RPI Student Union

There has been a controversy concerning the administration of the student union at RPI for several weeks. This seems to be a power grab by the most powerful person on campus, college president Shirley Jackson.

Monday's Troy Record

Protest Web Site

Record Opinion by its newly appointed editor

For an editor, that guy needs an editor.

Protesting school policies when admits are on campus is a double-edged sword. There's never a better time to pressure the administration. And never a worse time to help your school's (and your) reputation.

When we did college tours with our son, students at James Madison saw tour groups and several times pointed to the group and happily chanted "J! M! U!" which suggested a lot of spirit for a university split in half by an Interstate (81). Conversely at Rowan, I believe it was, a couple students saw the tour group and made choking motions or turned thumbs down. Keep doing that, they'll devalue their diploma.

How does protesting school decisions devalue a diploma? If anything it seems to me it would demonstrate that the students are involved and active, thus enhancing the value of a diploma. That is if it matters at all.

Wake me when you get armed occupiers.

Trotsky
How does protesting school decisions devalue a diploma? If anything it seems to me it would demonstrate that the students are involved and active, thus enhancing the value of a diploma. That is if it matters at all. Wake me when you get armed occupiers.

Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral. Our son draw a negative view of students seeing unhappy with the campus and that was part of the reason he wrote if off (also, almost no NJ student we know stays in NJ - the parents are too close). Agreed, unhappy students may be different from protesting students.

That's what I'm saying today. What did I actually do myself: I sent my deposit the year after the Willard Straight takeover, which is about as big as a protest can be. My only disappointment was that there was no mega-protest / late spring classes cancelled freshman year, and we actually had to take finals. The other disappointment was enrolling a year too late to see the 29-0 season.

billhoward
Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral.

A slow downward death spiral is exactly what the protesters are hoping to have a small part in preventing. President Jackson is running RPI into the ground.

Take on a bunch of debt to build a showpiece performing arts center? I speak with more than a bit of authority here—that's a poor choice, going back just about forever in the history of Western civilization. For much of history, only the treasuries of the nobility could survive the building of a theater; in modern times, the treasuries of governments have, most of the time, been able to survive the same.

What can I say? The president's salary, the mansion, the gleaming glass cube—Jackson's presidency oozes "imperial" at every turn.

Scersk '97

billhoward
Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral.

A slow downward death spiral is exactly what the protesters are hoping to have a small part in preventing. President Jackson is running RPI into the ground.

Take on a bunch of debt to build a showpiece performing arts center? I speak with more than a bit of authority here—that's a poor choice, going back just about forever in the history of Western civilization. For much of history, only the treasuries of the nobility could survive the building of a theater; in modern times, the treasuries of governments have, most of the time, been able to survive the same.

What can I say? The president's salary, the mansion, the gleaming glass cube—Jackson's presidency oozes "imperial" at every turn.

The glass cube I assume refers to the private box that she controls on the west side of Houston. This space is often dark during games when no deserving bigwigs are in town.

marty

Scersk '97

billhoward
Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral.

A slow downward death spiral is exactly what the protesters are hoping to have a small part in preventing. President Jackson is running RPI into the ground.

Take on a bunch of debt to build a showpiece performing arts center? I speak with more than a bit of authority here—that's a poor choice, going back just about forever in the history of Western civilization. For much of history, only the treasuries of the nobility could survive the building of a theater; in modern times, the treasuries of governments have, most of the time, been able to survive the same.

What can I say? The president's salary, the mansion, the gleaming glass cube—Jackson's presidency oozes "imperial" at every turn.

The glass cube I assume refers to the private box that she controls on the west side of Houston. This space is often dark during games when no deserving bigwigs are in town.

Oh no, I was referring to the EMPAC center. That Houston detail is even better!

Scersk '97

marty

Scersk '97

billhoward
Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral.

A slow downward death spiral is exactly what the protesters are hoping to have a small part in preventing. President Jackson is running RPI into the ground.

Take on a bunch of debt to build a showpiece performing arts center? I speak with more than a bit of authority here—that's a poor choice, going back just about forever in the history of Western civilization. For much of history, only the treasuries of the nobility could survive the building of a theater; in modern times, the treasuries of governments have, most of the time, been able to survive the same.

