2015 Town Hall

Welcome to the 2015 Town Hall with President Mike Fitts. We will get started in ten minutes.

Tulane Communications and Marketing is live blogging this event. We are taking questions online and will share them with President Fitts during the event. Please feel free to start submitting now.

President Fitts also will be answering questions submitted ahead of time via the View From Gibson, as well as from the audience here in Dixon Hall.

Also, Keith from Public Relations is live tweeting the event from @TUFitts. You can follow along on Twitter at #TUtownhall

The town hall is beginning. The moderator is Dr. Charles Figley, Tulane professor and Director of the Tulane Traumatology Institute.

We're really glad you're here, says Dr. Figley. He explains the format....

The first 30 minutes will be for previously submitted and online questions and the last half will be for the audience in Dixon Hall.

President Fitts thanks Charles Figley. "He is the world's expert on trauma."

Fitts on Figley: "He came to Tulane in the aftermath of Katrina to look at resilience and how to bring back communities.

Fitts: I want everyone to understand how integral he is to Tulane and New Orleans.

Fitts welcomes everyone back to campus for Homecoming.

Fitts: This year we have over 4000 people registered for Homecoming.

Fitts: What's so special about Tulane is its breadth across the country as well as the community here.

Fitts: I'm going to give you a brief overview of what is so special about Tulane.

Fitts: We just welcomed our most competitive class in our history.... I just got an email from our VP for Enrollment Management that completed applications for this year are 15% more than last year.

Fitts: As you know, we jumped higher in US News than any other university in the United States. This is a testament to years of effort focusing on the undergraduate experience.

Applause from the audience!

Fitts: Let me give you a thumbnail of what's going on at Tulane....

Fitts: Our ability as an institution to cross boundaries across disciplines is really compelling to me.

Fitts: Breaking down silos, bridging categories and thinking about problems that don't come neatly packaged is where higher ed is right now.

Fitts: With 5 undergraduate schools crossing arts, science, engineering and other fields, Tulane gives students the opportunity to take classes in multiple disciplines.

Fitts: This is what's attracting students to Tulane and this is what we will nurture going forward.....

 

We have task forces working to continually approve the undergrad and grad student experience and improving access to cross boundaries in research.

Charles presents first question.

Figley: This person wants to know, in last 5 years, is there a difference in student body in terms of caliber and diversity?

Fitts: Each year our quality of students gets better. The student body is so distinctive. We draw students from all kinds of places. More students come to Tulane from more than 300 miles away than any other university.

Fitts: We have brought students from across the US from all different places, to come to New Orleans. They share a quality of adventurousness.... and intellectual curiosity.

Fitts: In terms of raw numbers, we have become more competitive every year.

Fitts: The most represented state is NY... it's a close 1 and 2 and 3 between NY, CA and LA.

Fitts: We have become more racially diverse... we are now at about 20% minorities and are working to improve that even more.

Fitts: We would like to improve that, and it's a high priority. Diversity is so important..... classmates learn from each other outside the classroom.

Figley: The next question: is crime worse this year, and what is Tulane doing about it?

Fitts: A subject on many people's minds. Statistically, the amount of crime has not gone up.

Fitts: The crime we experience here is comparable to our peer institutions.

Fitts: But we have had some very public incidents...

Fitts: We had an event recently at the LBC which was very concerning, and we took steps to apprehend the suspect very quickly.

Fitts: We taken this as an opportunity to step back and make sure we are offering as safe an environment as anyone would expect in an urban campus.

Fitts: I am more concerned about off campus and ensuring that students, faculty and staff are safe.

Fitts: Probably statistically, of more concern to me, off campus crime seems very bad.

Fitts: In the case of the crime in the LBC, we offered a $10K reward immediately afterwards. We want people to know that if they commit a crime on campus, they will be apprehended quickly.

Fitts: It turned out that an employee at the university was able to ID a person from a camera shot, but they declined the reward.

Applause from the audience.

Figley: Another controversial topic: Newcomb College.

