This case is designed to explore conflicting values within public institutions created by government financing. It is intended for each of the following graduate level courses in education and provided separate activities for each in the teaching note: Curriculum/American Studies, Educational Leadership, Building Administration, School Counseling-advanced students, School Finance, and School and Community Relations.

The case centers on a controversy surrounding the decision of a middle school principal not to allow a single-mother employed by the local casino as a table games supervisor to address her daughter’s seventh grade class during Career Week. The principal said that the mother was not allowed to speak because he was concerned about promoting gambling with a middle-school group.

Some salient points of the case are: the mother was the only parent screened; the mother’s job had provided a means for getting off welfare and becoming economically sufficient; the casino was one of the largest employers in the district; there was no school policy governing Career Week speakers; gambling is legal; the district directly benefitted from taxes paid by the casino; and the casino donated funds to build a district early childhood center.
 

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Contact Person: Claire McCown, Ph.D., Saint Louis University, 3750 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63124.
Phone: (314)977-2485; FAX: (314) 977-3214; E-mail: mcmownp3@slu.edu

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This case presents a cross-cultural experience for an American professor where he confronts open cheating by students on his Fulbright lecturship in Moldova. It is an appropriate case to initiate discussion of cultural differences in academic behaviors for graduate students in Higher Education Administration courses, business ethics and social responsibility courses and for faculty development seminars on academic honesty or international education.

During a Fulbright experience in Moldova, a country located between Romania and the Ukraine, Professor McKinnon witnessed students in his class directly copying their classmate’s examinations. Cheating was abundant and the students acted as though it were the norm. The case describes the economic plight of Moldova and the situation in which university students find themselves. Professor McKinnon wants to understand the students’ behavior, but he also wonders what he should do about the blatant academic dishonesty.
 

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Contact Person: Gary F. McKinnon, Ph.D., Brigham Young University, 623 TNRB, Provo, UT 84602.
Phone: (801) 378-7641; Fax: (801) 378-5984

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This case describes the struggle with political correctness experienced by an officer in student government at Furman University as he tries to do the right thing when a new student organization, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FLAG), seeks approval and funding as a student organization at the university. Based on field research, this case is appropriate for courses in higher education administration or leadership and in doctoral seminars where politicdal correctness can be a legitimate topic.

Furman University was a respected private university of 2,600 students located in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 as a Baptist seminary, Furman has maintained its church heritage and conservative atmosphere while gaining a reputation as a highly ranked liberal arts university. In 1991, the trustees voted to sever all ties to the South Carolina Baptist Convention to protect the academic integrity of the institution against the fundamentalist influences that prevailed within the Baptist Convention. This was a popular decision among most people within the Furman community although it did occasion a spirited debate on whether the school should become a highly secularized liberal arts school or continue to maintain its pervasive conservative Christian atmosphere.

In the fall of 1992, a group calling itself Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FLAG) applied for approval as a recognized student organization. The matter of approval rested with student government, who voted to recognize FLAG amid heated debate and in the face of strong pressure from sources within and outside the university. The positive vote had come with the understanding that FLAG would not be requesting funding support from student government during the first year. The controversy escalated when FLAG submitted its request for first year funding anyway. The finance chair for student government, senior Mark Shelley, was put in the difficult position os scheduling the budget hearings and dealing with the sensitive issues surrounding the controversy. Not knowing exactly how he should handle the situation, he informally sought the advice of Carol Daniels, Furman’s Director of Student Services.

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Contact Person: Michael F. Welsh, College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208
(803) 777-9118, FAX (803) 777-3090; E-mail, mwelsh@gwm.sc.edu

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The objectives of this case are to increase future educators’ understanding of children’s family lives and their impact on school learning, as well as to consider the role of schools and teachers in supporting children’s nonacademic and family support needs. The case also presents home-school communication as a critical ingredient in supporting children and families. The case is designed for use in graduate-level education courses that consider family-school relationships in the educational process. The case is meant to be presented as one case in a series of cases addressing critical family-school issues. The course should also begin with a theoretical and research review of family-school relationships.

When Tim Kelly shows up to his second grade classroom hungry, unkempt, or without his homework, his teacher is not surprised or unprepared. She knows that Tim’s mother Maureen works a late shift and is asleep when Tim and his many siblings leave for school. So she offers Tim a snack, a hug, and a wash cloth for cleaning himself up in the restroom.

But lately Tim’s behavior in class and on the bus has worsened, and neither the teacher nor the guidance counselor has succeeded in reaching Maureen. Both worry that this acting out behavior is connected to Tim’s recent visits with his father, who was recently released from prison and has a history of family violence. After several unreturned calls and missed appointments, the guidance counselor writes Maureen a letter explaining the seriousness of Tim’s problems and his need for more attention at home.

Maureen loves Tim and agrees that he needs more support at home for school. She has also known the guidance counselor for years and finds her easy to talk to--certainly easier than Tim’s teacher who often seems rushed and inflexible with her time. But with a ten-person household and a new swing shift job, Maureen no longer has the time to meet with school people or help Tim much in the mornings, let alone read to him or volunteer in his classroom like she used to.

