Outlier, the for-profit company that offers online college courses, continues to be a subject of debate and disagreement on the Oakland campus a year after Pitt-Johnstown signed a five-year contract with the company. A report by a subcommittee of the Budget Policies committee — which stated that “guidelines for the review of academic planning proposals require new credit-bearing courses to be created as part of existing academic programs, which was not followed in this case” — led to a spirited defense of the deal by Johnstown campus officials at the full committee’s most recent meeting and to a chastising of the subcommittee by University Senate officers at the Nov. 3 Faculty Assembly meeting for circumnavigating regular Senate procedures.
