Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / Feb. 15, 1995, edition 1 / Page 4
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February 15,1995 4 Campus News value of the traditional Meredith expe rience and the ha2ards of the proposed changes. There are also costs for fac ulty and staff who have family, church, professional and community obhgations which are important to them and to the college. We cannot afford to ignore any po tential opportunity, but we must never jeopardize oiu: base. It is especially important that there be wide consulta tion on the issue of an expanded sched ule because of the potential costs. But we cannot afford to succumb to bu reaucratic inertia. Those who wish to be consulted must commit themselves to woric in an intensely focused way to bring the process to a conclusion with dispatch. II. Reform social rules Listen to the students. They know that the major cause of our recruitment and retention problems is our outdated social rules. This is not the sole cause of our problems, but it is the only one that can conceivably be changed in short order at low financial cost. Meredith should not seek to be in the vanguard of liberalization. I believe very strongly that Meredith should remain a safe, protected place. But we cannot survive as an anachronism. The world has changed, for good or ill, and we must continue changing with it as we have done in the past. Students have woriced all alone on this issue for years, but it is clear that it is not just an issue for students any more. The rest of us need to join hands with them to make change a reality. III. Student-led quality initiative Meredith is currently the best bar gain in private highereducationinNorth Carolina. Our costs are comparable to those at &r weaker institutions. This is a tremendous accomplishment. We all owe the president, the dean and the board a debt of gratitude for it. It puts us in a very strong position to face the future, but we are in danger of being imprisoned by our success. Our low cost raises questions about the value of a Meredith education — everyone knows that you get what you pay for. It also limits our ability to enhance quality. Students want smaller classes, updated labs, more course of ferings and many other things which cost money. The only way to get more in the short run is to raise prices. This is a hard issue for students, but many students will support increases if they will go directly to improving their edu cation and living conditions. Students know what they need, and we must ask them what they are willing to pay for. This is an issue the faculty has been pushing for years. Student support will make it possible to break the deadlock. Higher costs pose special problems for students with limited resources. We must &ce those problems squarely and use part of any increase to ftmd need based scholarships. 1 do not share the president’s desire to completely eliminate this type of tuition discount ing. No college in the country charges its students the full cost of an educa tion. Currently we subsidize every student’s education by keeping tuition low. Instead, we need to focus subsi dies on those students with financial needand those, like Teaching Fellows, that we especially want to attract. Dis counting is like debt, too much is dan gerous, but conservatively used it is an invaluable tool. We should no longer deprive ourselves of its use. IV. Expand our traditional base In spite of the smaller pool if tradi tional students, we can still increase our share if we take the steps outlined above. A couple of years ago the Women’s College Coalition found that only 3% of high school age young women would even consider going to a women’s college. The bad news is that we are in a fairly small market niche. The good news is that if we can just convince an additional 1% to con sider a women’s college, we have in creased our applicant pool by 1/3. Meredith is not for everyone, but we have something very valuable to offer far more than 3% of young women. The drawbacks of women’s colleges are apparent to potential students, but the benefits are not. Research shows that graduates of women’s colleges do better in business, professional and political life. Most young women do notknowthis — we need to make sure they learn. Resolution and agenda for Meredith's future contributed by Clyde Frazier On Thursday evening, Mr. Will iams repeatedly challenged us to present an alternative vision for Meredith’s future. What follows is an attempt to take up that challenge. It is not a complete blueprint but an out line of a few crucial initiatives to begin the process of institutional renewal. "hiis is also an invitation. If you are interested in these ideas, I invite you to join with me to build consensus for them. If you have a better idea, or just another idea, I implore you to come forward. Meredith needs all the wis dom we can muster. I will present the following resolu tion at the faculty meeting on Friday if there is support for doing so. Please let me know if you are interested in taking the time to discuss this and if you have any suggested changes in the form of the resolution or in the agenda. Resolved: The feculty of Meredith College supports the ideas in the agenda for institutional renewal. The faculty directs the faculty affairs com mittee to work with the administra tion and to act on its own initiative to study the expanded schedule; to de velop, m consultation with all parts of the Meredith community, specific pro posals to implement the elements of the agenda; and to advocate these ideas and proposals with the adminis tration and trustees. Dr. Weems has created an oppor tunity for us to address fundamental issues. The trustees who spoke on Thursday seemed to be concerned about the present situation and look- ingforsolutions. They repeatedly chal lenged us to change. We should not let this opporttmity slip away. An agenda for institutional renewal: I. Quick yet careful action on an expanded schedule Dr. Weems is right. We cannot afford to ignore the increasing compe tition for traditional students and the potential of other markets. But an ex panded schedule poses particular dan gers for Meredith. One of our greatest accomplishments is the intense expe rience we have created for traditional dorm students. Almost 4/5 of our stu dents are traditional age and they spoke eloquently on Thiusday about the On-Campus Recruiting: • Sign up today for these companies: Hudson Belk The Limited Jefferson Pilot Cacique Northwestern Mutual Life Lady Foot Locker Coastal Group Health Sotirce Applied Analytical Industries • Employer Resume Review: American Tele/Telegraph Eckerd Family Youth Merrill Lynch Xerox Corporation Johnson & Johnson Metropolitan life Alfred Williams BASF DancoScandinavian/Contemporary Life of Virginia Raleigh Athletic Club • Brand New! Submit your resume for these companies by March 1. Blackbaud John Hancock Cache’ Employment Opportunities: • Administrative Assistant/Office Manager - Great opportunity, growth potential with Cowdery Corporate Services in Durham. • Camp Day ’95 - Find a Summer Job! Feb. 15, Great HaU - UNGCH, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. More than 50 camps from GA to NY will have reps on campus & will be hiring students for positions from coimselors to lifeguards to specialty instmetors. • The Eight Armual Student Confer ence on Careers in International Business- Monday, Feb. 20, Cone University Center - UNC Charlotte C704) 547-2407 • USA WORKFORCE 2000 - Winston- Salem’s Best Job Fair - Grow with Winston-Salem Tuesday, Feb. 28, 9:00-3:00 p.ra, Benton Convention & Civic Center (910) 727-2976 (for directions) $25 Fee - Register by credit card for reserved seating, call 407-686-68000, ext.3.
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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Feb. 15, 1995, edition 1
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