Decision by Board of Trustees to create architectural school under scrutiny by teacher’s union
By: Cheryl Hehl – Staff Writer
UNION COUNTY — The Kean Federation of Teachers recently discovered efforts by Kean President Dawood Farahi to create a school of architecture at the Union campus has been driven largely by the Chinese government, which wants the program at the university’s Wenzhou branch.
According to a memo circulated to KFT members in late August, Farahi first brought the issue of a school of architecture up to the Kean Board of Trustees in September 2013 during an executive session, which is closed to the public.
The minutes revealed, according to the memo, that Farahi supports creation of a school of architecture at the Union campus because Middle States, which has accreditation requirements, prohibits a branch campus from offering a program that is not offered at a university’s main campus.
“The Board of Trustees made it clear that the decision to create a School of Architecture at Kean University is being driven by the desires of the communist Chinese government,” Castiglione said in his memo.
The KFT had a major problem with this and said so in their memo.
“In order to be able to provide an architecture program in China, we have to create one in New Jersey. The academic tail is wagging the dog,” said KFT President James Castiglione in the memo to KFT members, which number well over 300.
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