OCTOBER 31, 2018 | VOLUME 89, ISSUE 10
The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929
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OPINION: MIDTERM ELECTIONS P. 6
ARTS & LIFE: FACILITIES FEATURE P. 10
SPORTS: RUNNIN’ THE POINT P. 13 PHOTO BY: MORGAN TENCZA DESIGN BY: JANNA MARNELL
We’re in crisis right now and we’ve been in crisis for several years.”
– Seán Duffy
Read below to find out what improvements members of the Quinnipiac community would like to see in future plans
Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute and professor of political science
CAS in crisis
How Quinnipiac’s space and faculty deficit are impacting the “core” of the university By EMILY DISALVO Staff Writer
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is responsible for teaching most of the core classes at Quinnipiac, but is also at the core of the problems facing the university. Currently, Quinnipiac does not have enough faculty or facilities to maintain the high quality of education that it has become accustomed to delivering and the College of Arts and Sciences has been hit the hardest. Chair of the department of political science and philosophy, Scott McLean, has felt the ef-
fects of the resource deficits in his department for years, but acknowledges that the problem is much larger than that. “In the College of Arts and Sciences, the number of faculty is not keeping pace at all with the increasing number of CAS students that we have and the increasing need for general education courses,” McLean said. “And that’s affecting the quality.” McLean received 25 new political science majors in fall 2017 and 52 more this fall. More students requires more faculty, but McLean said
he has fewer faculty than ever, resulting in larger class sizes and heavier advising loads for fulltime faculty. “We have far more majors, especially in the freshman and sophomore classes and by the time those students become seniors,” McLean said, “it will be a real challenge to offer them the core political science courses in the way that we have become accustomed to.” Sophomore media studies major and political science minor, Sophie Rodgers noticed registering for her political science classes seemed
a bit more competitive this semester than it was previously. “There was only one section available,” Rogers said. “I remember there were three sections for this poli sci class and I really didn’t want to take the night one, but the night one was the only one available and the other ones said for poli sci majors only.” Due to the fact that enrollment in the major has increased substantially, McLean has resorted See CAS CRISIS Page 4
Quinnipiac’s new strategy
President Judy Olian to announce strategic plan in January 2019
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Quinnipiac President Judy Olian plans to announce a new strategic plan in January that will result in significant changes to Quinnipiac’s staff, students and status quo. While the full plan remains under wraps, the plan is expected to include a new academic facility and more full-time faculty. President Olian delivered a presentation outlining the strategic plan on Oct. 16. On a slide entitled “where we need to invest” Olian listed priorities such as “more classrooms and faculty to reduce evening classes” and “new building school building and other academic facilities.” The strategic plan, under direction of President Olian and Provost Mark Thompson, con-
sists of different work groups focusing on specific areas of action such as facilities, budget and technology. Additionally, Olian and Thompson asked the dean of each academic school to submit a list of priorities to be included in the plan. According to Robert Smart, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the plan is something Quinnipiac has needed for a long time. While President Olian will be releasing the universitywide plan in January, Smart expects to hear from the College of Arts and Sciences in November. “For five years we’ve been saying we need a strategic plan,” Smart said. “We need a direction, we need to know how all the parts are going to work together and this year we’re going to get one.” Seán Duffy, executive director of the Albert
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Schweitzer Institute and professor of political science, believes the plan is going to create drastic changes here at Quinnipiac. “What we’re engaged in is a very visible and open process to begin creating a long term plan that would include things like space, size of faculty, priorities, those kinds of things that are based on strategic thinking,” Duffy said. Lisa Burns, chair of the media studies department, was the chair of the Faculty Senate last year. She presented to the Board of Trustees in May 2018, and talked about the the faculty’s hopes for the strategic plan that they helped to initiate. Burns outlined several key staff priorities for the strategic plan, which she said Mark Thompson asked the Senate Finance & Future Plans
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Committee to help brainstorm. “To be successful, a strategic planning process has to be inclusive and transparent,” stated Mark Thompson, executive vice president and provost in an email. “We want to hear from members of the university community and give consideration to the ideas that they think we should take into account as we put the full plan together for the university. This process is about the future of the university and everyone should feel comfortable weighing in on the direction that we should go.” The resulting list of priorities, according to Burns, does not include “anything surprising,” but rather is just a logical fix to the problems
See STRATEGIC PLAN Page 4
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INDEX
Staff Writer
CONNECT
By EMILY DISALVO
Interactive: 5 Opinion: 6 Arts and Life: 8 Sports: 13