The Student Senate meeting Thursday, Nov. 8 ran differently than its usual weekly meetings; Senate instead held its semi-annual senior staff meeting. Senators hosted members of the senior staff, as well as a Board of Trustees member, to ask questions regarding Elizabethtown College. This year, the senior staff also brought along questions to ask the senators. The meeting was divided into four sections based on the topic of the questions: enrollment, current and future projects, affordability and finances and general questions.
Senators started with questions regarding the estimated enrollment increase, in part due to the new tuition transparency initiative. Vice President for Administration and Finance Robert Wallett responded to concerns regarding the capability of accommodating the potential rise of students. Wallett assured senators that the College has three or four years until there is growth beyond its capacity, which is 2,000 students. One of the main problems the College currently faces is a lack of Dining Services employees, but immediate steps are being implemented and, according to Wallett, this will not be a concern with the estimated increased enrollment. Wallett also spoke of the potential of redesigning meal plans as the College redesigns residence halls. “We’re in pretty good shape for a little while,” Wallett said.
Sophomore Matthew Smith raised another enrollment concern regarding the number of faculty. Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Dean of Faculty Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Rider explained the College’s process for hiring new faculty.
After a resignation or retirement, new hirings don’t necessarily occur to fill the empty position. Instead, new hires may be allocated to new programs where a position may be needed more urgently.
Interim Vice President for Enrollment Management George Walter responded to a question about the standards of admissions. Despite the estimated increase in applications, Walter stated that admissions standards will remain the same. However, he does anticipate a slight decrease in the acceptance rate.
The first section of questions ended with Walter posing questions to senators. He first asked senators what they believe the College should stress to prospective students. The number one response was the level of investment faculty and staff have in students. The next question asked why prospective students may not choose Etown. While residential facilities received the most votes, the cost of the College came in second with two fewer votes.
After Walter’s questions, the meeting moved into the second section, which focused on current and future projects for the College. Sophomore Emma Ricciardelli posed the overarching question, asking each member of senior staff what excites them most about the future of the College. Multiple members responded with residential renewal plans and the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being. All members also appeared to echo the idea of being ready to face challenges that may arise.
Junior Hannah Paymer asked the next question, regarding the housing contract. Wallet responded that, because there is excess housing on campus, the College does not see the need to revise the housing contract. Staying on campus helps source revenue and forces the College to provide services that students want to stay on campus for. President Carl Strikwerda also spoke briefly on the topic, reminding senators of the renovations occurring to the residential buildings. Strikwerda stated that the College’s goal is to have about 50 percent of on-campus housing be apartment and suite styles.
The third section of questions revolved around affordability and finances. Wallet began the section with a presentation of the College’s revenue and expenditures to preemptively answer some questions and provide background knowledge for senators.
After Wallet’s presentation, Walter provided a quick update on tuition transparency. In the upcoming week, a personalized letter will be sent to each current student expected to enroll in the College next year, which will show a comparison between the old and new model prices. Both models will show the recently announced increase in room and board.
Once both presentations were finished, senators began asking their questions. Strikwerda responded to one about the consequences of the possibility of enrollment not increasing. He stated that while there would be challenges, the core of the College would be protected.
Strikwerda also answered a question about the parking fee. Currently, the College has no plan of changing the fee.
“It certainly wouldn’t increase,” Strikwerda said, but it won’t decrease either. The College faced pressure from the borough to regulate student parking.
The final section was dedicated to general questions that may not have fit within the other three topics. The first question related to the bias incident that occurred earlier in the semester. Vice President for Student Life Dr. Celestino Limas responded that it is still an ongoing investigation. He also talked about two suggestions that he was given that he does not agree should be used, the first being surveillance cameras in residence halls and the second being scanning students’ social media accounts. Limas finds both options to be major invasions of privacy and is open to other suggestions for preventing another incident and helping solve the current one.
First-year Kyle Cappucci posed the next question, asking why students use Starfish when other platforms may be able to be integrated into a program students already use, like Jayweb. Rider answered that the College chose Starfish because it is able to do more than some of the other platforms.
“If we could package them all together we would,” Rider said.
