Save Tulane Engineering

[hpmagid]

FYI - here's the letter I sent to President Cowen. I'm a CS '84 alum...



Dear President Cowen,

I am a Comp Sci '84 grad and am discouraged, disheartened and sickened over the recent cuts made to the Engineering department. My undergraduate experience at Tulane was 4 of the best years of my life. It makes me heartsick to think that after next year, no one will be able to have an experience like I did. The faculty and staff was, and still is, amazing. Some of the same faculty are still there and my family (my husband is also a CS '84 grad) and I remain very close personally to some of that faculty. I can't thank them enough for my experience (especially Drs. Hassell and Benard, who served as my advisors, mentors and friends). They not only taught me about computer science, but taught a scared 17 year old who had never been away from home about life.

Many schools have great Liberal Arts programs, which is fine. But when a student looks for an engineering school, they look for more than a good literature class or a good psych class as an elective. They need to know that they will be on the cutting edge of new technology at a school willing to make a difference. What better place to make a difference than in New Orleans? In a city that needs all the engineers it can get for the future, why cut a program that could provide so many? If the programs have a small number of students, what better way to lure more than hands on training? I started out as a Newcomb freshman, but after taking one class in the School of Engineering and getting a taste of the faculty, students and curriculum, I quickly switched my major. That won't be happening anymore. There will be no reason to draw students in.

I am also the parent of an upcoming college freshman. It was with great sadness that I had to recommend to my daughter that she not consider Tulane as one of her choices. How could I, knowing the possibility exists that her major may be cut at any time if it is deemed too expensive? How could I spend my hard earned dollars sending her to a school where she may not be able to finish in the major she worked so hard to achieve? How could I spend the money to send her to a school that cuts major programs with the wave of a hand. The precedent has now been set. Any major or school may be cut off without warning to students or to tenured professors who have made it their lifetime career to help Tulane become a world class place for kids to learn and grow and become productive, creative, amazing adults who have contributed much to the world at large. I have had to tell my friend whose child is a National Merit Scholar and was offered a full scholarship to Tulane that I would not recommend he attend because he wants to major in Chemistry. Who knows where or when the next cut will be.

You consulted students and the Tulane society at large when you wanted to change divisions for a sports team, but didn't consult them when you want to completely eliminate entire programs. Does this show what is most important at Tulane and what kind of a school you want to become -- recognized for sports, but not world class academic programs? One of my daughter's friends has signed to play baseball for Tulane next year. Luckily, baseball wasn't cut. My excitement for him diminished, though, when I realized that this very intelligent young man may want to be an engineer. You will also be losing some standing pledges, as my pledge was focused on the School of Engineering. I will now have to refocus my pledge (small, though it may be - later, to grow larger) to the effort to save the school that I loved so much.

After graduating from Tulane, I worked for a very large, prestigious, world wide corporation. Whenever a negative occurred, such as a large group being eliminated or transferred or a layoff, it was always spun into a perceived positive. An "opportunity" for the company to grow or how great it would be for the bottom line. There was no "opportunity" for the affected. There was no "opportunity" for those left behind, only the realization that the other shoe would eventually fall and they would be next. Reinstate the School of Engineering. Don't leave those left to wonder when their program will get cut. Why would a professor chose to bring their research dollars to Tulane when their life's work could be eliminated without warning? What will it take? How many dollars do you need?

My niece is a Tulane junior and will be returning to finish her degree. Hopefully, I'll be able to see her graduate, but how sad a return it will be, knowing that everything that I loved about Tulane is changed or non-existent.

Heidi Magid
BSCS 1984
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Heidi Pohl Magid
CS '84

[jmikowski]

Wow...is all I have to say. Thank you for your support.
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- Justin Mikowski
Computer Engineering '07
"Non sibi Sed Suis" -Not for one's self but for one's people.

[ET097]

Thank you for sharing your letter with us. I especially agree that it is sad to be returning to Tulane, when everything I loved about the school is changing.
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-Elizabeth Threlkeld
Computer Engineering '06

[Scott Kensell]

i agree with jmikowski... wow... a very moving letter...

I think it is sad when we have to start considering Tulane as a "business" just trying to stay competitive. Sure it is a business in the sense that it employs teachers and staff, but it is much, much more than a business. I think the Tulane board has forgotten that the main goal of a university is to pass on knowledge to its students, not to make money. Sure Tulane may be in debt because of Katrina, but that doesn't mean it should sacrifice a few students for the betterment of the whole - all students should equally be a first priority...

I mean even from the business perspective it doesn't make sense. The students are customers; we pay for a service. Why should customers be hurt because of this? A business does not profit from hurting some of its customers so that other customers can be happy. That's Business Ethics 101.

As an analogy, consider the gas companies after Katrina... they had to jack prices up or else they would've lost profits. If they were to do what Tulane is doing, they would be forcing the Eastern U.S. to leave the country so that the West could get normal prices. They would say there's a gas shortage, so you've gotta go. But obviously they didn't do that, they raised prices. It frustrated a lot of people, but it is still better than the alternative where so many people are extremely pissed off...

I mean I know Tulane can't simply just "raise prices" like a gas company (or else we might be paying 100G for tuition), but that is not my point. All I'm trying to say is that the customers (students) are the first priority, and no one student is more important than another. How can Tulane tell its engineering students to leave so that the others can be happy? It's just simply not right...

I guess I'm just asking for a renewal plan that frustrates everybody a little, rather than a plan that severely punishes and pisses off a fraction of us... We accept that a price must be paid for this catastrophe, but let's all pay an equal price rather than the Engineering students pay for everything...

Wow... i have been ranting on forever... I am sorry to those who have actually taken the time to read this because you are probably unsatisfied at the moment, haha... I consider this post more for me than for everybody else... I'm just trying to vent my anger here, and state my opinion... in which case this is in the wrong forum....
...whatever...
peace
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Scott Kensell
Freshman EE major

[ggreen]

[Scott Kensell]

ya that's a good point... I mean I haven't actually taken business ethics 101, and I know practically nothing about business for that matter... but I guess I'm just approaching it from a philosophical perspective questioning if this decision is ethically right... (which I believe it is not)
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Scott Kensell
Freshman EE major