Spring Break
Teachers are our priority
by Michael Perloff
Op-Ed | 11/25/08
Posted online at 3:08 AM EST on 11/25/08
Hurricane Mortgage Crisis has made landfall in Waltham. With a $10 million budget shortage and a defunct pool, Brandeis faces an unprecedented economic crisis. Even if the University receives assistance from one of its many generous benefactors, it will still need to make some sacrifices.
As the challenges mount, we, the students, should embrace the opportunities that emerge in times of hardship. Instead of just accepting the new restrictions on our college experience, we should find a way to help the members of our community whose lives will be most drastically affected by this budgetary crisis.
The great casualties of the economic storm are the faculty and staff members who will soon be unemployed. Cutting staff, particularly faculty lecturers, is always the last resort of any academic institution. Nevertheless, highly qualified and highly loyal people will be without jobs by this time next year.
The University is asking a lot of the student body too. Our sacrifices, while not as severe, begin in the classroom, where the University has placed a hiring freeze on faculty positions. If the University's financial situation does not improve, then it may ask us to forego scholarships, diverse food choices and other important parts of our college experience.
Not only does this mean that the University will not add any additional professors, it also means that the school will not replace any faculty members who retire, take a sabbatical or are forced to leave. As the faculty shrinks, the course offerings will have to follow suit. The disappearance of the USEM will only be the first.
The swim program is yet another sacrifice. If the University's financial state is forcing it to fire faculty, then it clearly doesn't have the money to repair the pool. Without training facilities, the future of the swim team remains in question.
For some, these sacrifices may be too much. Swimmers are some of the students most devastated by the current crisis. Swimmer Herbie Rosen '12 seemed frustrated by the indeterminate status of his team, yet acknowledged that "a college is based on academics first," and that people's livelihoods come before the pool.
As the challenges mount, we, the students, should embrace the opportunities that emerge in times of hardship. Instead of just accepting the new restrictions on our college experience, we should find a way to help the members of our community whose lives will be most drastically affected by this budgetary crisis.
The great casualties of the economic storm are the faculty and staff members who will soon be unemployed. Cutting staff, particularly faculty lecturers, is always the last resort of any academic institution. Nevertheless, highly qualified and highly loyal people will be without jobs by this time next year.
The University is asking a lot of the student body too. Our sacrifices, while not as severe, begin in the classroom, where the University has placed a hiring freeze on faculty positions. If the University's financial situation does not improve, then it may ask us to forego scholarships, diverse food choices and other important parts of our college experience.
Not only does this mean that the University will not add any additional professors, it also means that the school will not replace any faculty members who retire, take a sabbatical or are forced to leave. As the faculty shrinks, the course offerings will have to follow suit. The disappearance of the USEM will only be the first.
The swim program is yet another sacrifice. If the University's financial state is forcing it to fire faculty, then it clearly doesn't have the money to repair the pool. Without training facilities, the future of the swim team remains in question.
For some, these sacrifices may be too much. Swimmers are some of the students most devastated by the current crisis. Swimmer Herbie Rosen '12 seemed frustrated by the indeterminate status of his team, yet acknowledged that "a college is based on academics first," and that people's livelihoods come before the pool.
Be the first to comment on this story