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Fall term is over and I’m in Chicago visiting a friend. I have a ton of things to do over break, so posts will be sporadic from here on out.
Have a good break.
Carleton physics professor Arjendu Pattanayak has been writing recently about the process Carleton goes into when hiring a new physics professor.
With a Department as small as ours, everyone will read the files… On the first pass, there are too many for all of us to read all the files, so we divvy it up so every file gets read by at least 3 of us, with the hope that we cull down to the ‘must-reads’ for everyone. We then identify the phone-interview candidates (usually around a dozen) and then from that we get to the on-campus candidates.
It’s no surprise that the criteria for new faculty are complex, with the ideal candidate combining research and varied teaching experience. Pattanayak says that the applicant pool this year is fantastic. Another sign that the economic turmoil may be particularly rough on professors.
Harvard has an endowment of around $37 billion, the largest endowment of any university. Slate reports that Harvard expects a 30% decline in the value of the endowment. That’s a loss of more than $10 billion. You can read Harvard President Drew Faust’s speech about it here. He says, “We need to be prepared to absorb unprecedented endowment losses and plan for a period of greater financial constraint.”
This comes only days after President Oden predicted a %16 loss for the Carleton endowment. Oden said during his presentation that other schools were hit much harder than Carleton, and Harvard is certainly an example of that.
Both Carleton and Harvard have pledged not to cut financial aid and both schools are looking at faculty compensation as an area where costs could be cut. Harvard’s President Faust states, “Changing financial realities will require us to look carefully at compensation costs, which account for nearly half the University’s budget.” Check here for a breakdown of the Carleton budget.
This seems to signal that the elite colleges are more worried about students deciding not to attend than they’re worried about faculty finding jobs elsewhere. Carleton professor Arjendu Pattanayak writes that the applicants for the open physics experimentalist position are fantastic.
Check it out! Audio from Barack Obama speaking at convocation! He spoke in February, 1999.
Obama marked the occasion of Black History Month with a speech about incorporating “some element of action” into Black History Month. Not the most thrilling topic, but nobody starts out talking about being president I suppose. Here’s a bit of the Carletonian article:
“I think that one of the dangers of being a minority at a relatively privileged institution like Carleton is that you have all the trappings of ethnicity without any of the obligation,” Obama said. “You have been separated somewhat from the day-to-day lives of people in the streets. So, I would strongly urge any college group that’s designing these kinds of programs to think about incorporating an action component to them.”
Obama pointed out that community service does not need to be radical in order to be effective.
“It doesn’t have to be a protest,” he explained. “But it can be as simple as, ‘As part of Black History Month, we’re going to go research the current conditions of welfare recipients in the community.’ And we will have done that by first finding out what the community wants to do, as opposed to telling them what to do, and then becoming their partners in the celebration.”
Last night after a brief discussion, CSA approved the Student Activity Fee redistribution which was presented last week. There was also this Carletonian editorial by Charlotte Turovsky to try and head off any potential backlash about the issue.
I don’t mean to make light of the issue, but it is important to remember that in the grand scheme of things, this is a very small change. Here is a look at the expenses breakdown of cost of Carleton. Notice that of the tiny sliver representing Student Activity Fee, only $18 will go to this redistribution pilot.
The cost of Carleton
Pablo Kenney also noted that Carleton students pay less for their activity fee than other institutions. In other schools, the student associations play a more active role in bringing speakers to campus and other aspects of student life. Here are some statistics from Evan Rowe:
(Costs are 2008-2009, and will likely increase for 2009-2010)
Amherst: $670/year
Bowdoin: $400/year
Grinnell: $350/year
Knox: $327/year
Swarthmore: $320/year
Pomona: $307/year
Carleton (09-10): $231/year
Macalester: $200/year
Tonight President Oden presented his State of Carleton address to the CSA Senate. He gave senate an update about the financial crisis and what we can expect for the next year.
The last public update, about the economic situation of the college was Oden’s email informing students that the endowment had lost $60 million at the end of September, an 8% drop. Unless I heard him incorrectly, the college has lost another $60 million since then. I graphed a rough estimate of what this would look like.
I guessed at the current state of the endowment given the very limited information available.
Oden is quick to note that this is quite good compared to other colleges, some of which have lost much more. The president of the college noted that Carleton has other advantages, like money stored away and generous alumni. The college is looking at three models. They call for budget cuts of 2.5%, 5%, and 10% respectively. The big question is, where will this money come from?
Oden made clear that financial aid will not be cut. Financial aid will increase at least as much as the tuition increase, if not more. This is great news for students and for the college.
Budget Committee is planning how to go about deciding what will be cut, “[Dean] Bierman asked Committee members to think of cuts less as a target range and more of priorities discussion and thought process, not a prediction.” Oden said that the budgets of all departments (both academic and administrative) will decrease. There will be no new consultants.
I don’t know much about the budget, but I’m pretty sure those measures alone don’t add up to 10% of the budget. If the college decides on that model, the most extreme of the three, where will that money come from?
