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12/16 message from cowen

 
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ET097



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:47 pm    Post subject: 12/16 message from cowen Reply with quote

Message from President Cowen - December 16, 2005 - 10 a.m.

Good Morning:

It has now been one week since the Board of Administrators unanimously approved the historic plan to reinvent the university in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Not surprisingly, there have been questions about the plan, ranging from the timing of its announcement, to why it was needed at all, to clarification about its specifics.

The necessity for and timing of the Renewal Plan were most perplexing to Tulanians around the country who do not have first-hand knowledge or an understanding of what New Orleans, its people and institutions, including Tulane, have been through in the last three months as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

To give you a clearer understanding and context in which these decisions were made, I refer you to a letter recently sent to Congress on behalf of virtually all of the leading higher educations associations in America.

In addition, I also suggest you read the e-mail I sent to all of our students this week regarding the Renewal Plan. These two messages may provide a richer perspective on the university's situation.

What differentiates Tulane’s actions from other institutions in the region is that Tulane decided to take a visionary, focused and expansive approach to reinvention to meet the dual objectives of maintaining our commitment to academic excellence, which has been the university’s focus for 172 years, and resolving our financial challenges.

We rejected the notion of only cutting costs across the board to survive. The reality of the current situation in New Orleans and the realization that change was inevitable required us to make quick, informed and difficult decisions. I assure you that these decisions were motivated only by the realities of our situation and not by other factors.

I realize our decisions have caused pain, anger and frustration for the people most affected by the changes. I truly sympathize and regret this. I just hope, over time, all Tulanians will come to accept and understand that this action was absolutely necessary for the university to survive and thrive in the future and continue to serve as a source of hope and renewal for our community.

Scott S. Cowen
_________________
-Elizabeth Threlkeld
Computer Engineering '06
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ET097



Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 41

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:49 pm    Post subject: and here is the letter to congress he mentioned Reply with quote

Dec. 13, 2005

Dear Senator/Representative:

Twelve Gulf Coast colleges and universities were severely ravaged last summer by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to the point that they remain closed today. All of the institutions have hopes of reopening in January and of returning to some semblance of normalcy, but that will not happen without outside assistance. I am writing on behalf of the higher education associations listed below to ask you to include support in the supplemental appropriations/Katrina Relief bill for the institutions directly affected by the back-to-back hurricanes.

In the immediate aftermath of the storms, colleges around the country banded together to take in displaced students. Congress enacted legislation to relieve these students from the hardships of loan repayment, and the Department of Education worked to get them the student aid resources they required. We greatly appreciate these efforts.

Now, however, our institutions face a different need–the need for immediate institutional assistance to help offset the costs of lost tuition revenues, to meet payroll to retain the faculty and staff without whom no reopening will be possible, and to continue with the repair and clean up that is needed to make these colleges operational once more.

This is a critical time for these institutions. Every day brings news of more program closures and layoffs of tenured faculty. This week, Southern University joined the ranks of schools that are downsizing their faculty and staff and radically reducing the number and the composition of programs the offer. Last week, similar plans were announced by Tulane, Dillard and Loyola Universities.

We have never before confronted the possible permanent loss of an entire region’s colleges and universities as a result of a natural disaster. If that were to happen, the consequences will be far-reaching. These institutions–the people they employ, the knowledge they generate, the goods and services they buy, the revenue their students and athletic events pour into their communities, the health care services they provide throughout the Gulf Coast region–are part and parcel of the region’s economic recovery and future viability.

We strongly urge you to include support for Gulf Coast colleges and universities in the supplemental appropriations package that will be considered before Congress adjourns for the year. We respectfully ask you to consider allocating $500 million to aid the recovery efforts of these colleges and universities, which represents just a small fraction of the losses these institutions have incurred. We appreciate any support you are able to provide.

Sincerely,

David Ward
President

On behalf of:

American Association of Community Colleges
American Council on Education
Association of American Universities
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
National Association of College and University Business Officers
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
United Negro College Fund
_________________
-Elizabeth Threlkeld
Computer Engineering '06
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