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Vol. XCV No. 19
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A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1921
Administration trots out concept for implementation
Thursday, February 25, 2016
SLU weighs Pius XII tech overhaul
By PAUL BRUNKHORST Editor-In-Chief
By TIM WILHELM News Editor
The SGA Senate was not in its usual BSC digs for its weekly meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 24. In light of SLU’s budget shortfalls for the fiscal year 2016 – and its subsequent hiring of the management firm Bain & Company to help right the financial situation – the senate meeting was held in the Center for Global Citizenship, which allowed for more students to participate in the meeting and engage with its main speakers – David Heimberger, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Bain associates Marcus Leonard and Tessa Bysong. SLU has been in financial straits recently – with a budget deficit anticipated for the most recent fiscal year – due to a variety of factors. Heimburger’s presentation outlined these challenges and put forth some of the things that the university, under the guidance of the Board of Trustees, is doing to mend the situation and establish a long-term plan for the health of the school’s finances. One of the main reasons SLU has monetary constraints, Heimburger said, is because of a national trend: there are fewer seniors graduating high school than in years past. “Because of some enrollment declines,” Heimburger said, “we are seeing a shortfall in our budget for FY 16,
Pius Library, which underwent a series of renovations between May 2011 and August 2012, is projected to house a 14,000-square-foot Academic Technology Commons (ATC), located in the area currently accessible by the newly remodeled south entrance. In an email to the Learning Technologies Advisory Committee (LTAC) tasked with developing the project, Associate Provost Michael Lewis described it as “a new collaboration between ITS and Pius Library that will be located on the main floor of the Pius Library. The goal is to create a welcoming and innovative space focused on developing and empowering faculty, staff and students in the use of academic technologies. The staff and resources of the ATC will provide improved support focused on driving new adoption, deeper usage and innovation for the enhancement of the academic mission of Saint Louis University.” During November of last year, Pius and ITS staff hosted “visioning sessions” to gather input from faculty. The advisory committee, composed of approximately 40 faculty and staff, has regularly met since then, most recently Tuesday, Feb. 23. Dan Nickolai, director of the Language Resource Center (LRC) in Morrissey Hall, has a seat on the committee.
By EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM Associate News Editor
While the United States is in the midst of one of the most riveting presidential elections in recent memory, the Student Government Association’s (SGA) executive board election is garnering very little student attention. The lack of student participation with SGA was illustrated on Monday, the evening of Feb. 22, as the unopposed executive board candidates, running on ticket ‘Ignite,’ discussed their platforms in front of an audience made up mostly by SGA senators and very few unassociated students. The low turnout of students was commented on by the candidate for VP of Internal Affairs, Jamie Hardin, saying, “As you can see, the majority of the people here today have been in senate, so there aren’t a lot of students here.” One of the moderators,
Ryan Quinn / The University News
SGA: The Student Government Association held their weekly senate meeting in the CGC while hosting representatives from Bain & Company to answer questions.
so we’re looking at a deficit in this current fiscal year that we’re still working through with our trustees and with our vice presidents … barring a large, unrestricted gift from a donor … we are looking at a deficit for ’16.” Because fewer students means less tuition money collected – a significant part of the university’s revenue source – tuition increases are closely considered, Heimburger stressed. The medical school, for example will see a tuition hike of .4% more than in the past – 2.4% in 2017 versus 2.0% in 2016. But this is due to the appli-
cant demand that this particular school receives. “One of the reason why we’re raising the medicine rate is there is such a high demand for that program – we get over 8,000 applications for 175 slots – so the demand is quite high,” Heimburger said. The endowment – which currently sits at just over $1 billion – is another valuable financial asset that the university has turned to, though not, perhaps, in the way that most people would expect. While banks see it as good collateral – $1 billion is certainly a valuable bargaining
Jonathan Smith, who serves as the special assistant to President Pestello for diversity and community engagement, asked the presidential candidate, Kevin Lynch, to address the concerns about the lack of outreach from him and his ticket to the larger SLU community as the election looms ahead. Lynch explained that his executive board’s lack of engagement with students thus far has been due to their status of running unopposed, saying he wanted those running for senate to have the ear of the student organizations at this time. “Campaigning has been kind of awkward for us since we are unopposed. The senate races, some of them are very competitive,” said Lynch. “We do want to reach out with student groups after the election ends and we can hold open forums with student groups so that they can inform us of what they want us to do as the new E-
board.” Lynch’s current role as the VP of Academic Affairs affects his platform for president in that he says students should be at the center of the every decision made by SGA and the administration. “I think this is something that SGA has struggled with internally,” said Lynch. He continued that his solution to ensure that the student voice be heard would be to work with Hardin to make sure that the senators felt empowered to speak with their constituents and relay those concerns to the association. The rest of the candidates on the ticket detailed their platforms, which generally followed from the work that the respective members of the current executive board are doing now. For instance, Lynch
chip in achieving friendly interest rates – the endowment itself is not, Heimburger iterated, a permanent fix for the budget shortfalls. “It’s really important [to know that] when we elicit a gift from a donor, we tell them that we’re going to protect that gift in perpetuity,” Heimburger said. “So when somebody gives us a million dollars, they fully expect that million dollars to be here twenty, thirty, forty years from now contributing to See “Bain” on Page 3
“It first came on my radar last November,” he said of the initiative, “but clearly it had been percolating longer than that, because they had already identified the architect they’re going to work with.” That architect is Steelcase, Inc., based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It offers both architectural consultation and numerous furniture brands. The committee has also selected an interior design firm. The space in Pius “is going to be reconfigured into different sized rooms,” said Nickolai. These will include an innovation studio, multiple recording studios, an innovation office with access to 3D printing and other “commercial grade technology,” including potentially a hologram generator whose projected images can be manipulated by users. He said that the Commons will include 40 PCs loaded with Adobe Creative Suite, and other software “that’s generally out of reach for the average individual.” “Some of these ideas, they’re kind of just ideas,” he said, numbering them in the hundreds. “I don’t know how much of this stuff is going to be actually implemented.” The committee hopes to implement a service modeled on Apple’s Genius Bar,
See “Tech” on Page 3
Wikimedia Commons
See “Debate” on Page 3
The Billiken Buzz: Student commentary on SLU’s financial crisis Weighing in on Bain & Company
Laura Travis
I think it’s important that the university is trying to address the financial situation, but I think it’s a fact that they need to communicate with students and our parents as well as other members of the SLU community because we should know where our money is going and it’s the univeristy’s responsibility to tell us that.
I think it’s a good decision. Bain is a good company with proven results and that is what we need. The administration taking action to find a solution to this problem at the beginning is what will matter most in the future.
We got an email about how we’re cutting costs but we’re spending money to hire the firm, which it seems like there is a little bit of dissonance there.
Lauren Remspecher
Ben Broghammer