A line of concerned students and faculty flanked the walls of a packed Roussel Auditorium this afternoon, while posters with phrases such as “Save my major,” “Cut Education? That’s Unpossible!” and “Critical Sinking University” dotted the audience and announced disapproval of the planned restructuring of Loyola.
The message from the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, and Provost Walter Harris to the afternoon crowd was that while it won’t be easy, change is necessary to keep the university moving forward and financially sound.
The forum was held to help Wildes get feedback for his final proposal to the Board of Trustees on May 19. The administration has created a blog for students, faculty and staff to voice their concerns and opinions about the first draft of the proposal until April 19.
The plan was released yesterday afternoon and proposes to eliminate or suspend 27 undergraduate and graduate programs -including the broadcast journalism and broadcast production sequences – and terminate 17 tenured and tenure-track faculty members. University officials cut 76 staff positions in December, noting early financial losses that needed to be shored up.
“We are at a crucial point of decision-making for our university,” Wildes said. “It is a time of change for almost all the aspects of our life.
“We have had to make very hard evaluations. We must recognize the demands of (post-Katrina) New Orleans which will assure stability in our enrollment.”
Enrollment is the key factor leading the restructuring of the university, Wildes and Harris said. According to Wildes, the incoming freshman class, as of yesterday, was projected at 550 students and 47 had put down deposits for the fall, as opposed to 164 at this time last year.
The enrollment of the university is important to the financial status of Loyola because 70 percent of operating revenue – this year’s operating budget was $60 million – comes from tuition and fees.
“For some, change is very uncomfortable, difficult and stressful,” said Harris. “(But) to improve, you have to change.”
One of the biggest concerns among those in attendence is that the proposed changes and restructuring of the university are based on a set of factors they said they don’t have access to.
When the floor was opened for questions and comments, the first one came from Joseph Harris, an associate professor in the department of Drama and Speech, who stood up in the back of the auditorium and shouted to Harris and Wildes, “If you want us to give you feedback, you need to give us the figures. … I don’t know what it cost to educate a student in broadcast journalism.”
Wildes said the information that was used to evaluate the programs is on the provost’s Web site. A murmur from the audience rose at that point, with several people saying the information was not available online.
A review of the provost’s Web site by The Maroon found the information under a link titled Program Review. The information, in PDF form, was posted between March 16 and April 7, the Web site says.
The most vocal and largest group of students at the meeting were from the broadcast journalism and broadcast production sequences.
The entire crew of WLDC, the closed-circuit campus TV station, showed up to protest the possible cut. Brandon Armant, a communication senior in the broadcast journalism sequence, invited Wildes and Harris to attend tomorrow’s taping of the newscast.
Under the restructuring plan, the two broadcast sequences, in addition to film and communications studies, would be cut. A school of communications would be formed and house sequences in public relations, advertising and journalism, which would be formed from the combination of print and photojournalism.
“Most colleges do not offer broadcast journalism – less than 100 colleges have this major,” said Holly Kangas, another broadcast journalism senior. “This is the perfect city to come and learn broadcast journalism. … This is specifically a Loyola tradition. WWL was started at Loyola.”
Jessie Patton, a broadcast journalism junior, also questioned the decision to cut the broadcast courses and several computer courses.
“In an economy where we’re based on computers, I don’t know how you’re preparing them (the students),” she said. “I’d like to mention the microphone you’re using today, the equipment you’re using, is run by our broadcast students,” she said as she turned around and pointed to the control booth. There was a round of applause and a small group of students gave a standing ovation to the statement.
While not as prominent, some students also raised concerns about the proposed music, education, City College and tenured and tenure-track faculty cuts.
“If you want secondary teachers educating in New Orleans, they need to be trained here,” one student told Wildes and Harris. “Otherwise, they’ll be going to UNO.”
Another student added, “In a Jesuit institution, it makes no sense to cut education.”
Wildes defended the position of the university in regard to proposing to cut education by saying Loyola New Orleans is unique in the fact that several other Jesuit institutions don’t offer any education courses of study and not all the courses will be cut.
The School of Music was also represented at the meeting. When asked why Loyola would be cutting pedagogy – a program with less than 10 people in it – to save money, Wildes replied, “One major’s resources … is a relatively small aspect of the university. Amass enough (major-minor suspensions) and you make savings.”
Several City College students also showed up to the meeting, voicing concern about their futures.
Angel LeBlanc, a student in the Loyola Institute for Ministry, said that she and many other students in City College have made sacrifices to attend City College and don’t want to lose the opportunity.
“We’ve changed our lives in order to come to Loyola,” she said. “By eliminating these programs, where are we going in the future?”
Harris said every college in the restructured university will be asked to add some night courses to continue the tradition of City College. Teachers working in City College would continue working in the college to which their departments would be transferred.
“We will maintain an appropriate financial structure for evening students,” Harris said. “We’ll maintain the same structure you have always had.”
Not all feedback, however, was negative. Reid Martin, music business freshman, said, “If we can try to get a few more students from our high schools, it can be 200 more people from our school and get us more money.
“Let’s do our part here, too. Let’s do something more grassroots.”
Wildes said the request to cut and consolidate has been hard for him, but he’s optimistic.
“I think the opportunity before us is enormous,” he said. “Sooner of later we have to cut something. We can’t keep operating the way we’re operating.”
Voicing concern about how the cuts would affect Loyola’s close-knit feeling, Lauren Valdin, psychology sophomore, said: “My major didn’t get cut. (But) we’re more than just a program. We’re a family. You’re taking my family away from me.
“People that came back to help me rebuild my city, you’re turning them away.”
Daniel Monteverde can be reached at [email protected].
