Photo courtesy of Matt Smith
Elizabethtown College President Cecilia McCormick addressed Student Senate for its Thursday, Feb. 6 meeting, focusing on updates from the recent Board of Trustees meeting, which was closed to Student Senate and the Etownian attendance.
“I wanted to make sure I’d be here for the Board recaps,” McCormick said at the beginning of her address.
She said she began the Board of Trustees meeting by telling the trustees about interesting things students have been doing.
In the recap, McCormick said that Etown was in the midst of getting accreditation for its new physician’s assistant program. She also spoke of different programs to be funded, such as additional money being allocated to the Stamps Scholar program, funding for a new engineering internship position and funding for improvements to the High Library.
McCormick gave a brief enrollment update, saying that the College is tracking ahead of the numbers they had at this point of the year in 2019. Related to that, she spoke with senators about Accepted Student Day, which takes place Saturday, Feb. 15, knowing that many of the senators would be involved in some manner.
Since spring break is around the corner, McCormick said that she has to travel across the country to states such as California and Texas to visit alumni and fundraise for the College, though she said she hopes that in future years she can change her schedule so she can experience spring break with the students instead of being out of state.
McCormick also told the senators about residential renewal. She says that Etown hopes that there will be “piecemeal” improvements to the Schreiber Quadrangle over time at a gradual pace. Brinser Residence Hall will get “a facelift and more” over the summer, with McCormick saying it will be “Myer-ized” in that it will undergo renovations much like Myer Residence Hall did over the summer of 2018. Royer Residence Hall will be taken offline for fall 2020 due to the many issues that have been reported there as the College examines everything that needs rehabilitating, or if the building needs to be demolished.
“I don’t want this to become the next Zimmer Project,” McCormick said about waiting before announcing more information about residential renewal.
McCormick also spoke of new programs that the College is looking to add, such as exercise science, sports marketing and public health.
She also said that the Board is not entertaining a student activity fee at this time.
In the question and answer section following McCormick’s address, most questions were asking for clarification about residential renewal. One question concerned the eSports team, which currently meets in Royer’s basement and will need accommodations if Royer is taken offline.
Another question was about how the College decides how to add and remove programs, which McCormick said the process considers many factors that make a certain program viable for Etown to sustain. She did promise, however, that students in any cut programs will be able to finish their education at the College.
