View source for Lafayette’s Lament- Part Two

Compiled by [[Tony Brooke]] and [[Holly Epstein]] with [[Mary Papadopoulos]]

from [[The Vid]]: [[Volume Two]], [[Volume_Two#Issue_8|Issue 8]], 4/5/91

(…Continued from [[Lafayette’s Lament- Part One]], with details on the Meeting and President Rotberg's opening remarks.)

== Q and A ==
Student:  The question I have is, why has Lafayette fallen behind so far in all these areas you’ve talked about...in classes available in certain departments, in our library, why is it necessary to take the big jump in this big year because we’ve fallen behind?  Where did we start going wrong?  

President:  That’s a very good question.  I can’t answer it.  I wasn’t here and I don’t know the question...But I think the important one I can answer, the central one:  why not?  And I think there are two answers to that…is we should be doing far more than we can do now.  That is there is a lot to be done.  We can’t do it all.  We can’t deal with the book deficit in the library we can’t deal with the programming deficit in various areas...we must...we can’t do it all in one year.  But this at least gives us a running start.  Now, why on one hand we may have fallen behind in the library--I think we have and that may have come about for a variety of reasons--in any event we are behind by our own standards and by national standards.  We are far ahead in the Farinon Center.  We will have a magnificent state-of-the-art building.  Very large and that you can’t have it without running it and therefore you have to heat it and we have to provide programming so it can be used properly.  And that’s another reason for the jumpstart.  

Student:  Hello, President Rotberg, how are you?  I’d just like to start and urge my students just to hear me for a second--it’s not a quick question.  I’d just like to reiterate once again the classic, quotable quote, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy.”  My problem with your budget is this, is the flex dollar system.  OK--the tuition hike is fine, it’s happening all over the country, we can’t argue that.  We choose to go to school here.  However, I’d like to read you a statement by the National Association of Scholars.  It’s called “The Wrong Way to Reduce Campus Tension.”  And I’d really like you to hear it if you could.  It states that “tolerance is a core value of academic life, as is civility.  College authority should ensure that these values prevail.  Tolerance involves a willingness, not to suppress, but to allow divergent opinions.  Thus, sensitivity training programs designed to cultivate correct thought about complicated normative social and political issues do not teach tolerance, but impose orthodoxy.  And when these programs favor manipulative psychological technique over honest discussion, they also undermine the intellectual purposes of higher education and anger those subjected to them.”

Now let me go one step further and say that what’s going to happen, if you say that I have to eat in Farinon Center with money that you have no LEGAL right to, literally:    “The discriminatory enforcement or implication and implementation of campus regulations can only sap the legitimacy of academic authority and create a pervasive sense of mistrust.  Indeed, should students feel that repeated violations not only go unpunished, but are actually appeased, the reckless may be tempted to take matters into their own hands.  The final stage of discredit will be reached when students and faculty see in such appeasement attempts by administrators to justify their own programs and campus reform.”  My question to you is this:  Why are the Trustees going to accept an absolutely ludicrous and absolutely unfair, discriminatory program which in my mind only comes from economic greed and trouble?  [heavy applause]

President:  The Trustees will do what’s right for the College, in their wisdom, and they will also remember--and I wish I could quote it to you--they’ll remember what Robert Paine said about the common good.  They will also remember Marbury vs. Madison.  They will think about political theory.  They will talk about the very fundamental basis of a private college where a group of faculty and administrators and trustees set to provide the possibility of community and they do it by providing an education.  Then sometime in the 19th century they decided that residential is a good idea, having residences.  And the students of that era wanted and off and on, they want it, when residences are provided, students clamor for food services...they get it one way or another.  Ultimately we reach a point where your arguments may be suitable, but they have been by and large rejected by higher education, by and large.  And we already have a system where we have availability of dining services available on campus provided by fraternities as well as by the College.  Both those options will continue.  There will be, unlike most colleges, fraternities will continue to have their kitchens, continue to serve.  They will presumably be able to, under the flex dollar plan, be able to find a way of continuing to charge with the dollars that students pay into fraternity meal plans, plus flex dollars.  In virtually all..no...in most cases, those charges will be less than the total board plan that you all paid as freshmen and the new freshmen will pay.  The greater good here is the civility of the College.  The greater good is having people using the College.  If...and there’s a flip side to this:  if --and this is why most colleges have done this and perhaps why this college has not--if the economics of having food as a totally individual discretionary lock-in, could it become very attractive and might find ourselves paying more on the tuition side, because ultimately this college exists for the students of as many different kinds of backgrounds as we can muster and bring to the College, and we have to find a way to provide you with the highest quality education to give value added to your degree, and that must come through the total economic picture.  Each(...)college like this really doesn’t stand on its own.  (...)

