Syracuse University cuts Connective Corridor arts engagement program

[Orangeyes]

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index....nective_corridor_arts_engagement_program.html

 

[SoBeCuse]

That is unfortunate. Dislike.

 

[rrlbees]

Many more cuts are coming as budgets are cut. SU is in the red and will also be reducing student acceptances to increase the competitiveness of the University. Lots of tightening of belts is going to happen including staff cuts.

 

[CaptainJ]

For now I am going to trust Spicoli and one up him and say the truest art and speech was the so called "cryptic" graffiti. Yeah I'm not feeling the best right now, but it doesn't mean I'm not at least somewhat serious. Even though the 60s and 70s were before my time, they bore the end of a lot of art, at least in music and film. People see/hear/read art all day and can't/don't/won't recognize it, let alone appreciate it. If you want to see more new and original things, undo the strangle LBJ and Nixon put on some of the main sources of art, and then you will still to see it flourish again without dumping a lot of other peoples' money into it. I was nonpartisan there as usual, so I don't suspect the fellow who mocked the other Captain will bother me. It takes an irritant in the otherwise rambunctuous oyster to make a pearl, right?

Can I joke and ask if tuition needs to be increased? ...Bees, I wrote the above before I saw your post, so now I have to joke more and ask if that will include "student" athletes. I wont pick any out by name to make my point, because my first example is someone I genuinely enjoyed having on the team. Are we going to reach higher like Notre Dame?

 

[SoBeCuse]

Captain, you're an eloquent fellow. Nicely said. Yeah, often the universities can be influential and vital links for providing an arts/culture link to a downtown or urban area. In a time where the symphony there in town is barely afloat or completely folded this is not good. Just my two cents as someone in the music business.

 

[brandokc]

I know folks that this will directly affect so this sucks. Thanks for sharing Dan. I know BJ aka Orange Onions is taking good care of his old man.

 

[rrlbees]

...Bees, I wrote the above before I saw your post, so now I have to joke more and ask if that will include "student" athletes. I wont pick any out by name to make my point, because my first example is someone I genuinely enjoyed having on the team. Are we going to reach higher like Notre Dame?

Doubtful

 

[Orangeyes]

I know folks that this will directly affect so this sucks. Thanks for sharing Dan. I know BJ aka Orange Onions is taking good care of his old man.

He's got a full boat what with his wee ones swimming, dancing, baseball etc.

 

[oldpinepoint]

There is a lot of dead weight up on the hill. You would be amazed at some of the positions and what they do. This will help improve the university

 

[CousCuse]

More of the good fruit of Stephanie Minor's Mayoralship.

 

[SoBeCuse]

There is a lot of dead weight up on the hill. You would be amazed at some of the positions and what they do. This will help improve the university

Depends on what you consider dead weight.

 

[Millhouse]

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index....nective_corridor_arts_engagement_program.html

there's a reason why cantor is at Rutgers University at Hackeysack

 

[retro44]

More of the good fruit of Stephanie Minor's Mayoralship.

How nice, now this is Minor's fault...nice little political rant

 

[cuseinchina]

I think that this is unfortunate but probably a step in the right direction for the University given the fiscal realities and the issues they are facing with rankings. the director just looks like a really nice woman and looking at what they were doing, the programming looks to have been pretty good.

I wonder about a few things with this -
- how much of that $500k budget was the director's salary?
- couldn't something like this be transitioned to more of a grass roots community organization that has close connections to and can utilize the resources of the University but gets its funding from other sources (including people actually paying to go to some of the events they offer)?
- Sounds like the director was just counting on the cash cow of the university and not doing a great job getting the funding side ramped up. that was a good bet with the old chancellor around...but if you are really motivated by what you are doing and can read the tea leaves so to speak - you go out and get the grant money flowing. There is SO MUCH MONEY available for stuff like this. It takes someone savy, motivated, and connected to access it.

 

[Townie72]

Many more cuts are coming as budgets are cut. SU is in the red and will also be reducing student acceptances to increase the competitiveness of the University. Lots of tightening of belts is going to happen including staff cuts.

How's that work?

How do you reduce your student acceptances to increase the competitiveness of the University and keep the classes filled with tuition and fee paying students?

Seems to me it would be the other way around. When times are good, you tighten admissions standards, improve the academic climate and justify even higher tuition.

In lean times you have to do whatever to takes to sell out every available class seat. Why, just 20 or 30 more students might pay for a program like this one.

 

[Millhouse]

How's that work?

How do you reduce your student acceptances to increase the competitiveness of the University and keep the classes filled with tuition and fee paying students?

Seems to me it would be the other way around. When times are good, you tighten admissions standards, improve the academic climate and justify even higher tuition.

In lean times you have to do whatever to takes to sell out every available class seat. Why, just 20 or 30 more students might pay for a program like this one.

the lost tuition of tougher admissions standards can be somewhat offset by not spending like a tiny, drunken sailor on nonsense that does not benefit the school

 

[oldpinepoint]

the lost tuition of tougher admissions standards can be somewhat offset by not spending like a tiny, drunken sailor on nonsense that does not benefit the school

New stadiums excluded right?

 

[Townie72]

the lost tuition of tougher admissions standards can be somewhat offset by not spending like a tiny, drunken sailor on nonsense that does not benefit the school

My guess is that this little program is just the tip of the iceberg. I'll bet there's all sorts of spending at SU that is based on satisfying Cantor's ideological fantasies.

I actually sympathize a little with the objective. Bringing some culture to Salt City is a worthy enterprise. But not very likely to actually work.

 

[Full_Rebar]

How's that work?

How do you reduce your student acceptances to increase the competitiveness of the University and keep the classes filled with tuition and fee paying students?

