentence is the part that says "along with additional subject matter preparation courses (listed after the major courses) provides the broad academic background necessary for teaching in an elementary classroom and for passing the CSET Multiple Subjects (California Subject Examinations for Teachers)." Cherny maintained it is the "additional subject matter preparation courses" which are the courses that are focused on passing the CSET.

Cherny, then, amazingly, reversed himself; he pointed out that at the end of the section on the Liberal Studies major in the 2007-2008 SFSU Bulletin, it further states "Students seeking the Multiple Subject Credential must pass the CSET: Multiple Subjects examination (formerly, MSAT). To prepare for the CSET, students are advised to complete the subject matter preparation program, which includes the liberal studies major plus the recommended subject matter courses listed below." (Emphasis added.) By completing the entire Liberal Studies major, students will have studied all of the subject matter areas covered by the CSET. The additional subject matter program no longer waives the CSET, but serves as a preparation program for the CSET and for elementary school teaching. While the SFSU Bulletin advises that students complete the entire Liberal Studies major – which includes the required SS 300 and SS 301 courses – Cherny, with tortured logic, stated that students may choose only those classes they feel they need to prepare for teaching and the CSET. He along with Dr. Gemello and Dean Dawn Terrell desire that this “fact” should be clear to SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training: classes listed after the major required courses as presented in the 2007-2008 SFSU Bulletin are the classes that are focused on passing the CSET, and SS 300 and SS 301 – the only two required courses that Liberal Studies/teachers in training at SFSU must take, and pass, are “merely focused on an interdisciplinary education rather than” – even though SS 300 and SS 301 are the only two required Social Science courses SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training must take to graduate from SFSU – “assisting SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training, helping them, sustaining their ability to pass the CSET exam.”

Obviously, this position held by Cherny et al, is, immediately, internally contradictory, as well as total nonsense: Why would SFSU require its Liberal Studies teachers in training to take, and pass, the only two Social Science courses – SS 300/301 – that, ultimately, then, have nothing to do at all with assisting them in passing the CSET exam? Clearly, this is a hopeless, pathetic, and impossible position – one supported only by administrative power and self-delusion, rather than reason or simple curricular logic.

My response to Gemello et al, was non agreement on grounds that, clearly, in the SFSU Bulletin it states, "To prepare for the CSET, students are advised to complete the subject matter preparation program, which includes the Liberal Studies major, plus the recommended subject matter courses listed below." (Emphasis added.) This direct quote from the 2007-2008 SFSU Bulletin (see Manders’ Whistleblower Report, Item No. 11) documents that the Liberal Studies major, itself, is part of the “subject matter preparation program,” required to be completed by Liberal Studies majors/SFSU teachers in training to graduate and move on into their 5th year “how to teach” pedagogical graduate training (as stipulated by the Ryan Act of 1970).

It has always been the case at SFSU, as of the Ryan Act of 1970, that the only two required ISS courses – SS 300 and 301 – would be "California State teacher test compliant" most of all, because they are the only two social science courses SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training must take, and pass – that these two required social science courses focus on and be involved with helping SFSU "Ryan Act content education –learning what to teach" Liberal Studies students/teachers in training pass the CSET test, as publicly and openly promised in the SFSU Bulletin.

I then asked Gemello, Cherny and Terrell, given that 95 percent (plus) of SFSU students in the Liberal Studies major are preparing to become California K-12 teachers, "don't they know" that the only two Social Science classes we are made to take (SS 300 and 301) have historically focused on passing the MSAT, and now the CSET exam. (See Busacca statement, Item 1 in Manders' Whistleblower Report). Again, like a “stuck CD recording,” all three of these SFSU administrators stated that it is "the recommended subject matter courses, not SS 300 or SS 301," where, at SFSU, the focus is on helping future teachers in training pass the CSET. More, these three SFSU administrators stated, "the classes one takes to get their liberal studies major are guided towards an interdisciplinary education in general, but are not directly focused on passing the CSET exam." So again, I pointed out to Gemello et al that the SFSU Bulletin states that the two Social Science courses SFSU Liberal Studies majors/teachers in training must take and pass, along with the courses listed at the end of the major, makes it crystal clear that BOTH the required liberal studies classes one takes (which include SS 300 and 301) AND the classes "listed at the end of the major" will, together, help prepare SFSU Liberal Studies students/teachers in training to pass the CSET.

None of my arguments convinced Gemello, Cherny, and Terrell to admit that first SS 300 and then SS 300 and SS 301, for the past three decades at least at SFSU, have been pivitally involved in helping SFSU teacher in training/Liberal Studies students prepare to pass first the MSAT and now the CSET California State K-12 teacher licensing exams.

Next, I pointed out the very little amount of teaching experience the new full time, tenure track, Liberal Studies Assistant Professors, Chitewere/Hennessy, possessed, compared to Manders and Scott, the two Interdisciplinary Social Science Lecturers who have, for the past ten years, done the bulk of the teaching of SS 300 and SS 301 at SFSU. Also, in a written response to a student petition (47 students signed this Fall 2007 petition, submitted to Cherny, Goldsmith, Kassiola, and Terrell, complaining of the inadequate ISS instruction currently, and in the future to be, given by Chitewere/Hennessy), Cherny et al claimed: "Drs. Chitewere and Hennessy were hired as a result of an extensive national search conducted last year. We received some 600 applications for the five hires we made in Liberal Studies." I said to Gemello et al, I don't see how, with their lack of teaching experience and not having an adequate background in Social Science (see Manders' entire January 14, 2008, Whistleblower Report) Chitewere/Hennessy could be "selected" as the best choices for the job of teaching Interdisciplinary Social Science to SFSU teachers in training who will be CSET examed by the State of California in order to become fully licensed, credentialed, and permanent K-12 teachers.