What can I say? The president's salary, the mansion, the gleaming glass cube—Jackson's presidency oozes "imperial" at every turn.

The glass cube I assume refers to the private box that she controls on the west side of Houston. This space is often dark during games when no deserving bigwigs are in town.

Oh no, I was referring to the EMPAC center. That Houston detail is even better!

Oh, the spaceship!




Not the throne:

Scersk '97

billhoward
Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral.

A slow downward death spiral is exactly what the protesters are hoping to have a small part in preventing. President Jackson is running RPI into the ground.

Take on a bunch of debt to build a showpiece performing arts center? I speak with more than a bit of authority here—that's a poor choice, going back just about forever in the history of Western civilization. For much of history, only the treasuries of the nobility could survive the building of a theater; in modern times, the treasuries of governments have, most of the time, been able to survive the same.

What can I say? The president's salary, the mansion, the gleaming glass cube—Jackson's presidency oozes "imperial" at every turn.

Alternative to slow downward death spiral is a campus full of active, involved students, like Wesleyan or Oberlin

nshapiro

Scersk '97

billhoward
Admits see an unsettled campus, don't like what they see, go elsewhere, school fills its ranks with lesser students. Slow downward death spiral.

A slow downward death spiral is exactly what the protesters are hoping to have a small part in preventing. President Jackson is running RPI into the ground.

Take on a bunch of debt to build a showpiece performing arts center? I speak with more than a bit of authority here—that's a poor choice, going back just about forever in the history of Western civilization. For much of history, only the treasuries of the nobility could survive the building of a theater; in modern times, the treasuries of governments have, most of the time, been able to survive the same.

What can I say? The president's salary, the mansion, the gleaming glass cube—Jackson's presidency oozes "imperial" at every turn.

Alternative to slow downward death spiral is a campus full of active, involved students, like Wesleyan or Oberlin

I don't think this is a student issue at its core. It is all about taking on massive debt prior to 2008. And the leadership had grandiose plans. If one building project at a time were undertaken there wouldn't be the monetary pressure that three projects created.

Not to mention the redirection of an engineering institute has little in common with the schools you mentioned.

Jackson has decided not to fight for control of the student union.

Times Union 4/28/16

RPI's Jackson yields on student union hire
Students praise president's change of plans
By Bethany Bump Updated 6:23 am, Thursday, April 28, 2016


Troy
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students are cheering president Shirley Anne Jackson's about-face on creating a position that students blasted as a takeover of the student union at a protest outside the president's town hall meeting last month.
Jackson announced her decision Tuesday to cancel plans to create the job of executive director of student activities and reassured students she would seek their input and involvement more often going forward.
"Both the board of trustees and the administration encourage continued open communication among campus constituents," Jackson wrote in a letter to the campus community. "We want to hear from all the members of our community to ensure that any decisions we make reflect their interests, and the greater good of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute."
Students rallied on the Troy campus after months of disagreement with the administration over the role of the Rensselaer Student Union, a 125-year-old body that controls, finances and organizes student activities. While the administration employs a director to oversee the student union's day-to-day operations, students say they've historically had the autonomy to govern and run it as they see fit.
But the mysterious disappearance of the union director in January put some on edge. Concerns boiled over when, shortly after, the university posted a job advertisement for a newly created position. This person, the posting said, would provide leadership for the student union and answer to the administration.
After the March 30 demonstration outside her town hall meeting, Jackson suspended the search for the two positions until the board of trustees had a chance to review the union constitution. On Tuesday, she announced that the search for the student union director would resume "with more student involvement," but the search for the new position would not.
In addition, she wrote, a review of the student union constitution may or may not proceed, and if it does, the board of trustees would be sure to follow the process outlined in the constitution.
"The goal of such a review would be to ensure that the student union constitution accurately reflects the way the union actually operates, and that it is consistent with all other policies of the institute," Jackson wrote.
Jackson pledged to meet each semester with the elected leaders of the student union, with at least one meeting including a broader group of students. She also promised to include and rotate in a number of other student leaders and representatives as participants in board of trustees Student Life Committee meetings. The minutes of those meetings will be published for the entire community, she said.

The controversy returns:

Troy Record

Student "Save the Union" posts

More, including student site links

Deja New

I am amazed that I have not yet commented on this thread yet although I have certainly read it whenever there is a post. It is really way past the time to get rid of Shirley. If it wasn't for the fact that MIT has been higher ranked than RPI since before I was born, I would think that her goal in running RPI into the ground was to benefit her alma mater.

