As the latest step in a process with profound implications for Macalester, faculty and staff members of the Strategic Directions Implementation Task Forces have been holding open forums to present their preliminary work to the campus community. The task forces are addressing issues as complex and diverse as the housing crisis, recruitment of students of color and the role of multiculturalism in the curriculum.

The forums took place Monday, April 8 and Monday, April 15. The first was well-attended by students, faculty and staff. The second took place after the spring weather arrived, and only five students attended.

Last year, a committee of students, faculty and staff, with community input, drafted a report on Macalester’s Strategic Directions. The report was meant to determine where the community wants Macalester to go in the coming years. This year, the implementation of Task Force committees are assigned the task of determining what the Strategic Directions mean in practice for the curriculum, admissions, campus facilities, resource use, institutional identity and the overall student learning experience. No decisions have yet been made, and all members of the Macalester community are invited to participate in the discussion (see list of task forces, chairs and student representatives, page 3).

This article will focus on the task forces that presented April 8. Next week we will summarize the activities of the task forces that presented April 15.

Curriculum: The task force on Academic Quality and Structure has been discussing controversial moves to cut costs, possible changes in course requirements, and the structure of interdisciplinary programs.

The task force recently distributed a letter to faculty entitled “Challenging Choices Ahead” (it can be found online at www.macalester.edu/taskforce). The letter outlines some options “to address the fiscal reality of the next 5-10 years.”

According to the letter, faculty salaries at Macalester were in 1997 at the median or higher compared to the 40 colleges to which Mac compares itself. Recently they have dropped to the fourth quartile. “It does … seem imperative that we stop the downward trend in faculty salaries before we plummet below all of our comparison colleges,” the letter states.

Options considered in the letter include increasing gifts, increasing tuition, becoming need-aware for a small number of students, decreasing the number of students allowed to study abroad, and increasing the student-faculty ratio from 10:1 to 11:1. Many of these options, especially the possibility of becoming need-aware, are controversial, and the letter cites many concerns that accompany each of these options.

“The facts and choices outlined above illustrate the reality, with which we must deal,” the letter states. “At this point, it is important to remember that this is only a discussion; no decisions have been made.”

The task force is also discussing adding a two-course humanities requirement, a math requirement, and changes in the diversity requirement, among their curricular changes.

The task force, which is chaired by Biology Professor Lin Aanonsen, was instructed to comment on academic program structure, and has discussed potential changes to interdisciplinary programs. A possibility is creating a Multicultural Studies program. Comparative North American Studies and African American Studies, currently both minors, would both fall into this category, but would retain their separate identities. One would become a major.

Facilities: The task force on facilities is addressing two issues: the renovations of the Athletic facilities and the Janet Wallace Center, and possible expansion of residential facilities. The task force is also supposed to look at the potential for “green” building design.

“Green building design basically boils down to just good design,” said Mark Dickinson, director of Physical Plant and the task force chair, at the open forum. Treasurer Craig Aase added that the renovation of Kagin was “green” because the old building was re-used, instead of demolished. Dickinson added that the windows and insulation in Kagin are also energy efficient.

Student Learning Environment: The task force on the student learning environment was supposed to address “everything that happens to students outside of class,” David Lanegran, task force chair and Geography Professor, said at the open forum. This includes housing, athletic facilities and Campus Programs.

Regarding housing, Lanegran said he did not think that the lack of dorm space was a problem until his class conducted a project and he found out how much time students spend in dorm rooms.

“I was astounded,” he said. “I always wondered where the students were but I never imagined they were in dorm rooms.”

The task force is trying to find new housing options. It is also looking at making athletic facilities more open and accessible to non-athletes.

Student comments focused on the lack of a place for students to congregate and hang out, even within the new campus center.