2008 Woodie Awards
Weisbuch's openness is best thing
Lead Editorial
President Bob Weisbuch has a good thing going. In his State of the University address, Weisbuch challenged the establishment of liberal arts. He proposed rearranging academic departments, rethinking breadth requirements and he questioned the concept of a major.
And we've seen that he packs more than ideas. In his first year, he eliminated the SAT requirement. In his second, he suspended admissions to the history and English programs in the Caspersen School for Graduate Studies. These are not small actions.
And with his first three initiatives' creating centers, the BA/MA program and the Drew National Faculty--it's clear Weisbuch will continue to shake things up.
But Weisbuch also knows the importance of keeping the community involved. He opens his ideas to the community and solicits its input--sometimes. This year is crucial for Drew�s future. It�s essential that any student who has an opinion speak out. Check out Weisbuch�s full speech on the Drew website.
For The Acorn, the examination of general education requirements, the BA/MA program and the build-up of the career center deserve the most attention. Drew students are academically driven and we want ownership of our experience at Drew.
On the flip side, The Acorn doesn't see how Weisbuch will pay for these programs. He announced that he won't create new programs without new resources. But to reach our goals, Weisbuch needs to let Provost Pamela Gunter-Smith take care of business here, while he gets off-campus fundraising. He also needs to echo his policies of openness in all aspects of his administration. This means keeping the budget process public.
President Weisbuch, we have just one more piece of advice: Make your methods match your message. If you want to talk about relaxing Drew's structure, don't deliver the message in a formal manner. The best part of yesterday's speech was when you candidly responded to questions about Drew's future.
The Class of 2020 will be better off for these initiatives, but let�s not forget about the classes that are graduating in the next three years. Show us results too.