One minor incident. I was standing by the dasher to watch the pregame skate and practice about five years ago as I have done since I was a student and as many others do. Since there is a wide walkway there, this is easy to do without keeping others from walking past. Suddenly Shirley and her entourage came by and one of her beer-bellied bodyguards pushed me into the dasher almost knocking me over. She was going to drop the first puck for a reason which I have forgotten. I was with USCHO poster turk181 who will vouch for the accuracy of this.

Fencing at RPI

Two Years Later the Times Union Joins the Party

The RPI Student Experience

marty
The RPI Student Experience

30 paragraphs in is the following sentence:

The college’s finances have been in question in recent years, with Standard & Poor’s, a leading credit rating agency, lowering RPI’s long-term bond rating at the beginning of 2017 from A- to BBB+, citing the college’s high debt burden and low available resources. BBB is the lowest score for which a bond would be considered investment-grade, according to S&P.

Oh. Talk about burying the lede.

Times Union Late to the Party Again

RPI Poly

Renew Rensselaer - Unofficial Alumni Site

Times Union coverage of Renew Rensselaer

The Troy Record

More Fuel

RPI is in a bad position. Unless everything in the Times-Union article is wrong, something needs to change. One solution may be a change in RPI's leadership.

Albany is bigger than Ithaca, but it's still a small town in many ways. Were RPI located in Boston or NYC, this would get a lot more scrutiny from media people you (the school) can't just blow off. RPI's administration seems to have challenges doing more than circling the wagons. The TU story included a goodly number of alumni who're sitting on the sidelines, along with their checkbooks.

Meanwhile, as manufacturing continues to slip away from New York State, education is an increasingly bigger part of NYS's economy. If I recall correctly, Mount Sinai is the biggest employer in New York, and Cornell and Columbia are in the top ten. It sure isn't Kodak anymore, or Xerox, or Carrier.

Riiiiight! They hate her because she's SHORT.

marty
Renew Rensselaer - Unofficial Alumni Site

Times Union coverage of Renew Rensselaer

The Troy Record

From The Ugly Story:

"In contrast, top aspirant peer schools for RPI, which include MIT, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Lehigh, and Johns Hopkins..."

Rather optimistic definition of "peer schools."

I felt the same way circa 1968. The "It's just as good as a Xerox" -make that MIT - mantra was unbelievable to me as a local teen. The school has some great programs and amazing alums. That doesn't mean it's in the same league with top tier "competitors". In the late 60's the unbelievable comparisons caused me to look down on the school and in retrospect I was overly harsh back then.

President Jackson decided on a path she thought would raise the school's stature. Rather than doubling down on good programs in engineering, she built a very large and modern bio-tech building. She went off the rails building EMPAC as it attempted to invent a new path to glory and perhaps even more importantly the budget overruns on that building helped to harden the cement overshoes on the Tute's finances.

If I'm an engineering professor in CE, EE, ChemE or any other E I've just been excessed to at least a degree. Adding more of an emphasis on how much research money a specific professor can bring to RPI (and yes,this is a trend in other schools too) while emphasizing bio-tech and whatever the hell EMPAC represents was a disaster.

I live in an adjacent burb of Troy and the rumblings from professors, wives of professors and support staff made me feel like a fly on the wall. I have been very hesitant to publicly comment on anything relating to President Jackson's leadership. My feeling is that those who grumbled were in much the same boat. Though we truly disagreed with her we didn't want to appear quick to pass judgement lest we appear racist. As a community I think we were slow to react.

As an aside, as she was being considered for a second 10 year contract(?) I was rooting for her to retain the job in hopes that she could cajole the alums into bailing the school out of debt. The changes in giving after the 2008 Great Recession were not anticipated and not her fault. I wanted her to turn things around.

The Student Union debacle though has soured many of us. Any remaining support for her by me is gone. I have no proof but believe that if she didn't have a super majority of trustees backing her, she'd be enjoying the fruits of her overly generous pension.

Al DeFlorio

marty
Renew Rensselaer - Unofficial Alumni Site

Times Union coverage of Renew Rensselaer

The Troy Record

From The Ugly Story:

"In contrast, top aspirant peer schools for RPI, which include MIT, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Lehigh, and Johns Hopkins..."

