There is Something Rotten in the State of the University
Issue date: 3/1/06 Section: Opinions & Editorials
Though Provost Joseph Morreale was referring to the Buildings and Grounds employee who turned the heating on in the Media Room during the budget review meeting when he said, "It's amazing when someone knows what to do," the statement could be used interchangeably in countless dealings with the University from the administrators to the students.
At the meeting, numerous department chairs raised concerns about the lack of proper classroom equipment and academic budgets small enough to cover only day-to-day operations such as making photocopies. The faculty to student ratio may have increased due to the oversight with the early retirement incident but that means nothing when those professors are unable to teach because the proper materials are not available. When a CSIS professor is teaching with a piece of chalk and a blackboard, there is a problem. When a film professor is assigned a classroom without a projection screen and Educational Media only has eight sets of television/VCR/DVD to distribute between hundreds of requests, there is a problem.
Subsequently, if the faculty - student ratio is so commendable, why are sections being cut instead of added? The Administration's statements lack congruity with their actions; this lack of consistency is precisely the reason students are suspicious of the Administration's motives. The Pace Press has written countless editorials on the importance of open lines of communication and the Administration has taken heed, at least superficially. Transparency is the most recent buzzword on the 18th floor of One Pace Plaza but students have little, if any idea, in regards to the state of our University.
We have a liaison between the student government and top administrators in our SGA president, but what is discussed in those meetings is never released to the greater student body. More common hours are necessary to facilitate involvement with student organizations but the student government president cannot be elected on that platform alone when there is so much more - our academics - at stake. Students Accounts and Registrar Services (SARS) has come and gone and we are still waiting on the results of the SARS survey conducted by SGA last year. Having a monthly or biweekly meeting with the SGA president is admirable of Provost Morreale but there needs to be a better mechanism to communicate student problems and solutions.
At the meeting, numerous department chairs raised concerns about the lack of proper classroom equipment and academic budgets small enough to cover only day-to-day operations such as making photocopies. The faculty to student ratio may have increased due to the oversight with the early retirement incident but that means nothing when those professors are unable to teach because the proper materials are not available. When a CSIS professor is teaching with a piece of chalk and a blackboard, there is a problem. When a film professor is assigned a classroom without a projection screen and Educational Media only has eight sets of television/VCR/DVD to distribute between hundreds of requests, there is a problem.
Subsequently, if the faculty - student ratio is so commendable, why are sections being cut instead of added? The Administration's statements lack congruity with their actions; this lack of consistency is precisely the reason students are suspicious of the Administration's motives. The Pace Press has written countless editorials on the importance of open lines of communication and the Administration has taken heed, at least superficially. Transparency is the most recent buzzword on the 18th floor of One Pace Plaza but students have little, if any idea, in regards to the state of our University.
We have a liaison between the student government and top administrators in our SGA president, but what is discussed in those meetings is never released to the greater student body. More common hours are necessary to facilitate involvement with student organizations but the student government president cannot be elected on that platform alone when there is so much more - our academics - at stake. Students Accounts and Registrar Services (SARS) has come and gone and we are still waiting on the results of the SARS survey conducted by SGA last year. Having a monthly or biweekly meeting with the SGA president is admirable of Provost Morreale but there needs to be a better mechanism to communicate student problems and solutions.