Student:  Will the complete budget be made available to students before it’s finally passed?

President:  The Trustees have to see it first and must PASS it first.  That’s the way it SHOULD be done.  The trustees use their discretion....You won’t have a final budget until the Trustees’ approval.

Student:  When was the last time trustees talked to the students, and found out what the students wanted?

President:  I assume they would do this periodically.  [laughter] They meet with your student leaders every Trustee meeting.  Unlike many places that I’ve known, Gregg  actually has a vote in Trustee committee meetings.  That’s very unusual to have students in the full Trustee meetings. (…)

[Questions pertaining to forced community, diversity, and the recruitment of minority students made possible by higher tuition, as said by President Rotberg.  Call to Order necessary.]

Student:  Excuse me, increasing tuition is going to actually assist us in gaining more minority students, is that what you’re saying? [applause]

President:  If we recapture proportioning more of our increased dollars for financial aid, it should.

Student:  We would not need increased financial aid if tuition was not going up.

[Concerns raised about the need for better programs for and retention of minority students, followed by vigorous applause.]

Student:  Your agenda, sir, as you just enumerated, seems extremely ambitious for one year.  I hope you’ll bear with me as I ask a two-part question.  Although I don’t understand why you cannot disclose how much the budget will be going up, I think we’re pretty much aware that the figure is about ten percent, which is about $1500.  And we’re aware of that.  Yet this has not been OFFICIALLY disclosed to us.  It seems that you’re waiting till we can’t transfer, until we’re preoccupied with exam time, and incoming freshman will not be made aware of this decision until it is too late, when they have already matriculated.  And I don’t understand why we can’t know at all and tell our parents, until the Trustees have already voted on it and made it signed, sealed, and delivered.  The second question is, don’t you consider it nepotism that in hiring a new [Dean of the College] who not coincidentally is from Tufts, [and a] high-cost provost, and you’re also giving her husband a full-time visiting professorship? [applause]

President:  (…)  That’s true.  The search committee of faculty and administrators and the whole campus community saw fit to interview candidates and recommend candidates to me. 

Student Government President:  But not any students?

President:  I didn’t use the word ”student.”

Student:  The college community?!  We’re not part of the college community? [Call to Order]

[President Rotberg describes the duties of the provost and the makeup of the selection committees.]

Student:  I’m sorry, sir, but you didn’t answer any of my questions about why you didn’t tell us about the tuition going up.

President:  The Trustee meeting will occur this weekend and...

Student:  Why can’t we know before they vote and it’s signed, sealed, and delivered?

President: ...the figures will be released.  It’s their prerogative, they’re the Trustees of the College.  

Student:  I’m not asking for the student body to be able to vote on it.  Why can’t we KNOW about it so we can tell our parents? WHY?  WHAT IS THE REASON?

President:  Your parents will be informed when there is... [general uproar and Call to Order]

Student:  WHY DON’T WE KNOW BEFORE IT?  WHY?!

President:  A:  We don’t know what the final figures will be...

Student:  What about a proposal?

President:  It is highly inappropriate to disclose figures before the Trustees have a chance to see them, deliberate upon them, vote upon them, and consider whether they like the figures.  [general dissent]  (...)

Student:  [Tape becomes difficult to understand at parts.  Paraphrase:  We are here at Lafayette because we are supposedly potential leaders.  We are told that all the time.  Yet, our input is not solicited actively nor our opinions heeded.  President Rotberg responds by discussing possibilities for next year, in terms of student input.]

Student:  (Vivek Gambhir ‘91, voting member of Academic Council) The way Academic Council works on the budget is that, they form a subcommittee of faculty members and a student to look at the budget.  This year also, a committee was formed with three or four faculty members and one student on that committee.  In spite of repeated reminders, the student was not invited for a single [one] of the subcommittee meetings.   If the students are disregarded to such a large extent, when you now list the three student members and eighteen faculty members on that committee, how do you expect to get correct input? [applause]

President:  I don’t think it was known by the chairman of Academic Council or myself until the very last meeting that the student had not been invited due to oversight to the subcommittee. [loud dissent, Call to Order]  Neither of us had anything to do with that, and neither of us knew about it and both of us before it.

