As an RPI alumni volunteer, I have been following the recent debate and controversy around faculty governance on campus. Since I’m not a faculty member, I don’t have much of a stake in the governance issue, but as a member of the RPI community, I do have a stake in the atmosphere of the recent debates on campus.

I came to RPI as a freshman in the fall of 1999 at the same time that President Shirley Ann Jackson came to campus. At the time, Jackson introduced the campus community to The Rensselaer Plan, which called for a large number of changes to help our institution move forward.

In the ensuing eight years, I would argue that the campus and Institute as a whole have changed drastically for the better. But along with the improvements, we have often had periods like what we are experiencing now with the faculty governance issue. A proposed change comes up, resistance to the change mounts, and rhetoric from all involved parties becomes heated. Each time we go through this cycle, things seem to grow even more heated. I would like to call on all members of the campus community to work together to improve the dialogue surrounding the changes on our campus.

To the editors of The Poly: as a former contributor to the sports section, I support you, but I would like to call on you to stop asking for Jackson’s resignation. We are an educational institution and, as such, we need to work as a community to engender healthy debate and dialogue. There is absolutely nothing wrong with strongly disagreeing with the administration. In fact, it’s healthy to have disagreement and debate; one of the main functions of The Poly as the campus newspaper is to debate and question the administration. But the debate must be carried out in a constructive manner; calling for the president to resign is not constructive. Rather than calling for the president to resign, call for a debate with her and all other stakeholders in the debate. Use The Poly to give all sides an equal chance to voice their views and concerns and remove the venom from the debate. As the editors of the school newspaper, you have a responsibility to help lead a dialogue amongst all members of the campus community. Please fulfill that responsibly to the fullest of your abilities.

To Jackson and the administration: I’ve watched the amazing positive changes you’ve brought about in the RPI community and I’ve been tremendously impressed. RPI is better today because of your time on campus and I wholeheartedly support you. Along with giving my support, I would ask that as we move forward and continue to work with the campus community to implement The Rensselaer Plan that you work to ensure that change is brought about in a palatable manner. I have a lot of respect for you given that you are playing a tremendously difficult role in serving as an agent of change. RPI is often resistant to change, as can be expected from an institution that’s approaching 200 years old. Please remember that one of the aspects of bringing about change is the way in which those changes are carried out and communicated. The end results of the changes you have brought to our campus have been fantastic, but at times the delivery process has been blunt. I’m sure this is in part a response to the atmosphere on campus. I’d like to call on you to work with the community to foster constructive dialogue as we move forward in implementing The Rensselaer Plan.

I hope that we, the members of the RPI community, can fulfill the goals of our academic institution and hold healthy, constructive, and respectful debates on the current issue of faculty governance and the continuing changes associated with The Rensselaer Plan. By working together, we will all benefit.

Ryan Jones