President Brian Rosenberg has commenced his second year in office with the announcement of an ambitious and substantial agenda.

In an unusual move, Rosenberg outlined his major priorities for the year during his remarks at the semester’s first Faculty Meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 8.

Throughout his speech, Rosenberg talked about the importance of clarifying and strengthening Macalester’s institutional identity in order to successfully attract high-quality students, improve our academic program and strengthen ties with alumni donors.

Rosenberg concluded his remarks with perhaps the most controversial of his announcements, his initiative to re-examine the structure of financial aid. He referred to the Resources and Planning Committee’s (RPC) 72 page report, completed last Spring, which recommended a shift from need-blind to need-aware admissions in response to ballooning financial aid spending.

“We need to…find an appropriate and sustainable balance at Macalester between the goal of access and the goal of academic excellence, “ Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg also stated his commitment to the curricular renewal process, which the Educational Policy and Governance Committee (EPAG) has worked on over the past several years. He said that the curriculum (that is, all requirements and required courses) can and should better reflect the school’s specific identify as defined by the current group of faculty.

Rosenberg said he would act on suggestions from the 2001-2002 Task Force for Institutional Identity that recommended that Macalester more fully utilize its urban location both within the curriculum and in the way that the school represents itself. He said that he would ask each department to describe how the Twin Cities currently shape its programs and how the Cities’ resources could better be utilized in the future. “We talk about ourselves as an urban college,” he said, “But if that refers simply to the density of local coffee shops then we are missing an extraordinary opportunity.”

Rosenberg also announced the commencement of a national search to fill the position of Provost. Current Provost Dan Hornbach announced last year that he would step down after the coming Spring semester.

Rosenberg stated that he has given the Multicultural Advisory Group the charge of defining success in relation to domestic diversity. “It is time to know what we mean at Macalester when we speak about a commitment to this important component of our mission,” he said.

Rosenberg announced that work is underway to open the Center for Global Citizenship in Fall 2005. He said the Center initiative reflects his belief that the school’s commitment to Civic Engagement must begin within academic programs. Political Science Professor Andrew Latham will serve as Assistant Director to the President for Civic Engagement, Rosenberg said.

Additionally, the President announced that he is already in the early phases of raising money to build the new Athletic Facility and Fine Arts building.

Early in his remarks, Rosenberg spoke with the faculty about its role in determining the school’s direction. He expressed concern with what he views as a faculty that is “unusually fragmented” and said that this causes current students as well as alumni to have more allegiance to their departments than the school itself.

“I encourage you to think and act collectively when making decisions on behalf of the college,” Rosenberg said. He emphasized his belief in faculty governance, but added that “With this power comes the responsibility to think seriously about what is best for the college and to be prepared to acknowledge that at times the college interests may supersede or conflict with the interests of all individual departments.”

In a later interview with the Mac Weekly, Rosenberg said that he knows that the discussion of need-blind admissions (which he refers to as the “quality-–access” debate) will be the year’s greatest challenge, but he also said that it is his biggest priority. He stressed that, right now, his only fixed position is the need for dialogue. “The only response that I resist is that we can’t talk about it,” he said. “People are uninformed about what we’re doing right now, and one of my goals is to inform people. My plan for the Fall is to go right at it. We have to have conversations about it.”

He said that by the end of the year he would like to put some sort of proposal concerrning financial aid before the Board of Trustees, and that right now the recommendations put forth by the RPC are the best alternative to the current structure that he has seen.

In terms of demonstrating his commitment to domestic diversity, Rosenberg said that previous planning had not clearly defined a measure of success. He also noted that there is no direct correlation between need-blind admissions and racial or economic diversity.

Clay Steinman, Chair of the Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies Department, said that he was encouraged by the President’s initiative to set clear goals. “I would welcome a president who actively insists on developing what success would be for a multicultural community,” he said.

Stuart McDougal, Chair of the English Department, said that he was impressed with Rosenberg’s speech and the “hands-on” role that Rosenberg has taken as President. He said that he was not sure that the Multicultural Advisory Committee was the best approach to the problem of domestic diversity, however, suggesting that the President must be more active in recruiting students of color.

Steinman said that he was appreciative of Rosenberg’s efforts to unite the faculty. “I’m encouraged that he’s going to push departments and individual faculty to work together to promote the stated mission of the college,” he said.

Anthropology Department Chair Arjun Guneratne said that the bigger concern is the lack of a shared experience among students, either curricular or extracurricular. “As a result, Macalester students gravitate towards their departments and that becomes their identity,” he said. Guneratne cited pre-orientation trips like those at Dartmouth, his alma mater as one way that some schools create a sense of institutional pride and unity in an extracurricular fashion. He pointed to the “common core” at the University of Chicago as an example of a curricular means of providing a shared common experience among students

McDougal also raised concern about what he views as the urgent need for fundraising. “The one thing he didn’t announce is a capital campaign,” he said. “People see that fundraising is a real issue.” McDougal added that he would have liked to hear the President address reform of the current Tenure process.

Classics Department Chair Andy Overman, who did not attend the Faculty meeting but read the President’s remarks, echoed McDougal’s concern regarding the importance of raising money. “With respect to the issue of our duties and goals, number one has to be putting the College on firmer financial ground. This has to be front and center,” he said. “If we do not make a major capital campaign our central focus for the short term, students five to fifteen years from now will certainly be short changed.”