In response, I was informed by Dawn Terrell and Robert Cherny that they believed Chitewere/Hennessy were the best equipped for the job. I then pointed out that one of these teachers, Tendai Chitewere, had her B.S. in Water Resources, and her M.P.S. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and an “add on” Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology. Thus, that except for her Constructing a Green Lifestyle (title of her 2006 doctoral dissertation) Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology, the entirety of her educational background was in Water Resources and Engineering – not in Social Science at all. I also pointed out to Gemello et al that Dr. Chitewere states on her CV that she taught a class – “Social Science 300: Social Science Core I: Consumption,” at SFSU Fall semester, 2007, a course she never taught or was even offered at SFSU, Fall semester 2007. None of these three SFSU administrators had a cogent response to Chitewere’s listing on her CV a class she never taught at SFSU.

I then moved on to the other new SFSU full time tenure track Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies, Logan Hennessy. I reminded all present that Logan Hennessy "received his 2005 Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management." And that "building on a background in tropical ecology and environmental philosophy, Dr. Hennessy's interests are in interdisciplinary research on environmental problems around the world" (Quotes taken directly from the SFSU Online "welcome" to the five new tenure track, Liberal Studies Department, full time Assistant Professors; see Item No. 3, Manders Whistleblower Report). I stated to Gemello et al that Hennessy, in no way, possesses a background in Interdisciplinary Social Science, History, and Political-Economy; yet, Dr. Hennessy is scheduled to teach the bulk (if not all) of the SS 301 courses – courses in and about Interdisciplinary Social Science, History, and Political-Economy – offered at SFSU, as of Fall semester 2008, and required to be taken by Liberal Studies majors/SFSU teachers in training.

Ultimately, I stated to Gemello et al, that neither Chitewere nor Hennessy are adequately prepared or qualified to be teaching either one, or both, of the only two social science classes that Liberal Studies, SFSU teacher in training, students, are required to take and pass in order to graduate with a Liberal Studies major – the indispensable stepping stone for SFSU future teachers to be admitted into the graduate, 5th year of their teacher training, at SFSU, (or anywhere else for that matter).

Gemello, Cherny and Terrell, then, together, told me “that I had my facts wrong;” a “Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy and Management is definitely part of Social Science,” so these three SFSU administrators proclaimed. When I compared "Environmental Science" to an Interdisciplinary background in Sociology, for example, Gemello et al said, unbelievably, that "Environmental Science" was just as much a part of Social Science as is Sociology. I then presented the current syllabuses that Dr. Manders, one of my SFSU ISS teachers, has used for the only two Social Science classes required for the Liberal Studies major – Social Science 300 and 301 – at SFSU for the past few years (10 years in all with updates and appropriate changes). I pointed out that students' in Manders' SS 300 and/or SS 301 courses were learning completely different, historically adequate, and comprehensive, Interdisciplinary Social Science knowledge – knowledge absolutely essential to help his SFSU future teachers pass the CSET exam – than the so-called SS 300/301 classes Chitewere/Hennessy currently teach at SFSU (syllabuses appended) .

Gemello et al next talked about the possibility at SFSU for curricular changes in the future where students could choose other required Social Science classes instead of just SS 300 and SS 301 if they were going to be teachers. Ironically, in so doing, inadvertently no doubt, these three SFSU administrators validated fully the case for SS 300 and SS 301 to be "CSET compliant," and thus taught by true Interdisciplinary Social Scientists. (This would certainly exclude SFSU Assistant Professors Chitewere/Hennessy.)





Academic Vice president Gemello also asked me about my charge of fiscal malfeasance on the part of SFSU which was contained in my original request to see him. At the 17 March 2008 meeting I said to Gemello et al that it was economic malfeasance on the part of SFSU to spend more money hiring full time, tenure track faculty, Liberal Studies Assistant Professors, instructors unprepared and unqualified to teach SS 300/301, while at the same time “letting go” less expensive and vastly more qualified Lecturers – both in educational background and teaching experience – that have been well teaching Social Science 300/301 classes for ten years to SFSU future teachers; that yes, this was/is, economic malfeasance on the part of Cherny and Kassiola. I asked Gemello et al, "Doesn’t it cost more money to hire two new Liberal Studies Assistant Professors, with full time, tenure track positions, to teach the SS 300 and SS 301 classes than our current Lecturers (Manders and Scott) have been doing quite well for the past ten years. At one point Dawn Terrell did nod her head in agreement that it did cost more SFSU money (California Tax Payer and student tuition, dollars) to have Chitewere/Hennessy teach SS 300/301 classes. But Robert Cherny and Gemello "jumped in," and tried to explain that this was not the fact, because in "the big picture," Chitewere/Hennessy would be able to do other jobs that they had to pay Lecturers extra, such as advising and a few other things. (This claim by Cherny and Gemello is nonsense, as both of the present SS 300 and 301 SFSU Lectures -- Manders and Scott -- both do "advising," in person, and by phone/email as part of their responsibilities to their SFSU students. When asked about this matter Dean Manders told me “In fact, most all SFSU Lecturers, more than 50 percent of the faculty at SFSU, routinely "advise" their students – and most any SFSU student will readily testify to the validity of this reality.)

The meeting lasted around an hour and a half from 4 to 5:30 or so. I was, I am, sorely disappointed that the SFSU Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. John Gemello, did not see as a problem the totally inadequate SS 300/301 instruction "being forced down the throats" of SFSU future teachers in training – literally ensuring that large numbers of them will fail the CSET exam in the areas of History, Social Science, and Political-Economy – especially if they do not take “masses of classes” (most often not even offered) other than those of the Liberal Studies required core classes – Social Science Core I and Social Science Core II, with “no sub-headings added.”

-Student