Student:  (Jason Weiner, class of ‘94 Student Government Rep.)  I chose to come here because of the Lafayette that existed.  You made all these changes.  Is this the Lafayette I asked for?

President:  Well, it’s true that it MAY change in some SUBTLE way [loud laughter and dissent], but I don’t...

Student:  Absurd.  Whoa.  [Call to Order, Call to Order]

President:  You’re fooling yourself if you think that any single administrator, any president, has the chance of really altering the fabric of Lafayette College.  On the other hand, Lafayette College’s real genius, for a century and a half, has been to evolve.  Colleges evolve or they die.  This College is evolving every moment. (...)

We don’t do our job if we let you remain complacent, if we don’t open new vistas, if we don’t challenge you, and if our teaching faculty doesn’t stimulate you 98% of the time. [More Rotberg rhetoric and a couple of student questions concerning such issues as financial aid and faculty salary and benefits.] 

Student:  (…) I went to every single one of your talks in the fall.  Not once did you say, “Oh, by the way, I’d like to increase tuition...and implement a flex dollar plan.  You had to be thinking about it back then in the fall.  If you really wanted student input about this whole thing and find out what we wanted, you would have asked us at those great little forums you had back in the fall. [applause]

President:  Had we been talking or had I been thinking budget, I think it would have come up.  Those forums were about other issues.  I mentioned, though...[marked dissent]

[Discussion of how many students receive financial aid and how many pay for at least part of their tuition, demonstrated by a show of hands.  The latter show was more numerous.]

Student:  You say that you want to hire new faculty to stimulate our minds, yet you’re letting two of the best professors who stimulated my mind, Falcinelli and Best, leave after this semester? [applause]

President:  I heard a rumor 10 days ago that Professor Falcinelli has resigned.  I don’t know anything about it nor have I had direct conversation with him about it. [dissent]  The other person?  

Students:  Professor Best!  In Engineering. 

President:  (with prompting from Dean Kissiah, Acting V.P. Zimmerman, or Mr. Carman)  He retired.   So, uh, some of us don’t even know, so we’ll have to look into it. [loud dissent]

Student:  Who makes the decisions if the President isn’t even in on it enough so that he can inform the students?

President:  We don’t make decisions about people who resign.  They resign. 

Student:  No, I’ve talked to him.  He wants to be here more than any place in the world.  His father taught here.  He loves this place.  He goes out and talks to us on the street.  He walks around the campus.  He’s here from 7 to 10 at night.  No other professor is here from 7 to 10 that I know of.

President:  They all are. [loud dissent and laughter.  Call to Order] 

[Discussion of lack of opportunity due to imposed College regulations and off-campus housing.  Kissiah called upon by Rotberg to discuss housing and dining plans.]

Student:  [Tape difficult to understand.  Paraphrase:  If alumni could be persuaded to contribute to the construction of Farinon and Ramer, why couldn’t they also been tapped to finance them adequately so as to cover initial operations?]  Why can’t we, for at least the first year, see if the food plan fills on its own.  Let it be competitive, and if it’s good, it’s gonna work.   And if it stinks, you guys are gonna buy it, and you deserve it. [laughter and applause]

President:  We have an endowment for the maintenance of Farinon which doesn’t even begin to cover a lot of the things we mentioned tonight.  It is theoretically possible to persuade those of you who are like you who have graduated to subsidize the food in the Farinon Center, but as a development issue that’s probably not very likely.  If any one of you could persuade alumni to subsidize....

Student:  You said in “Hill to Home,” the letter that gets sent home to parents, “A Message from the President,” and you mentioned before something along these lines....“We will want to try to enhance our real and PERCEIVED [emphasis added] educational value...in order to deliver added value to our students in turn.”  Now, you mentioned the evolution of the College.  It seems to me that this is a lot less than evolution and a lot closer to selective breeding.  Evolution is a LONG term process.  Evolution is not a three- to four-year plan.   A confidential memo was given [anonymously] to the staff of The Vid [addressed to Rotberg, written by] David Johnson, the former Vice President of College Relations, dated August 30, 1990.  It said that he expressed “concern over the plan we discussed to move quickly, perhaps as early as next year, to institute a major change in student dining programs....I do appreciate Herm [Kissiah]’s concerns about the need to instill a stronger sense of community, however, I have come to appreciate that changes which imply major and rapid shifts in our campus culture should be orchestrated with extreme care.”  He then went on, “Independent of how the change is justified, the initial perception among our alumni/ae (and students, I gather) is that the real objective is to undercut the financial underpinnings of the Greek system and in so doing, prescribe the demise of the system.”  Later, he said that “Once our constituencies have ‘bought’ such a vision, then may be the time to introduce carefully such changes.”  Now, do you think you have bitten off more than you can chew?  Do you think that you’re forcing this college, in a short time, to undergo a major change and compare to colleges which we really cannot compare to yet, and if such changes were to go through, don’t you think it might be a little  wiser to take a little bit of a long term stance?  Do you think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?  Also, do you see yourself as a [scholar] or a politician? [applause]

