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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
I was shocked by an article on the front page of the Exponent, the Montana State University (at Bozeman) newspaper. The headline was "Students rally to support professor." The professor is Dr. Don Collins, perhaps the most popular lecturer at Montana State. His class, "Environmental Biology," a Montana-oriented course which has an enrollment of about 525 students per semester.
Apparently, Dr. Don's replacement will teach the same class. And the Biology Department needed someone to do research in a specific sub field of Biology. Dr. Collins is already retired, and is finishing up a three-year post-retirement period, at reduced pay. And, he wants to keep his job, he wants his post-retirement contract renewed. The Biology Department already hired his replacement, apparently assuming that he was actually retiring. There has been miscommunication, somewhere.
I first met Don as a bowling opponent. His team was among the top teams in town. Then, as I approached graduation, and I needed a life science elective, I started hearing about this amazing course, which at the time was called "Man and His Environment." I was told that the teacher taught as if he were a disc jockey, with an energetic, rapid-fire patter. I was told that the course was a thrill to experience, the best course at Montana State. I was delighted that I could get in to the class. It is difficult to get in, as it is always full. As a graduating senior, I had preference. When I went to talk to the teacher, to get permission as I recall, I found that he was my old friend Don.
The class took place in a very large lecture hall. And the class was a thrill. He started every class advertising things that his students wanted to sell. He was a master of the overhead projector, although I had difficulty with his handwriting. Nobody skipped his class. Everyone was alert; they probably learned more in that class than in any other class at Montana State.
Regardless of the reasons, or how valid those reasons are, I think that Montana State will get a black eye for this. It will appear that they do not recognize or reward excellence.
The front page of the April 17 issue of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle has a longer story (On The Fight: Students protest popular professor's dismissal) about this.