Unfortunately, the policy was released only after the Board of Trustees approved it, making it almost impossible to reverse. We are left with only one option: A meeting of the Trustees must be called immediately to repeal the policy so that the concerns of RPI’s population can be addressed.

This is an extremely drastic measure, but we are in a position now where anything less would be too little, too late. The longer this policy remains in effect, the more likely it is to cause irreparable damage to the school.

It seems everyone who knows anything about the new graduate tuition policy knows that it’s a bad idea, and that it probably means disaster for the research and graduate education at RPI. Everyone, that is, except the administration, who seem to be oblivious or indifferent to these concerns. As word of the new policy spread through the campus community, the administration stood firm with the message: Fear not—when the policy comes out, you’ll see we’ve thought of everything, and your minds will be at ease.

On Monday, the official policy was made public. Our minds are not at ease.

The same fears are still there. Small research programs will be crushed under the weight of supporting their graduate students, with or without assistance from the Institute. Even large programs are likely to feel the burden and reduce the number of students they support. How anyone can think this policy will attract students is incomprehensible. It is completely at odds with the Institute’s stated goal of doubling the graduate population.

The Institute also seems to be trying to get rid of students that take classes part time and that pay their own tuition; part-time students are not eligible for any kind of financial assistance and their per-credit rate is nearly double that of full-time students. What possible benefit could be derived from driving these students away as well?

Even those students that stay will be forced into lower-quality work. The emphasis on getting through quickly rather than taking time to explore will reward those students that do research in well-documented areas and deter students from doing innovative research involving any risk of failure.

There will be an emphasis on in-and-out research. Graduate students at RPI will become known for getting the bare minimum done with the baseline standard education. There won’t be time to do much more than what’s required.

Instead of attracting grant money, investors will take their money elsewhere because they won’t be getting as much for their money at RPI. More of their grants will go toward paying tuition for a research assistant than funding actual research.

We’ve even heard of faculty members talking about leaving over this policy. We certainly can’t maintain our reputation as a world-class research institution if we lose our world-class faculty.

Of course, we have no illusions that what we say in this editorial will count on its own. It will fall on deaf ears in an administration that pays lip service to the idea of student and faculty input and then does exactly what it wants anyway. If the administration can’t be counted on, we need a different road. Here’s where student government gets to show it can have an effect.