Cooper fired as Radio-TV-Film chairman
By Becky Brandenburg
Staff Reporter

Radio-TV-film professor Roger Cooper has been fired as the RTVF chairman following a controversy involving summer registration of students.

Cooper, who will continue to serve as a faculty member, was removed as chairman Tuesday afternoon following a meeting with College of Communication Dean William Slater.

Slater declined Wednesday to comment on the reason for Cooper’s dismissal or who would be named as Cooper’s successor.

“A number of things are currently being put in place,” said Slater.

Cooper, however, said his removal was “directly related” to the controversy surrounding summer registration for two Video I courses.

Cooper acknowledged that he encouraged students to help keep two sophomore level courses open by registering and then dropping the class after it had sufficient enrollment.

“This was a case of classmates helping classmates,” Cooper said Tuesday night. “I have a little bit of a heavy heart and am saddened by the way that things have come about.

The impression, that in some way, I coerced students into this. ... My heart is heavy, but my conscience is clear. I simply believed this had to be done for the welfare of RTVF majors.”

Cooper and Leo Munson, the assistant vice chancellor for academic support, agreed that a solution had been reached for the class to remain open with a smaller enrollment, but Cooper said team teachers Richard Allen and Charles LaMendola would have been paid a lower rate of pay.

By bolstering low enrollment, Cooper said teacher’s summer pay would remain at the standard 8 percent of their annual salary instead of dropping to 5 percent. Cooper was not an instructor for the class.

Munson said Wednesday that student add/drops from Summer I registration were brought to his attention in June after the first 5-week summer session ended.

Munson said that when he met with Cooper and Associate Dean David Whillock to discuss the possibility that students had cooperated to temporarily enroll in the class, he was surprised to find that Cooper had encouraged it.

Cooper said that Video I is a prerequisite for the fall-only Video II required for production majors. Cooper said he wanted students to register for the sophomore-level course to aid juniors who needed the courses to graduate on schedule. Cooper said the number of students required for different-level classes is arbitrary.

“I know that the university doesn’t lose any money whether the class has eight graduates or 15 undergraduates,” Cooper said. “That’s why I went ahead.”

Munson, who is in charge of summer courses, said his review of registration discrepancies may have been a catalyst for the reevaluation of Cooper’s leadership as chairman.

Munson, however, said TCU policy requires all class offerings to have the minimum number of students registered, according to course level, to be retained on the schedule.

Graduate level classes require eight students, junior/senior courses must have 12 students and freshman/sophomore courses require 15 students. Munson said a process for appeal is part of the system.

Munson said there are three ways the situation can go: the faculty member can cancel the class, the faculty member can appeal to keep the class despite not meeting the required number or the class ultimately fills when registration numbers are reviewed again on Monday.

“I have a great deal of respect for Roger Cooper, but I think he made an error in judgment,” Munson said. “We (TCU) do not compromise the student.”

William Koehler, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, who met with Cooper Wednesday afternoon, said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on a personnel issue.

“We are a learning community and forget sometimes that faculty and staff are learning too,” Koehler said. “Sometimes well intended people become so involved in the outcome of a situation that they lose sight of the situation. I am absolutely convinced that Dr. Cooper will continue to provide leadership in RTVF.”

Cooper said he was looking forward to having more time to be with students.

Becky Brandenburg