Seems to me it would be the other way around. When times are good, you tighten admissions standards, improve the academic climate and justify even higher tuition.

In lean times you have to do whatever to takes to sell out every available class seat. Why, just 20 or 30 more students might pay for a program like this one.

If you are admitting more students who depend on financial aid, then trying to offset that by admitting more "full-pays" to help balance, it puts a strain on a number of areas. SU still has students living in study longues, triples that should be doubles, as well as the Sheraton. Many students have trouble getting into classes they need to graduate, many support offices are understaffed and lots of the front line folks feel very unappreciated.

The admissions policies have hurt the overall ranking as the increase in students has not been met with an increase in faculty. There is a lot of fluff that should be getting cut under Syverud.

 

[rrlbees]

If you are admitting more students who depend on financial aid, then trying to offset that by admitting more "full-pays" to help balance, it puts a strain on a number of areas. SU still has students living in study longues, triples that should be doubles, as well as the Sheraton. Many students have trouble getting into classes they need to graduate, many support offices are understaffed and lots of the front line folks feel very unappreciated. The admissions policies have hurt the overall ranking as the increase in students has not been met with an increase in faculty. There is a lot of fluff that should be getting cut under Syverud.

Well said.

 

[rrlbees]

How's that work? How do you reduce your student acceptances to increase the competitiveness of the University and keep the classes filled with tuition and fee paying students? Seems to me it would be the other way around. When times are good, you tighten admissions standards, improve the academic climate and justify even higher tuition. In lean times you have to do whatever to takes to sell out every available class seat. Why, just 20 or 30 more students might pay for a program like this one.

In simple terms, fewer students equals less income which results in department budget cuts.

 

[EastCoast2]

Good riddance. Let the traces of Cantor be deleted one by one.

 

[JoeCollege]

In my so far 21 year career working in Higher Ed, I've seen a lot of solid, highly ranked colleges and universities lose their status and prestige when knocked off course by programs and agendas that totally disregarded their core mission- such as the connective corridor. The institution can and should work closely with the community in any number of ways, but sinking hundreds of thousands of its dollars into essentially doing what either the community or the private sector should be doing is one of the biggest mistakes a President/Chancellor can make. When it's a University program and not a joint effort or a partnership where the university offers support but not necessarily funds, it's almost always a disaster. Cutting that program is a good move. Hiring faculty, and equally as important, support staff to adequately service students or process things should be the precedent. Support and processing ALWAYS gets the short end of the stick.

 

[omniorange]

If you are admitting more students who depend on financial aid, then trying to offset that by admitting more "full-pays" to help balance, it puts a strain on a number of areas. SU still has students living in study longues, triples that should be doubles, as well as the Sheraton. Many students have trouble getting into classes they need to graduate, many support offices are understaffed and lots of the front line folks feel very unappreciated.

The admissions policies have hurt the overall ranking as the increase in students has not been met with an increase in faculty. There is a lot of fluff that should be getting cut under Syverud.

As I understand it, the fluff is on the administrative side. Your assertion about the increase in students not being met with an increase in faculty is not supported by the public data that is out there.

SU has a 16:1 student to faculty ratio and has what I believe is one of the best FT/PT faculty ratios in the nation at 65.1% being FT and 34.9% being PT

As an example here is a BC (which is way above is terms of rankings) vs SU comparison:

Student/faculty ratio: 13:1 vs 16:1

Classes with < 20 students: 52.2% vs 63%
Between 20-49: 40.8% vs 27.9%
50 or more: 7% vs 9.1%

Total Faculty - 1508 vs 1563
FT Faculty - 761 (50.5% of the total) vs 1019 (65.1% of the total)
PT Faculty - 747 (49.5% of the total) vs 544 (34.9% of total)

The real issue appears to be, as you hinted at above, is the admissions policies, or rather specifically the admissions acceptance rate that results from the admissions policies:

28.8% acceptance rate at BC vs a 51.3% acceptance rate at SU.

The change in the admissions policies was supposedly designed to attract more students of color, yet in this regard, the students of color at SU now 43.5% isn't that much higher percentage-wise than BC's 40% with the biggest difference being in the Black/African American student population at SU (8%) versus BC (3.3%).

Cheers,
Neil

 

[omniorange]

By the way, I think posters on this board should realize that the hiring of Cantor dovetailed with the MDA of Syracuse and Central NY revising Vision 2010 back in 2002 and 2003 (final report published February 2004). As part of the revising, in the reports own words:

"To obtain an objective, first-rate analysis of the region’s competitive position, the MDA retained two nationally recognized consultants. The first, the Battelle Memorial Institute, is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading consultants in technology-oriented development, renowned for identifying key strategic initiatives to spur technological innovation and technologically-based economic development.

The second consultant retained was Catalytix, a Richard Florida Company. Dr. Florida, founder and principal of Catalytix, is the H. John Heinz III Professor of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University. He first called attention to the growing importance of the availability of talent in his groundbreaking book, The Rise of the Creative Class. Dr. Florida’s theory emphasizes four main elements – technology, talent, tolerance and territorial assets – as the common foundation upon which regions can fuel their growth over the next decade.

This project is the result of the first-ever pairing of these two widely-respected consulting groups. It brings together the premiere approach to planning for technology development with cutting-edge thinking on the importance of talent, tolerance and creativity to economic and community growth. The marriage of these two perspectives represents a unique undertaking in economic development and strategic planning."

Many of Richard Florida's ideas actually align with Cantor's in terms of attracting the talent (who tend to be more tolerant people) who can leverage both technology and the area's assets to the fullest.

It will be interesting to continue to follow things both on the Hill and in the city throughout the rest of this decade.

Cheers,
Neil