President Shirley Ann Jackson held the Spring Town Meeting at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center Concert Hall on the morning of March 5. This meeting came shortly after a number of controversial decisions that impacted the RPI community, including but not limited to staff layoffs over Winter Break and the resident assistant issues. A significant portion of the Concert Hall was filled with staff, students, faculty, and administrators alike, and all of the questions asked after the presentation were from concerned students.
Jackson covered several topics throughout the meeting, including the 2009–2010 Fiscal Year Budget, updates on Rensselaer’s response to the economic crisis, and some more details on the Clustered Learning Advocacy and Support for Students initiative. Also mentioned was the announcement of a new website that includes information on how Rensselaer is facing the economic crisis as well as some answers for commonly asked questions. The website can be found at http://www.rpi.edu/news/response/.
In a quick review of the fiscal state of RPI, Jackson detailed the faculty and staff vacancy management, saying that there has been a portfolio hiring freeze put in place for faculty and staff, and a portfolio contingency budget. In addition, there were reductions of non-academic staff, with over 291 positions frozen, eliminated, or removed for other reasons. Jackson stated, “While reduction in force was difficult for all of us, it enabled a budget reduction in the necessary amount.”
Jackson also noted that all salaries will be frozen, except for merit raises for employees earning less than $50,000 a year. Additionally, Jackson and other members of the Cabinet will be taking 5- and 2.5-percent reductions in salary, respectively, which will be put toward a scholarship fund for Rensselaer students.
While the presentation detailed several reductions, such as in and in travel procurement, Jackson emphasized the objectives of continuing to develop the education structure as well as supporting students financially and academically.
Jackson reviewed the details of the CLASS initiative, with freshmen coming in Fall 2009 as the first to be required to live on campus as sophomores. In order to help accommodate the number of students staying on campus, the Sixth Avenue Residence Hall (the former Best Western) and the leased Polytech Apartments will be functioning dorms by Fall 2009. Jackson declared that the plans under the CLASS initiative will provide more help to students in crisis and provide more opportunities for leadership and community growth.
With regard to the faculty, Jackson stated that in accordance with the Board of Trustees resolution, the administration is moving away from hiring faculty on a temporary basis and will instead be placing more of the responsibility of curriculum and course offerings on tenure and tenure-track faculty.
Along this line, the administration plans to recruit eight constellation faculty in Fiscal Year 2010, hire three academic school deans and a vice president for research. Jackson also presented the progress in facilities, with new classes opened at the Mystic Executive Park in Grotton, Conn., as well as the planned opening of Phase I of the East Campus Athletic Village in October 2009.
Although the commencement speaker and honorands are usually announced at the Spring Town Meeting, Jackson deferred the announcement to the coming weeks. She closed the presentation with a few words: “It is up to each and every one of us in the Rensselaer community to work together to this future, for Rensselaer and every member of the Rensselaer community, to forgive—everyone makes mistakes—and work together towards our future.”
During the question-and-answer period, Grand Marshal Kara Chesal ’09 was among those who spoke. She asked Jackson what transparency means to the administration and whether it entails feedback at early stages in the process or campus-wide communications after the fact. While Jackson responded that students would not be involved in every decision the administration makes, she did say that both the administration and the student leadership could learn to communicate better.
Another student asked about the rumors that contracts for professors in the foreign language program would not be renewed. Provost Robert Palazzo confirmed these reports in his response.
He also stated that the administration had been working to find another way of maintaining a foreign language program since its professors are supported by resources that were available and not through the budget. In justifying the recent announcements about eliminating the foreign language professors, Palazzo claimed that of the 190 students registered in a language course, only 12 have declared a minor, and only two have not completed the requirements for that minor.
He did state that he is working with local institutions, such as Skidmore College, to create a partnership for technical and foreign language programs. It was not clear as to whether classes would continue to be taught here or if students would have to travel.
Jessica Hunter ’11 expressed her frustration with the decision to discontinue the foreign language program as it currently operates.
Along with many of her classmates taking French, she was advised by several faculty members to delay applying for a minor until she had finished the coursework. She feels that the uncertainty of the foreign language course offerings is terrible for planning her schedule.
According to Hunter, this new issue is not uncommon among her peers in foreign language classes, stating that many they had anticipated applying language classes to fulfill Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences depth and class requirements.
Additionally, there were questions about how the CLASS initiative would affect greek housing as well as some about changes to the resident assistant program.
Chief Financial Officer Virginia Gregg pledged to attend future meetings with greek representatives to help understand and clarify arrangements between greek houses and the bursar regarding sophomore housing.