As Maureen, the guidance counselor and Tim’s teacher wonder what to do next, the school principal reflects on situations like Tim’s and ponders the larger questions of "what is our role as a school?" and "how will we spend our limited resources to support families like Tim’s?"

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Contact Person: Holly Kreider, Harvard Family Research Project, Cambridge, MA. Mail: 38 Concord Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138.
Phone: (617) 495-1132; FAX (617) 495-8595; email: holly_kreider@harvard.edu

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This case is designed to be used in graduate courses in educational administration, particularly those that focus on higher education. Pertinent classroom concepts presented in the case include decision-making, politics, leadership, structure, human resources, and organizational culture.

This case is based on field research conducted for papers written for courses in educational organizations and educational politics.

Reorganization or Disorganization presents a course of events related to organizational restructuring and decision-making. At Midwest University, the new President appointed a task force to recommend organizational and programmatic restructuring of services related to the enrollment and retention of students. There was a significant amount of disagreement among task force members, much of which was embodied by what is deemed appropriate work for academic affairs (intellectual pursuits and academic support) and student affairs (student services and student development). The disagreement eventually resulted in the final report being submitted along with a "Minority Report" which allowed both perspectives to be formally acknowledged. The President ultimately formed an organization that did not follow the task force’s recommendations. Then, after being in place for a little over a year, the organization was disbanded.
 

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Contact Person: Cathy Buyarski, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, University College, 815 W. Michigan Street, LY 3004, Indianapolis, IN 46202. Phone (317) 274-2237

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Four cases are included in this series of cases meant to demonstrate the different paths taken at Friends Regional University in the effort to reach distance learners. Case objectives are to develop an appreciation for the complexities of introducing a technological innovation in an educational environment and to enhance the student’s understanding of some of the issues regarding online education. The cases are primarily directed at graduate-level education students interested in distance education and how to introduce technological innovation in education, but they could also be used in graduate nonprofit management courses.

Friends Regional University is a regional liberal arts university. It has a good regional reputation and is constantly pursuing innovative programs to serve the adult market. It has a modest endowment that is insufficient to fund new programs or to buffer the university from market forces, such as enrollment dips; it’s a tuition-driven institution. Since the mid-80's it has relied on programs directed at the adult market (e.g., degree completion, doctor f psychology, M.B.A., M.Ed., M.A.T., and various seminary and counseling degrees) to meet budget deficits and enable it to grow.

The president saw distance education as another such innovation needed to serve new markets. Four cases demonstrate the different paths taken by individuals at the university to reach the distance learner. In Case A, the president launched a major institutional effort, consisting of discrete courses directed at undergraduates, with a $250,000 budget, that failed. Concurrently, one skunkworks project (Case B) evolved through the initiative of a seminary professor to enhance his existing course and to expand the seminary offerings online. Case C depicts the online M.Ed. Program which was also a skunkworks effort but was a complete degree offering directed at working adults via the Internet. Case D is about the degree completion program which was a legacy of the initial failed institutional effort, and had not been launched at the time the case was completed.
 

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Contact Person: Asbjorn Osland, George Fox University, 414 N. Meridian St., Newberg, OR 97132-2697.
Phone (503)554-2817, FAX (503) 554-2829, E-mail: osland@georgefox.edu

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Both the A and B cases deal with the topics of delivery of customer service in a global environment, the comparison of legal requirements with ethical standards, and the management of government relations. The cases are intended for graduate or executive courses in educational administration, international non-profits, and ethics and social responsibility.

Case A - Many service organizations such as schools and camps are seeking increasing numbers of international clients. These foreigners, however, can bring with them known and unknown diseases. In the absence of legal requirements, what responsibility does the service organization have to protect public health in the U.S.? These tow cases explore this question in the context of a university summer school which actively recruits foreign students.

Chadwick Summer School enrolls 2,500 part-time students from over 90 countries. An Ukrainian student is diagnosed with measles, a highly communicable disease. Public Health authorities find most immunizations records missing or inadequate and order the immediate immunization of 900 residential students. The Medical Director and Dean of the Summer School mobilize resources and immunize 894 students in a few days. Six students remain un-immunized. The Dean is told that he must quarantine these students. Fore reasons enumerated in the case, the Dean is reluctant to do this.

Case B - Following the measles scare in summer 1997, public hearings wee held to reevaluate state public health rules on the immunization of part-time and foreign students. However, as of early 1998, no new proposals had been adopted. Nevertheless, Dr. Richard Casse, the University’s Medical Director, was urging Dean Fetter to require all 1998 summer school students to be immunized before registering. Dr. Casse suggested that the Dean could use this year to gain experience which would be useful if, and when, new regulations were adopted. The Dean was opposed to mandating immunizations on both philosophic and practical grounds. He doubted that international students from all over the world would understand the policy; he was worried about legal liability for adverse reactions; he was concerned about enforcement.
 

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Contact Person: Audrey J. Cohen, Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71^st Street, New York, NY 10021-4597.
Phone: (212) 517-0641; E-mail: audrey_cohen@post.harvard