Bridge Plan meets support and caution

A new vice president, construction projects, and the hiring of new faculty lines were all part of an announcement made by President Timothy Lannon, S.J., during the winter recess. After a year of economic challenges, though, many in the university community remain hopeful but reserved in their expectations for 2010.

“Obviously things are not what we wanted them to be or what they should be,” said Provost Brice Wachterhauser, Ph.D. “And I think that the email that Father Lannon sent around is meant to communicate that.”

With almost all of its 80 goals set to be completed by May, many administrators consider Plan 2010 an overall success. According to Wacterhauser, however, two of those goals will not be met within the original timeframe: the building of new first-year student housing and the hiring of 55 new faculty lines. As of January, only 32 faculty lines have been created.

Both of these shortcomings are addressed in the Bridge Plan. Along with renovations to Merion Hall and completion of the Learning Commons expansion to the Drexel Library, the plan proposes the hiring of 30 new faculty lines over the next six years and the construction of additional first-year student housing.

Still, administrators said that the move to develop the Bridge Plan, along with the decision to create a new vice president position, does not indicate a failure on the part of Plan 2010 or the university’s fiscal performance in 2009. Wachterhauser, Vice President for Planning Kathleen Gaval, and Vice President for Financial Affairs Lou Mayer all stated that the university was on track for its original goal to raise $150 million by May 2011, and that Plan 2010 was successful.

“[The Bridge Plan is] going beyond the original Plan 2010 goals,” said Gaval. “Basically, it’s a reassessment of where we are, fields that we’d like to start new majors, all that is coming out through the planning process… It did give us this ability to take that first step in kind of a more aggressive way, frankly.”

In addition to proposing four specific projects in the Bridge Plan, Lannon also announced the creation of a new Interim Senior Vice President position, to be filled this week by former Board of Trustees President John Smithson.

Though the new position is technically temporary, the position is most likely going to become a permanent part of the university’s structure in the future, according to Wachterhauser.

The vice president position will also come with a paycheck. “[It’s] a paid position, like all employees at the university,” Wachterhauser said. “But we don’t give out information about salaries, OK? That would be true of any position.”

On Jan. 26, 2010, Lannon addressed the Faculty Senate on a number of issues, including the changes proposed for the administration with the hiring of Smithson and in the Bridge Plan.

“[Lannon] was brilliant. He’s a very, very smart man and he’s really got a way with a crowd,” said Dennis McNally, S.J., president of the Faculty Senate. McNally said that the president’s attention to fundraising was an important part of the job, and that creating a new vice president position serves that need in many ways.

“[Lannon’s] recognition that the place needs another vice president is an administrative decision on his part and the part of the Board of Trustees. What it will mean, practically, is a difference in who’s lined up under whom. The flow chart changes,” McNally said. “But what it means politically, only history will tell.”

Although administrators remain hopeful for the success of their fundraising campaigns and the initiatives of the Bridge Plan, many of the economic challenges of 2009 still remain in play for 2010. Wachterhauser said that the departmental budget cuts that began last year would remain “for the short-term future at least,” but added that there would not be any additional cuts. A “modest increase” in student tuition should also be expected for the 2010-2011 academic year, according to Wachterhauser.

For Gaval, budget cuts are a necessary part of the university’s operation plans, especially during the current campaign time for Plan 2010 and the Bridge Plan.

“A lot of things that we want to do are going to be based on reallocation…without a whole lot of new funding,” Gaval said. “In order to keep those tuition increases modest, we’re going to have to really force ourselves to look inside and let go of things that are no longer quite as productive or perhaps necessary, you know, technology changes, we can offer services differently. So we’re really going to work to identify ways to be more productive and more efficient, effective too. I mean, it’s a good time to take stock.”

While the restructuring of Saint Joseph’s administration may be a departure from the university’s existing hierarchy, Mayer stated that it is commonplace at other comparable higher education institutions.

“One of the things that might be helpful to convey to the community—not just the students but really everyone here…—is [that] what is happening here is fairly consistent with what is happening throughout the higher ed world,” Mayer said. “If you were to poll other colleges and universities, particularly mid-size…privates like our university, you would find that over the past year or so almost all of them…have been doing very similar things. They’ve throttled back on capital spending, they’ve been either freezing or pulling back on hiring, and they’ve been doing enough freezes or reductions in pay raises. And all three of those things we’ve done.”