FRI 30 JAN 2004
Letters to the Editor
Accredited architectural education is diverseDear editor,
Tuesday’s Argonaut article on the creation of College of Art and Architecture Foundation quotes Dean Emeritus Paul Blanton as follows:
“Graduation from an accredited college is required to take the Architect Registration Exam.”
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certification requirements specify graduation from an accredited program and do not require that the program be a college as the quote in the article suggests.
In fact, of the 125 member schools of the Associated Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 64 go by the designation “School,” 29 are “Departments” or “Programs” and the remainder are “Colleges” or “Institutes.” That the nomenclature varies is a celebration of the many and varied approaches to accredited architectural education that exist in the profession.
For more on NCARB requirements for certification see their Web site at http://www.ncarb.org/certification/index.html
Joe Zeller
dean
College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences
Pitcher continues long record of ineptitude
Dear editor,
In 1985 I did National Science Foundation-sponsored research in Skierniewice, Poland. The mayor of Skierniewice, who also was chairman of the local Communist Party, broke his customary silence to announce that the 1985 invasion of Colorado potato beetles resulted from America’s insect warfare. His explanation was welcomed with comic relief because few citizens thought he was capable of telling a preposterous joke. Many of them said “the mayor is a real person.” Dr. Brian Pitcher, UI provost, has held this position since 1995. Is silent Dr. Pitcher a real person?
Under Dr. Pitcher’s authority, in 2003 former Dean Weiss, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, successfully prevented two citizens including Sen. Gary Schroeder, the Chairperson of the Senate Education Committee in the Idaho Legislature, from attending an open meeting conducted by the Idaho Cooperative Extension System. Dr. Pitcher can play with Idaho’s open meeting law.
Even so, does he realize that he can’t appropriate public funds to UI?ÊIn 2003, Dr. Pitcher fired Dr. David E. Thompson, Dean of the College of Engineering, even though his faculty was satisfied with Thompson’s performance. Recently Dr. Pitcher undercut faculty confidence by denying art professor Glenn Grishkoff tenure after Grishkoff’s application received unanimous endorsement from his department.
Dr. Pitcher’s poor communication skills also are apparent in the recent and controversial transfer of UI’s student-financed recreation center to the Athletic Department.
The last thing the University of Idaho needs is Dr. Pitcher’s continued silence. Any explanation for his previously mentioned performance would be better than silence, even if Pitcher said he was spooked by an invasion of Colorado potato beetles.
Dr. Don Harter
Moscow
UI Argonaut, 301 Student Union, Moscow, ID 83844
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