Figley: A question....Newcomb College existed for more than a century but seems to be absent from Tulane publications, exhibits. Does it have to be so obliterated from institutional memory?

Fitts: Newcomb is a huge part of our history.

Fitts: We have continued with the name in several venues. In particular, Newcomb College Institute represents women on the campus today as scholars and leaders. The new Commons that we are building will house the institute at the heart of the campus.

Fitts: Newcomb College Institute is a phenomenal part of our institution, and the traditions of Newcomb College are deeply integrated into our culture today.

Figley: The next question is about construction on campus.

Fitts: The Howard Tilton Library addition is going to be dedicated and opened in the next few weeks.

Fitts: A beautiful new patio near Gibson Hall also will be dedicated soon.

Fitts: This is going to be a place people will want to hang out and will improve the campus culture.

Fitts: We are finishing renovations of the former home of the School of Social work that will be completed in the next few years to make a new home for advising and student services.

Fitts: Of longer term projects....one is the expansion of the building of the School of Business.

Fitts: There's been an explosion in interest in business education.

Fitts: Finally, we are looking very hard at the Commons, which will be right next to the LBC, that will be both a dining hall and a home for extracurricular activities.

Figley: This one, from email.... What are you most looking forward to this weekend during Homecoming?

What's great about this weekend is that you can see all the Tulanians, whether they are alumni, parents or friends, they all come back to see how the campus has changed.

Fitts: Talking with everyone, getting to know people, and learning what's changed about campus through their eyes is always interesting to me.

Figley returns to the master plan - tulane.edu/master-plan

Fitts: The Tulane campus is a treasure. For those of you who've been around urban campuses, I don't know of an urban campus that creates more intimacy and opportunities for engagement.

Fitts: It's important that we develop the campus and be thoughtful about where we put services and classrooms. This generation of student studies and interacts with classmates everywhere.

Fitts: Where we put coffeeshops, and classrooms, we put thought into it.

Fitts: The master plan really explores both short-term and long-term plans for the campus.

Next question: What are your thoughts on Yulman Stadium now that you are having to institute voluntary separations and other cost-savings strategies to pay for it?

Fitts: Here's some background.... we are going through a process, as are other universities, of positioning ourselves financially. We need to take $20 million dollars out of our annual budget.

Fitts: We are ensuring that we don't have empty dorm rooms, can do things in-house rather than outsourcing, and are offering a voluntary separation to employees as a way of saving money.

Fitts: Yulman Stadium, which is an exquisite facility, was paid for out of donations to the university and is from totally separate funds.

Next question: what is your coolest experience since becoming Tulane president?

Fitts: After one of the wins at a football game, I went to the locker room to congratulate the team. They asked me to lead them in a cheer. What I didn't know was that it was being posted on YouTube.

Fitts: It was an experience I will remember.

Next question: When will TEMS be reinstated and why should all university students suffer the lack of emergency services because of the actions of a few?

Fitts: Tulane has a student transport system, TEMS... which transports students in emergencies. It offers an educational opportunity for students who are part of TEMS.

Fitts: When you have students who are involved in the transport, you have to be very sure about the safety involved. TEMS was put on probabtion last year because of an incident and there was another one this year that caused us great concern.

Fitts: We have suspended TEMS because we want to make sure that we have the best health system that we can for our students' safety.

Figley: One more online question before turning to audience questions... Do you think it is feasible to install security at the doors of buildings so students have to use splash cards to enter?

Fitts: All our residence halls have splash card access.

Fitts: The issue is - should we expand that to other buildings at night?

Police superintendent Jon Barnwell says they are working with student organizations to make sure that this idea makes sense.

Fitts: The openness of our campus is an important cultural quality that I think attracts people to Tulane. I don't think we are considering a guard at every building but we are looking at adding security where needed at appropriate times.

Figley says we will take questions from the audience now.

Question from an audience member. When her daughter was looking at schools...she's brainy...she was looking for something that would let her double major in musical theater and another academic subject.

Audience member: I noticed that Princeton and Dartmouth are gearing up for musical theatre, but it seems like the flexibility at Tulane is already in place.

