The sign on the footbridge over 15th Street bares the slogan, “One word changes everything.” What word, though, I wonder? The obvious implication is “Rensselaer”—but it would just be arrogant to assume that the name of this institution is that strong on its own. Besides, it simply isn’t true; the name may be influential, but the people are the ones who have the power to change.
The students are the voice and the soul of the future. They will be the engineers who bridge the gaps in society and bring humanity together, and they will be the architects of the marvels in the next age. They are the shining stars who can make our dreams come true. With them are the faculty members, the students’ counterparts in the present. They are here to teach and to learn, to create and to build. They are solving the problems of today, working always to improve our planet and our species so that we will be able to attack the problems of tomorrow. These people—the faculty and the students—are the core of the Institute and of every university, and they are the ones who will change this world.
Of course, those aren’t the only two important groups on campus. Staff members make up the lifeblood of the Institute; they are the ones who strive daily to make the school the vibrant place that it is. The administrators are the school’s guardians, guiding it and watching over its growth. And last, but not least, are the trustees, who provide critical support to RPI and maintain legal responsibility for it and its activities. Each one of them fulfills a critical function and provides an invaluable service to the campus and the community.
At the end of the day, however, the staff, administration, and Board of Trustees all exist to serve the greater purpose of Rensselaer—the furtherance of mankind’s corpus of knowledge. The work that they do is essential to the existence of the university, but without the students and faculty, all their efforts are for naught. Education is—and has always been—our primary focus.
Last Thursday, Samuel F. Heffner, Jr. ’56, chairman of the Board of Trustees, sent a statement to the entire Rensselaer community. He described the Board’s legal responsibilities and authority with regard to the Institute. Referencing what he described as a “misunderstanding” about the Board’s role, he went on to declare in no uncertain terms that the Board has the right to dictate the school’s policies and, specifically, its governance structure.
With all due respect, I disagree.
Of course, I do not doubt the Board’s legal privileges. I have read the original Act of Incorporation, and I fully understand that the Board is the legal embodiment of the university and its ultimate body of governance. It is important to remember, however, that the trustees are merely Rensselaer’s caretakers, appointed initially by Stephen Van Rensselaer himself. They have obligations not only to the state legislature, but to the community and especially to the faculty and students.
That the Board would support the blatant disregard of one of those bodies is therefore abhorrent and entirely against the principles upon which it was founded. The deception and disrespect shown to the faculty as a whole violates the trust that the community has put in the administration as a reasonable governing body. There are several highly negative practical effects of disbanding the Faculty Senate, but the most damning by far aren’t so tangible. The chain of events has set terrible precedents and desecrated the Enlightenment principles upon which we were founded.
