Pitt settles suit from the sea

Pitt recently announced that it would no longer serve as the academic sponsor for the Semester… Pitt recently announced that it would no longer serve as the academic sponsor for the Semester at Sea program.

Paul Watson — the director of enrollment for the Institute for Shipboard Education, Semester at Sea’s nonacademic sponsor — said that the University and the Institute have come to an agreement in which Pitt will continue to give students academic credit for Semester at Sea through the spring 2006 semester.

The agreement settled a lawsuit that was brought against the University in response to Pitt’s decision to pull out of the program.

The Institute’s faculty will remain on Pitt’s campus through August 2006, in accordance with its existing lease.

In the future, Pitt faculty members who work on Semester at Sea voyages will do so not as Pitt employees.

Watson said that faculty members are approved by the program’s academic sponsor and then paid by the Institute.

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill refused to comment on the situation; however, a statement from the University said that Pitt opposed the Institute’s decision to cut ties with the Seawise Foundation — an organization that provided ships for the Semester at Sea program — about a year ago.

The University’s statement said that the Seawise Foundation had, “a level of proven maritime management expertise on which the University had come to rely.”

The statement continued, “We have sought from ISE over the course of a period now spanning several months, what we believe to be appropriate and relevant information that might better position us to assess participant risk.”

“For that reason, and because of what we consider to be other failures by ISE to meet its contractual obligations, the University decided that it could no longer function as the program’s academic sponsor.”

Michael Bikerman — an emeritus associate professor of geology at Pitt and former academic dean for Semester at Sea — is not pleased with Pitt’s decision.

“It is a mistake of major proportions, as the SAS/Pitt collaboration has been a success,” Bikerman said.

“Thousands of the best and brightest students in the country, who may never have seen the Cathedral of Learning in person, all possess a Pitt transcript,” he added.

Bikerman said that he didn’t know why Pitt came to its decision, but that the University didn’t have to worry about the safety of the trip.

“Safety is the primary concern of ISE,” Bikerman said. “While any trip has a certain element of danger associated with it, the ISE/SAS trips are as safe as can be.”

In its statement, the University said that it was not arguing that the upcoming SAS voyages would be unsafe.

“What we have been saying to ISE,” the statement said, “is that those participating in the program, both institutions and individuals, are entitled to receive from ISE the kind of information that will better enable them to assess the involved risks.”

Watson hopes that the number of Pitt students enrolling in Semester at Sea will not decline when Pitt is no longer the academic sponsor of the program.

After the spring 2006 semester, Pitt students going on Semester at Sea will receive transfer credits, according to Watson.

Bikerman said that he does not have any knowledge as to what schools are interested in becoming the new academic sponsor for Semester at Sea.

Watson said that he couldn’t comment on what schools are being considered to replace Pitt as the program’s academic sponsor.