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March 01, 2005
Covenant Alumni Open Forum Notes: We Must Be An Anamoly
I drank a bottle of Dasani water from the refreshment table at the Alumni forum Monday night, and not kool-aid, but by the end of the night I had turned from burned & confused ex-student to semi-wary supporter. Maybe it was something in the water.
I will now switch voices with breathtaking abandon. Behold.
Initial Quotes & Themes from Nielson:
"[I've jumped into] a moving stream..."
Ignorant of Covenant's past, and subsequently no a priori agenda for the future.
"[Covenant is] distinct in reformed confession."
"[Covenant is] shooting 'em [students] out like arrows into the world."
"I am excited about blowin' the secret [of Covenant]."
"We cannot pick just one pony in this race"
At this point, the alumni took over. It was immediately apparent that there were at least four or five different camps of alumni, with little common ground between them, and a couple of those camps were pup-tent affairs put up by space cadets. Bizarre and obsessive questions regarding the lack of a cross in the new graphic identity and how terrible it is that students in 3-D art must carry their sculptures to their rooms for storage muddied up the dialogue quite a bit for the night. Nielson seemed fittingly angered at such silly misunderstandings and attacks while taking the time to make a few positive and negative points. It was pretty clear that alumni latched on to their little pet sign of Covenant’s apocalypse and promptly wandered into the dark forest of single-track minds. Man, I hope I don’t age like this.
Here’s Nielson’s answers. Make up your own questions to fit, ‘cause I didn’t type them out. Already enough of a geek during the evening, popping into the ole iBook and madly typing key words ever 5 minutes.
Communications major must be grounded in liberal art study. Focus on rhetoric, hire a professor of rhetoric and use that as the hub of communication studies. Spokes out to journalism, film, broadcast, etc.
Retention is down from years past, but Nielson attributes cause to variances in the calculation of retention. There's no standard formula. We never had a consistent institutional formula, and there's no record of how it was calculated in the past. Also, federal financial aid scandal lost students b/c 1.5 million less to give out. If we calculate from last year's formula, the college should have more students enrolled than are actually here.
Key for Covenant's future is faculty. Healthy as long as hiring faculty that "get it".
Blames lack of PCA support for much of the bad financial outlook. Less than half of PCA churches have any sort of connection. Churches annually give $1 million total. If churches gave at recommended level, then we would have another $3m per year.
Institutional memory and loss thereof is great concern. There are still long-term staff here. Rely on faculty to preserve institutional memory. Again, health depends on faculty.
Not sure if he can act more transparently. Doesn't think any previous decisions should have been more transparent.
To replace Raymond: come alongside 18-22 yrs and usher them along toward godliness; most important position to fill currently; hard to replace.
To replace Crossman: no way to find another 300-win coach; competent coach with no dip in quality; must have significant role outside coaching (coach position not full time).
All faculty and staff had raises this year (first time in 3 years).
$800000 would give a ten percent pay raise for payroll (faculty and staff). This means that Covenant's annual payroll is ~$8 million.
Regarding financial aid scandal, printing expensive stationary last year, etc: "We blew it. we've been blowing it for years."
What do you do as President: "I translate." Translates the idea of what the college is from the alumni to the students to the donors to the faculty to the staff to the alumni. Each group has their own idea of what Covenant is. He translates between the groups. Loves it.
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Comments
Thanks for helping those of us who couldn't be there. I'll still support Covenant. It'll only makes things worse if we alumni stop giving. The world changes, and Covenant will too. It may not be what it was when we went, but why does that make it bad?
Posted by: andyp at March 2, 2005 06:18 AM
Glad I could be of service to my dear alumni friends, Andy.
Of all the institutions I am involved in, Covenant has the most impact on the most people for Christ. I consider it well-spent time, then, administering what help and criticism I am able and priveleged.
Then, Yoda am I.
Posted by: barelylegalprogrammer at March 3, 2005 11:13 AM
Yeah, a belated thanks, mostly for the phrase "a couple of those camps were pup-tent affairs put up by space cadets," but also for the update.
Posted by: KornSt@r at March 3, 2005 09:26 PM
Did he say anything else about Raymond's departure, or is that still shrouded in obscurity?
Posted by: KornSt@r at March 3, 2005 09:28 PM
Kornst@r, glad you enjoyed that phrase. I feel particularly fond of it myself. Mixing metaphors and whatnot. Conceptual spoonerisms always & forever.
Niel Nielson outright refused to answer any questions about Scott Raymond (or Brian Crossman). That was fine with me. It's not like he hasn't been asked before. I imagine the truth will come out in 2020 or so when it doesn't have a whole lot of play anymore. Instead, we spent an hour (honest! It was wretched like a repeated shin-kick) whining about Junior Varsity (which is related to Crossman's departure). Fifteen minutes of whining, perhaps, but the horror of an hour spent in those aforementioned pup tents...
Posted by: barelylegalprogrammer at March 4, 2005 03:37 PM
I guess it's what happens when you move hundreds of miles away after graduation, but I feel like I'm seriously out of the loop. I keep seeing people mention a financial aid scandal but nothing about i--what was the financial aid scandal?
Posted by: kathryn at March 9, 2005 12:48 AM