President:  I don’t think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew as a college.  I also think…I also think it’s…I also…I take great offense at anyone, particularly students, suggesting that this college cannot be considered among the great liberal arts colleges.  No, this not only is, it will continue to be, and the point is to strengthen it at a time when we in the East, we in the small colleges in the East, are under enormous pressure from two sides of the angle.  One, there are many more colleges competing for the best and the brightest, of which you are among.  There are these same colleges AND universities competing for the best and the brightest of the new faculty.  We have to be…we have to remain competitive or we stagnate.  We have to remain as top-quality as we have been for generations.  So, the answer is no.  We don’t bite off more than we can chew.  We have to chew as much as we propose or even more in future years because, otherwise the light on the hill begins to dim. 

Student:  Do you think that these changes are being done at the expense of present students, and the benefits are only going to be reaped by future students?

President:  I think that’s a very legitimate question, and I thought a lot about that...and the answer....I would love to spend four or five hours persuading you, each of you individually, and the answer is determinatedly no.  Why?  In brief:  [pause] The...the...All of us have gone through...Have come to undergraduate colleges, just as I did many years ago, and we all come to get education.  We didn’t know, and I didn’t know when I started, and I still don’t know yet precisely what it was that you wanted.  An education, a good education.  It’s...it’s...it’s our job as a college to provide the resources to...to make it possible for each of us to find that as we go through college.  B:  to make it possible for your degrees to be more and more, the longer you are out of college as well as in it, and the only way to do that is to keep this strong and vibrant as a college, and I feel very passionate about that.

[Professor Weiner then elaborates at length about the rising value of a Lafayette diploma, and increasing the college’s status, as seen by a faculty member; also about the hired provost, her husband, and his published books and scholarship.  Student speculation about the tangibility of the prestige and reputation associated with a high-priced degree.  Student rebuttal to Prof. Weiner--agreement on the importance of improving education, but stressing that the issue here is freedom.  Similar questions and answers follow.  

Discussion follows on the topic of adding faculty members to strengthen the INDS courses and add different courses.]

== Q and A, part 2 ==
Student:  I think we’re just losing sight of one of the more practical aspects of this, and that is:  between the projected $1500 tuition increase, and $550 mandatory per semester, that would make $1100, you’re talking about $2600 mandatory increase in student payments.  And I think--I could be way off base here--but we’re going through a pretty serious economic crisis now and I think a lot of people are going to have a lot of trouble trying to pay that kind of increase in one year.  I just think it’s too much--and turn up the tape recorders for the Board of Trustees!  I think that’s one of the biggest problems.  It’s just too much to ask of people at this time.  We all want a better education.  We all want the most that we can get.  It’s just a horrible time, and I think a lot of people are really going to be strapped because of these increases.

President:  I think you’re absolutely right, and I think the question we keep coming back to is, why do we have to catch up now?  And the answer is, we have to begin to do some catch up some time.  And we’re doing some and a way, I mean, the suggestion here, which is a real libertarian view, is to put it all on the freshmen.  I don’t think that’s fair because then their costs would be astronomical, and we really...that would be... it’s fairer to share the burden across the classes and to share the burden with alumni who are contributing to the endowment and to annual giving,  which runs in the 2.5 to 3 million [dollar] range, from alumni.  And although many of you will shake your heads now, I hope I can count on 50% of you, at least, contributing in future years.