Rather optimistic definition of "peer schools."

"aspirant peer schools"

marty
Renew Rensselaer - Unofficial Alumni Site
Times Union coverage of Renew Rensselaer
The Troy Record

I talked with a couple RPI people I know. Wanted to see if you're just a whiny guy looking for a Big Red shoulder to cry on, or if you've got a point. What I heard: Things have not gone well recently at RPI, that Jackson is brilliant, she deserves credit for being the first black woman to earn a PhD at MIT (in 1973, can it really be no one did it before Jackson?), she and RPI did well early in her RPI tenure, that racism may have been (probably was) an issue affecting parts of her tenure, things have not gone well that are not (in their opinion) necessarily caused by racism, and/but perhaps as she heads into her 19th / 20th year at RPI she should be thinking about a graceful wind-down to her career. That's what I heard.

The Times-Union article to me seemed on-target and, if it was, suggests RPI has a problem. The letter of support for Jackson from professor Chris Bystroff was not, I thought, a reasoned endorsement of Jackson. He was a bit shrill.

Industry is abandoning New York State. Education now is one of the state's biggest industry's. (Columbia and Cornell are top ten NYS employers.) RPI, Union and SUNY Albany are a big part of Albany's economy. If RPI is not Cornell or MIT or CalTech, it's a very good school and deserves to continue to improve. It sounds as if RPI is treading water.

I'd be happy if RPI was better academically and a little less good against Cornell in hockey.

It's up to the trustees to decide if this is a storm they want to weather.

In an attempt to give President Shirley Jackson a break I did not post articles concerning the change in Greek life at RPI on eLynah. Even though it appeared heavy handed some comments by President Jackson in the late spring regarding the Student Union were cause for hope with regard to that battle. Yet today's Times Union makes a connection between the two conflicts as they both are orchestrated from Jackson's office with all the hallmarks of her overbearing personality. Tony Reale one of the WRPI hockey announcers has quit over the change in Greek life that was recently announced.

Tom Reale
"This administration, over the last three years, has done something remarkable. They've taken a person who had an uncanny and certainly unusual amount of pride in a school that rarely seems to engender such pride in its students and alums, and turned him into someone who is quite ashamed,” he wrote, noting that his grandfather, father and even great uncle are graduates of the school.

The public resignation is the latest reaction to the school’s decision announced June 20 to halt the traditional fall "rush" period in which new students are recruited to join fraternities and sororities.

“They are going to stop rush in the fall and they might bring it back in the spring,” said Reale, who learned of the move in an announcement to Greek organization alumni. Reale is on the board of directors for RPI’s Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Today's Article.

The timing of the Greek life suspension just after finals precluded any meaningful input from the student body at large. She isn't just an authoritative kook, when it comes to disagreement with her fiats she's a lazy coward as well.

RPI caves. As I mentioned in the post above there have been signs that President Jackson is starting to soften her imperial reign. This compromise looks promising.

It's Tom Reale. His original blog post.

ursusminor
It's Tom Reale. His original blog post.

Wow. Just, wow.

ursusminor
It's Tom Reale. His original blog post.

And with an apology to Graham Nash I offer..."Treat Your Physics Professors Well".

By many accounts, Shirley Jackson was instrumental in changing RPI for the better by adding graduate programs that bring in research dollars and prominence at the cost of undergrads feeling left out. She did a lot in her first decade. That's the term many college presidents find is their limit. Viz David Skorton. Her contract was extended for a second decade and that ends sometime between June 2019 (20 years after starting) or June 2020 (10 years after trustees extended her by a decade).

She would have departed RPI at the end of 2016. She was likely to be named to the Hillary Clinton cabinet, probably in charge of the Department of Energy. That didn't happen.

She is very well paid for a college president, about $1M a year. In 2014 she collected $7.1M that also included a bonus and about $6M in deferred comp (retention bonus).

To me, the worst thing she did was make the student body draw slips of paper and sacrificed one unlucky for a good hockey season. Especially since the sacrifice clearly didn't work.

French Rage
To me, the worst thing she did was make the student body draw slips of paper and sacrificed one unlucky for a good hockey season. Especially since the sacrifice clearly didn't work.

