By now, it would be difficult to have avoided hearing about the layoffs that occurred suddenly over RPI’s winter break. These layoffs impacted every department and included staff who have been involved with and loyal to the university for years, even decades. Much attention has been paid, and should continue to be paid, to the seeming incongruities between these layoffs and the observable spending habits of the RPI administration, including the seemingly exorbitant compensation package of our university’s president. Focus on this particular area of spending has been heavy, but this is as much due to the lack of transparency in administrative spending as it is to the arguable absurdity of President Shirley Ann Jackson’s salary.
The numerous e-mails we have all been receiving from the administration have stated endlessly that RPI’s number one goal is to provide an education in technology to its students. However, the actions of the university do not agree with that goal. Classes in every major are overcrowded and TAs are increasingly hard to come by. It has been recently revealed that the Institute made a $36,000 donation to the Clinton Foundation.
A petition is now circulating throughout campus demanding financial openness from the administration. As students, we are uncomfortable being told that RPI is devoted to educating their students when their financial decisions seem to speak otherwise. If anyone is interested in the cause, look up “Students Against Financial Mismanagement at RPI” on Facebook.