Student:  Good luck. [other dissent] 

Student:  (member of ABC, the Association of Black Collegians)  I want to know how do you plan to make me, an African-American student, happy at Lafayette through increasing tuition?  How do you plan to gain more minority students?  What are you going to offer?  How are you going to make Lafayette attractive so that black students, Asian students, Hispanic students are going to want to come here and remain here.  I want to know HOW.  Just tell me--convince me, because you’re not convincing me.  All you’re doing is getting me very angry.  Every time we ask you a question, you just speak around it.  I want an answer.

President:  The answer, and I think we have to really listen very carefully, the answers are two:  one, if Professor Weiner’s right, and I happen to think he is, we’re going to increase the value-added education for everybody who attends here.  That ought to make you, if not happy, at least respectful of what’s happening.  Now, the second part of it is, how do I persuade you?  I have no idea.  I don’t know how I can, but I will try, and I’ll try one-on-one and two-on-two and...

[Students voice many concerns entailing the feasibility of the Black Studies Minor, freedom to congregate at the off-campus ABC house.  President Rotberg claims to be trying in the housing problem.  He then addresses the issue of minority faculty, of which the number will double next year.  Followed by student question over the school calendar proposals, including spring break.  Eric Abbott, class of ‘92 Student Government Representative, questions the source of money for purchasing the new Presidential house.  Followed by student conjecture as to where our money is exactly going and what benefits will be reaped from such steep tuition increases.]

President:  I’d like...I hope...if we can persuade student government to do it and the faculty to like it and the administrators to like it and the Trustees to approve it, we might add ANOTHER [emphasis added] taxing authority to the other taxing authorities and let student government, within limits, set its own tax rate.  And then you would have to be closer to spending your student activity dollars on things that you vote for or vote against.  I hope that’s one of the things that might happen in the future.  [He next talks about the history of college facilities and government funding.]

Student:  [Jon Fast, co-editor of The Vid] I don’t think any of the students are questioning your desire to increase the prestige of the College, to make this college a better place.  I think what we’re questioning is your tactics, your agenda for doing so.  It seems that no one knows about the proposed increase, purported to be $1500.  No one has found out until recently what this flex dollar thing is all about.  The tuition increase isn’t going to be announced until after spring break, when students really don’t have time to transfer, to change their mind about places.  It seems that, to me, it’s this covert nature of making decisions, and I question exactly what the agenda is behind this.  As a matter of fact, we’ve become aware--some of the people and I on the staff of The Vid--that there are three tenure cases, of three professors who are up for tenure.  These cases have been in abeyance--which is postponement--since January, which is the usual decision time for faculty to find out whether they’ve received tenure or not.  Well, the faculty committee has done all its work on these cases, but what’s needed on these cases is your work, and it’s been postponed since January.  Considering these professors have been waiting since January, how do you justify spending spring break in Hawaii and California?  These professors are still waiting.  So, it’s this covertness, and--what exactly are you trying to pull? [applause]

President:  Fortunately, I like the question because it’s...Jon knows it’s really so distorted.  The...in fact, the most important thing I did in Hawaii was to visit Mr. Farinon.  Mr. Farinon is an important benefactor of this college.  Probably--I’m not sure about this--probably the greatest benefactor we’ve had in a long time.  I also visited other benefactors of the college.  Uh, I think the visit was well-spent, but I’ll have to really come back to...

Student:  Do you think those faculty members who are still waiting think the visit was well-spent?

President:  This is...I...I...wait, let me...this is...you, y’know....A good argument really has to proceed.  Now, the...the APT committee, as one member knows, is meeting tomorrow.  The process is continuing, and there have been...the committee is a very hard-pressed committee.  It’s working very hard, the provost is working very hard, and the President is working not quite so hard as they are, but working.  And those cases are still being considered.  And they will be until the Trustees decide finally, probably this weekend.  Now...wait...you had a first part...

Student:  Yeah, I was wondering, why so covert?

President:  Oh, covert, yeah.  It’s hardly covert...it’s hardly covert to meet with Academic Council about the budget--admittedly in confidence, because all budgets are developed in confidence.  From December through March.  That is not my definition of covert.  As I’ve said, I think it’s important to develop a process next year to involve more students in the process next year.

Student:  (...)You guys are not answerable to anyone.  You can come here, talk to us all night, and say,  “Oh yeah, there’s a committee talking about this, there’s a committee talking about that, we’re sort of doing this, we’re sort of doing that.”  You don’t give us real answers.  I’m just totally pissed off that we’re not getting a response here.