Tomorrow (Monday 11/17) CSA Senate will be having its regularly scheduled meeting at 7PM in Sayles 251. President Rob Oden will be visiting to present the “State of the Carleton Address.” He will present on the current pressing issues for the college, and then take questions.
President Rob Oden
Oden’s last address was in the Spring of 2008. Here are some highlights from his presentation then:
- Carleton decided in 1992 (to the dismay of many) that it would no longer be need-blind. Oden announced that the class of 2012 would be 98% need-blind. It’s important to remember, however, that more than 50% of the student body receives no financial aid at all.
- Oden discussed the Campus Climate Survey which at that time was not yet released. It has since been presented and discussed, so it will be interesting to hear his discussion of the topic. He mentioned that one response to the issue has been an increase in international students since 2002. However, the multicultural percent of the student body has been decreasing since 2004.
- Oden also touched briefly on the finances of the college, and hopefully tomorrow he will discuss the current financial crisis and its impact on Carleton. Students know that the endowment has taken a significant hit, but the full effects are unclear. Will there be other coping responses in addition to delaying the Arts Union? How will student financial aid be affected?
The meeting should be very interesting, I hope to see you all there.
My first interaction with Food Truth was with the “Clean Plate Club.” Last year as I was leaving the dining hall and went to clear my tray off, there were a number of students gathered around the compost bins. As I approached them, they smiled and ate the leftover food off my tray. The message of food waste was clear and undeniable.
Food Truth is one of the activist groups on campus that really makes things happen. Here are just a few of the events that they’ve been part of this term:
- A panel on the Fair Trade movement with the chair of the econ department and several fair trade organizers
- Sending two students to Italy to participate in the Terra Madre Food Truth conference
- A dinner with Harvard anthropologist James Watson to discuss food related issues
- The Food Stamp Challenge
The Food Stamp Challenge asks students to eat a meal that costs just $1.96 (a meal at the dining hall costs something like $11). $1.96 is half of the daily stipend for the 29 million Americans who use food stamps. They provided peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at Sayles Hill.
I asked if they were going to do the “clean plate” club again and they responded, “Things that people really hate never last that long. We don’t want to encourage people to spit in our food.” It’s true that some of my friends were really upset by having someone eat their food. A more paletable approach may be removing the trays from dining halls. Other groups are working with Food Truth to encourage trayless dining. Until then we can just try to take a little less.
If you’re interested in joining Food Truth, you should attend one of their meetings Mondays, 9PM in upper Sayles. Or you could shout an email to Megan Hafner (hafnerm@carleton.edu).
Students making a meal at Farmhouse
It’s ninth week and everyone is crazy busy. I’m no exception so here’s a quick update about what CSA did this week. I wrote a post about post about distributing the activity fee earlier this week.
All that stands between me and my homework now is this.
What is a Student Activity Fee Waiver?
• CSA voted to change the bylaws to create a Student Activity Support Fund
• Students who come from low income backgrounds will be able to apply for a Student Activity Fee waiver
• The Fee Waiver will decrease the Student Activity Fee by $150
• Financial Services will determine who is eligible, with 200 waivers available every year
• In order to make the waivers possible, Senate decided to raise the fee by $18
• Senate also decided on an increase of $12 to match inflation
• In total, the activity fee was raised from $200 to $231
• CONTACT: Evan Rowe (rowee@carleton.edu) Charlotte Turovsky (turovskc@carleton.edu)
What is the status of CSA Finances?
• Treasurer Ritter reported on the finances of the Carleton Student Association
• The CSA has given out less money than usual this term
• There are currently surpluses in several of the funds
• Find out more about requesting funds at the CSA website, apps.carleton.edu/orgs/csa
• CONTACT: Jinai Bharucha (bharuchj@carleton.edu)
What will happen with New Student Week?
• The First Year Experience Committee is working to make NSW better
• They are going to recommend that a standing committee organize NSW
• There needs to be some change to how diversity is addressed
• CONTACT: Nimo Ali (alin@carleton.edu)
What’s up with Campus Activities?
• Campus Activities exists to help you!
• The goal of the office is to support you in organizing events and bringing new things to campus
• There are also art supplies and games in the Campus Activities office on the first floor of Sayles
• You’re always welcome in Sayles 150; Campus Activities open late!
• CONTACT: Sayles 150
Tomorrow evening, you should all go to the workshop addressing the issues of the campus climate. The workshop is Thursday, November 13th, 9:00PM in Olin 149. The topic will be Improving the Campus Climate Outside the Classroom. This workshop is one of a series that will provide suggestions to the Diversity Initiative Group as they follow up the Campus Climate survey.
Along those lines, here’s some food for thought. A graph released in the Self-Study Report showing a significant decrease in multicultural enrollment since 2004.
Carleton Multicultural Enrollment compared to other COFHE colleges
Sometimes it feels like all we hear is bad news about the campus climate. Come discuss what we as a community can do to make things better.