In what month did they have this lottery? I hear it matters.

billhoward
By many accounts, Shirley Jackson was instrumental in changing RPI for the better by adding graduate programs that bring in research dollars and prominence at the cost of undergrads feeling left out. She did a lot in her first decade. That's the term many college presidents find is their limit. Viz David Skorton. Her contract was extended for a second decade and that ends sometime between June 2019 (20 years after starting) or June 2020 (10 years after trustees extended her by a decade).

She would have departed RPI at the end of 2016. She was likely to be named to the Hillary Clinton cabinet, probably in charge of the Department of Energy. That didn't happen.

She is very well paid for a college president, about $1M a year. In 2014 she collected $7.1M that also included a bonus and about $6M in deferred comp (retention bonus).

One thing left out of your analysis, Bill, is that if the trustees hadn't extended her contract for years 11-20, they would have had a new leader who didn't own the debt her changes created. I was rooting for her second contract on that basis and that basis alone.

I'll also give her a pass on the creation of that debt. Her vision included three grand building expenditures which looked great pre-2008. Giving is a different animal since that recession arrived.

The biotechnology building looks good in press releases and has curb appeal when touring the campus. One back story I heard was that the professors were weary in making a move to the new building. The $/sq.ft. research figure was much higher than in their old digs. Science education has become overly commoditized (at least according to many staff members). This isn't new. I first heard this lament in 1974 at U of M in Ann Arbor. Still a new building brings this challenge in addition to the prestige.

The negative aspects to what you refer to as an undergraduate vs. graduate conflict may be real. But as someone with Chem E. degrees (me), I think the professors of engineering were torqued off that their school didn't appear to give a hoot about its traditionally strong programs.

Her legacy is one of an autocrat. She P.O.'d a majority of the RPI professors. My link to the piece on Professor Medicus, who gave over fourteen million to local hospitals and the Albany Symphony, is the most striking example of how little respect she gave to and engendered from her staff.

French Rage
To me, the worst thing she did was make the student body draw slips of paper and sacrificed one unlucky for a good hockey season. Especially since the sacrifice clearly didn't work.

I just got this...had to read it twice. Well done...as far as I can tell there is only one famous person named "Martha Pollack"--put up another tally for the Big Red over RPI.

4.5 million reasons to grab the RPI Union

I had been wondering how much money was at stake. The 4.5 million doesn't seem like a prudent reason for this fight. Why the hell does President Jackson keep on keepin on?

The EMPAC Center, as an example of their fiscal woes, cost over $200 M.

I've lost track of most of the details but to be fair to anyone who has read this thread please note that the protest lives.

Another Times Union Article was posted this afternoon. It doesn't seem to be related to the Union but it does include alumni association bitching.

First no ethanol. Now the Greek community and the slum lords are upset over mandatory summer term.


Will uniforms be next?

marty
First no ethanol. Now the Greek community and the slum lords are upset over mandatory summer term.

Will uniforms be next?

Your fault you didn't vote for Hillary as a measure of RPI-preservation. She was supposed to win, the polls said. And President Clinton was to make Shirley Jackson a cabinet secretary or the science advisor, which would have lifted her out of your and RPI's hair. Two decades as college president, some people may run out of fresh ideas. David Skorton's decade at Cornell was about right. Plus, if you get a chance to run the Smithsonian, how can you say no?

The thing about summer students not being able to live in housing other than campus dorms is Mickey Mouse.

billhoward
The thing about summer students not being able to live in housing other than campus dorms is Mickey Mouse.

The definition of a "captive market."

billhoward

marty
First no ethanol. Now the Greek community and the slum lords are upset over mandatory summer term.

Will uniforms be next?

Your fault you didn't vote for Hillary as a measure of RPI-preservation. She was supposed to win, the polls said.

The blame can be placed here if you like :Q!

Marty, once a year you should kiss our collective Big Red, Ivy League butts and say "Thank you for letting me rant in a public place." Meanwhile, we're still wondering how it was that RPI is where Rivian founder RJ Scaringe chose to matriculate. The Rivian startup is about to be the Tesla of pickup trucks and big SUVs. Ford just game them $500 million to share its IP.

3.5 million with 2 armed guards 24/7.

Solid.

marty
Solid.

Safe!

marty

marty
Solid.

Safe!

White!