President:  You can attract new students, as the Director of Admissions knows, by quality, by quality, and by quality.  You cannot do it by price.  And except for the lowest level, none of you would be here if  Lafayette were not a quality institution.  

Student:  Where’s the guarantee that this tuition increase is going to increase the quality of Lafayette?

President:  OK--that’s the best question all evening.  Where’s the guarantee?  The proof is going to be in the eating, when you graduate, when the incoming freshmen graduate, when you have the absolute right to telephone, send faxes, and say the degree was less than promised.  But all previous alumni--99% of previous alumni--have said the degree is fantastic. [Elaboration on meeting with alumni and their success, thanks to Lafayette.]  And I suggest that 99% of those of you here will be saying the same thing, and if not, complain.  Complain very, very loudly.  And we’ll hear you.  [Rotberg tells students that their complaints are being factored in “100%” with regard to the Trustee vote.  Student suggests that other schools do not have mandatory, unrefundable meal plans.  Students call out names of several schools, including Boston College, SUNY-Albany, U of Delaware, Towson State University, Brown University, et al.]

Student:  [Tape volume too low to catch all words.  Paraphrase:  Mandatory cost for flex dollars is too high for students to afford.  Virtually no student can afford a fraternity meal plan in addition to $1100 of flex dollars.  It is more economical to eat on our own.  I eat for significantly less than $550 a term on my own, and more wisely.  Rotberg’s response centers on the lack of a structured weekend fraternity meal plan.  Students also counter that the restaurant businesses of Easton will be affected as well.]

Student:  President Rotberg, I’d just like to ask, you talked at length, I think, and all of us want to see the academic atmosphere of Lafayette improve--myself included even though I’m graduating, I still would like to see the prestige, even though it may not be tangible, improve.  But, how can you justify that, and say that your goal is to improve the growing experiences and the living experiences and learning experiences of the students, when you’re decreasing their freedom to choose where they eat, and the freedom to choose where they live?  That is directly, I think, contradictory to improving an environment for growth, for living, and for learning. [loud applause]

President:  We’re increasing the opportunities on campus, which [student interruption:  “There’s a big difference between on-campus living and living off-campus.  You know that.”]  I wish...I wish we could franchise or deal with the rest of Easton, but we don’t and can’t and won’t.  But it’s important to increase the opportunities on campus....Remember that those of us who are brand new were dealt a deck.  The deck included, as someone down here said, the Farinon Center, that was a building, dormitories that we’re already building.  We have to make the fullest use of those opportunities.  We will be increasing your social opportunity space by 70,000 square feet.…

Student:  But these aren’t opportunities!  These are requirements!  These are NOT opportunities!  Opportunity is based on choice.  [other student dissent and discussion of living options and arrangements]

Student:  So, give us choice.  Give us choice.  Please. [Call to Order]

Student:  [Holly Epstein, Vid staff member] I think it’s hilarious, what you just said--here’s a direct quote from you.  You said that quality, quality, quality, not price, will attract students to this school.  Which I think is hilarious because a few days ago, a Washington Post article said that the pricier colleges, and they named some prices, of which Lafayette is in the ballpark, NOT a lot less, which you would try to make us believe, are getting less and less applications...

President:    Holly, I read the article.

Student:  Well, then, they’re just saying that prices are THE major factor in decisions for high school seniors.  And, I definitely appreciate that we’re trying to make ourselves better.  But, I think it’s also hilarious that you’re talking about financial aid.  There are a lot of students who are hard pressed, who don’t get financial aid, of which I am one--I’m not a qualifying person for financial aid, and my parents are still extremely hard pressed to pay for me.  And I’m going to be paying $1500 extra, part of which is going to financial aid for other people.  I’m glad other people can get financial aid, but meanwhile, my brother may not be able to go to a school like Lafayette, and I hope you don’t expect my parents to stop paying our mortgage and move into the car, because that’s what they’re going to have to do to pay for this.

President:  I think this is a very serious issue, but let me go back...I think this has to be underlined once again.  The price break is between colleges and state universities. (...) For colleges, the kind of which we are, BELIEVE ME, we are THE LEAST EXPENSIVE of any college where most of you considered going.  COLLEGE, not university. [lengthy discussion of how much less Lafayette costs compared to other colleges.  Student discussion on how, no matter how good Lafayette is, its cost will turn away applicants.  The over-ambitious nature of the agenda.]

