In the November 10 issue, The Polytechnic noted that the 3–5 pm time block on Thursdays is not the wisest choice for holding a large publicly attended lecture such as President Jackson’s semi-annual town meeting. The town meeting is a public forum where students, faculty, and staff alike can learn of the Institute’s exciting future plans and engage in open discussion with the president. We were disappointed to discover that the president scheduled this week’s spring town meeting for the same time slot.
By scheduling the town meeting on a Thursday from 3–5 pm, President Jackson has guaranteed that no responsible student or professor with classes during either the Thursday 2–4 pm or the 4–6 pm time slots will be able to attend her lecture. Attendees of last semester’s meeting will remember that the audience was disproportionately administrators and staff. At a time when the Faculty Senate is most vocal about poor communication with the administration, the president should make it a high priority to keep public opportunities of discussions with her open. Such a high profile event, where topics such as new capital projects, tuition increases, and research drives are discussed, should be open to as much of the campus population as possible.
The town meeting is arguably the most important opportunity that members of the campus community have to bring up important issues to the administration. The Institute typically avoids scheduling courses during the 4–6 pm slot on Tuesdays, and as such it makes a far better candidate for holding the town meeting than the currently scheduled time. At last semester’s town meeting, not a single question was asked when President Jackson opened the floor for discussion. Such a similar situation could be avoided if the event were scheduled for higher attendance.
We appreciate the fact that in order to maintain Rensselaer’s reputation, the administration must work hard and thus cannot be accessible at all times. The administration is engaging in laudable attempts at keeping the RPI community abreast of campus news through events such as Pizza with the President. For the one event during each semester that communication is most readily desired, however, more appropriate time must be allocated for an effective meeting. The administration must remember that the students, faculty, and staff of Rensselaer are the primary stakeholders in RPI’s future, and must work harder to keep these groups aware of changes occuring within the Institute.
