Dupont: New president should take ‘critical look’ at USU Strategic Plan

As Utah State kicks off its national search for a new president, the search committee has been soliciting feedback from our campus community on what kind of leader we hope they will fnd. I think we’re in good hands with this committee, and I’m glad they’re actively seeking our voices as they make a choice that will impact USU for years to come.

I’ve shared my feedback to the committee, but I want to remind everyone else that we need to keep using our voices, loudly and persistently, to draw the university’s attention to problems we see. While some problems are best addressed top-down, we also have the power to build a grassroots movement to improve what we can and advocate for what we don’t have the power to change.

In that spirit, I hope the new USU president takes a critical look at recently-announced Strategic Plan at USU. I'm especially concerned about the enrollment goals, especially graduate student enrollment, and want a president who ensures we support our existing student body before aiming to increase it.

As someone who plans campus events, I have seen a marked shift in classroom availability in just the past few years, as we run out of classroom space. Likewise, I've watched and been affected by the housing scarcity and thus increased costs of renting in Logan, and cannot support a strategic plan that doesn't address Logan's present inability to house current (let alone increased numbers of) USU students, faculty and staff. As a natural consequence of this shortage, the parking situation around campus is only getting worse, yet the plan doesn't seem to lay out an increase in parking, more public transportation options, or any initiatives to encourage non-car commuting. In fact, the Statesman has previously reported that the shuttle system has decreased its routes on account of a lack of drivers--and I can't see this situation improving without offering higher wages or other incentives to increase the bus use on and around campus.

Another very serious concern I see at USU is in our support for graduate students. Our assistantships have not kept up with the rising costs of living, and the amount of funding we expect graduate students to accept is simply not acceptable. The lowest-paid assistantship I know of on campus is a 9-month, .5FTE role at $6,000 annually--that works out to about $8 an hour pretax. If you consider their 20% of health insurance costs, student fees, and basic costs of materials and books required for their programs, it's simply impossible to meet basic human needs while completing a degree at USU. Without any central sup- port, including a rate minimum enforced by the School of Graduate Studies, a Graduate Studies Bill of Rights and/ or union, and an evaluation of policies such as 'fees to tuition' or differential tuition waivers, we cannot expect to see any increase in graduate recruitment, enrollment, or retention.

Without these graduate students, increasing our undergraduate enrollment also becomes unfeasible. Many introductory classes are taught by graduate students, who rarely are given the training and resources needed to effectively do so. If we’re unable to recruit more graduate students by offering a livable wage, we likely shift the increased class burden of such courses to our existing graduate students, adding work without increasing compensation.

The long-term effects of this lack of graduate support are both self-harming and unethical. Fewer graduate students will mean a decrease in quality of instruction for undergraduates, which will eventually decay USU's reputation of quality, affordable education. Fewer graduate students or the resources to recruit quality graduate students will also impact our ability to draw new faculty to USU, or to retain the faculty we successfully bring to our campuses. Research faculty, especially, rely on mentorship of graduate students for both their own research productivity as well as their academic advancement in the tenure process.

Apart from the practical consequences of this issue, we simply cannot allow our university to mistreat a portion of its community. Such low assistantships are unjust and don't respect the dignity of these students as human beings. They also decrease our campus diversity, are clearly unequal, and are exclusive. Underrepresented students will not be able to accept such an offer, especially those with family responsibilities (e.g., raising children, caring for elder relatives, or supporting family with medical needs). Students within the same departments may receive vastly unequal assistantships for the same work, leading to a potential issue under equal pay law, and such fnancial packages favor the already-privileged students over those without family wealth, higher access to educational resources, and the knowledge to negotiate for better compensation.

In short, as it stands currently I cannot support our Strategic Plan and cannot endorse a candidate for USU President without hearing their views on it. I would like a candidate who thoroughly reviews the feasibility and advisability of the plan, addresses where there is a clear lack of…well, strategy, to accomplish its goals, and where the goals themselves may not be appropriate for USU. I’d like to see someone focused on ensuring that USU offers a high quality of research, teaching, and outreach in Utah for the students we have before we start looking to increase enrollment, and if/when increased enrollment is feasible, I would like to see our President roll out a clear plan to accommodate those new students with that same high quality education and respect for human dignity.

Athena Dupont is a senior program coordinator in the Offce of Research. The Student Research Team believes that undergraduate research is for anybody, and they seek out students with intellectual curiosity, self-awareness, engagement and resilience to get involved in research and creative work in all disciplines.