Student:  (...) My father said to me that if the increase is more than 8%, you might not be able to go back to Lafayette.  And, it really makes me sick. [visibly upset and choked up]  I mean, I give up so much to go here...I gave up a car...I gave up EVERYTHING!  I live in Seattle, and it’s really hard to get out here.  I pay for all my transportation. (...) Are you hearing what we’re saying?  It seems like you’re not, and I’m really worried, because I may not be able to come back here.

President:  I hear that particularly, and I hear what everyone else has said, and I think the question always is, it’s very difficult to say this, but you can’t take Lafayette in isolation.  You can’t say, “if Lafayette becomes one dollar more expensive, it’s not affordable.” (...)  [Talk about affordability, followed by discussion on the Economics and Business department and its proposed focus.] 

Student:  Alright, I’d like to know if there’s a possibility of some sort of compromise in which, if I don’t use $1500 towards the Farinon Center, will that money be transferrable to another area of expense?  (...) Or, can I get that money back?  Where is that money going?

President:  The problem, as, Dean Kissiah has said, we don’t subsidize meals from the tuition.  We also have a contract...(...) to serve the anticipated demand.  We’re trying to cut down on labor costs. (...) The answer is, the transfer out of food is going to be extremely difficult.

Student:  But could it be possible?  If I only use $1000, then I’m getting screwed out of $500.  Five hundred dollars is a lot of money to me.

President:  Well, it’s true.  My assumption, and I’ll take the blame for it, is that students do spend money on eating.  Students eat. [student rebuttal, citing the high cost of the Marquis meal plan as opposed to eating in a fraternity and on own.  Says, “I could spend [the money] more wisely on my own.] (...) 

President:  It would be very difficult to see how we can transfer those dollars....

Student:  No, it’s not.  It’s simple.  You pay your $200, you don’t use it, you take that money, and you put it toward something else.

Student:  [Says that it is easier and much more inexpensive to cook their own food.] I really don’t appreciate coming to [this] meeting, wanting to express my opinions, and having you standing up in the front, and smiling a little grin, like it’s just like things are going in one ear and out the other.  What are we going to do?  We have to directly address the Trustees because I don’t think you’re hearing us.  You stand there, you run around every question, you never answer anything directly, and you’ve got this smile and this glazed look over your face like, you don’t really care.  It’s like, “These students are going to bitch and moan, but I can do what I want and they’re going to have to deal with it.”  [loud applause]

Student:  We’ll be gone in four years anyway.  We’ll be gone soon anyway. [More student expression of dissatisfaction along the same lines.  Also, a challenge as a false assumption that Lafayette is a cheap college.  Rotberg’s rebuttal, quoting numbers, “entirely on the basis of where students cross-apply.”  Comparing prices of     “comparable” colleges, only in terms of price.  Quality not taken into consideration.] (...)

Student:  [Missey LaBov, class of ’93, Student Government Representative]  I think a lot of students came here to tell you their concerns, hoping that maybe it would help somehow.  Because we want to make this school the best it can be for us also.  A lot of people really want to know what you think about what we’re saying, and if you’re going to actually do something, and how you feel about our reaction.

President:  I care a great deal.  I’m hearing it all, and listening [laughter].  And reacting, and reflecting, and taking it in, and considering.  (...)  It’s worth every minute.

Student:  All your rhetoric is very impressive and your numbers are interesting, but my problem is in your iron hand here.  It seems to me that there is a lot of dissent--you saw it tonight--change will always bring dissent.  But look at this dissent.  You have dissent within Markle Hall.  You have people in Markle Hall nicknaming you “Ghengis”.  Why?  Don’t you think...Doesn’t that alarm you?  Does that alarm you?

President:  [grins, turns to Bob Carman, asks him.  Mr. Carman shrugs.]

Student:  Either you’re going to have to get a lot better at hiding your tricks, or you’re going to have to cut them out. 

President:  [aside to Student Government President, request to move things along]

Student:  [after discussing the inflexibility of the flex-dollar plan]  I think we should be trying to help the student out here [at this meeting], and I understand what you’re trying to do by providing all these ’options’ through Farinon, but I really think in the long run you’re hurting the students because you’re denying them the option to fend for themselves.  


[The President then thanked us and the meeting turned to regular Student Government business. For statistics in response to President Rotberg's assertions in this meeting, please see "[[As a Matter of Fact:]]"]

from [[The Vid]]: [[Volume Two]], [[Volume_Two#Issue_8|Issue 8]], 4/5/91