Audience member: Sometimes there isn't as much of a light shining on musical theater productions at Tulane and deserves more attention. Is it on your radar?

Audience member: It's really important for people to think of musical theatre as a sport.... especially in NOLA.

Fitts: Music is part of New Orleans and it's part of Tulane. One of the things I've noticed about alumni is that they all love music and I think this draws people here.

Fitts: It's part of our great strengths.

Fitts: Musical theatre ought to be more a part of our focus.

Audience member: First a comment...I want to thank the university and the police department for giving a personal call back about campus safety.

Audience member: You mentioned you are concerned about off campus safety....

Audience member: What is the university doing to ensure safety beyond boundaries of the university?

Fitts: We can't think of Tulane as just "this campus;" it's also 8-10 blocks away from the campus.

Fitts: We have police patrols outside the campus.

Fitts: We have also engaged NOPD.

Fitts: Our police presence does not stop at the formal boundaries of campus.

Jon Barnwell offers exact locations...

Barnwell: I work with NOPD to expand our jurisdiction to about a one mile periphery around campus. We are in continuous dialog with the city about how to improve safety of this area.

Fitts: Lighting and cameras are important in preventing crime. We have cameras on campus and are looking at increasing lighting on campus. Our ability to put cameras and improve lighting outside of campus is limited by the city but we are talking to them about that.

Another question from the audience..... I've been going to Tulane games since 1961. In that time we've had maybe 5 or 6 good seasons.

Audience member: I'd like to know.... what are your thoughts about the team?

Fitts: I am a huge sports fan and used to play very seriously.

Fitts: The building of Yulman Stadium, and the sense of vitality college sports and tailgating on campus brings to campus is wonderful.

Fitts: In terms of the team, as you know, we've moved up conferences and the competition has gotten tougher.

Fitts: We've done very well in some sports, and we've done less well in football. We are playing teams in the top 25.

Fitts: Really tough competition...

Fitts: We are looking forward to seeing what happens over the next few games.

Next question/comment: my daughter graduates in May and I want to thank Tulane for preparing her for her future.

Audience member: Is there a possibility of restoring some of the more traditional engineering programs?

Fitts: Technology is critical for every university going forward.

Fitts: Whether you are MIT or a small liberal arts college, technology infuses everything you do.

Fitts: When I look at what we're doing in science and engineering, that is an area where we need to grow.

We are intending to put significant resources into sciences and engineering...but we want to be very smart about it. What are the area in engineering that will be critical over the next 30 years, where Tulane can be a leader?

Fitts: Chemical engineering is an area where I think we need to grow. Also computer science.

Fitts: We have to look forward, where we can be in front.

Question from audience..... our ultimate goal as parents is that our students need to get a job. I applaud the Career Wave efforts, but I feel that there is a lack in advising for careers. What can be done to foster that?

Fitts: This is a great question. Given the breadth of academic opportunities at Tulane, we need to be very focused on helping students with those choices, both for their time here and for their future.

Fitts: Students need to understand how their choices now as undergrads impact their future careers.

Fitts: We have expanded advising greatly over the last 4-5 years. We are thinking about ways to make that more available to individual students.

Fitts: This is a national phenomenon.

Question from audience.... earlier you mentioned doing things in house vs. outsourcing.

Audience member: Why did we hire an outside firm to advise on financial restructuring of the university? Why not let departments restructure themselves?

Fitts: We are looking at a number of initiatives, including voluntary separation. We have over 4,000 employees and only 50-80 positions would end as a part of this.

Fitts: A voluntary separation envisions that you will look at the offices, and let each entity in the org engage in their own restructuring... it's not something you do from the top down.

Fitts: In terms of engaging an outside consultant, across higher education, it's much better to bring in someone from outside to advise about your organization. They have a lot of experience helping universities improve their operations.

Audience member follow up..... have we looked at the importance of those who've been asked to leave or is it strictly financial?

Fitts: This is voluntary. After people have decided, we will look at the position and see how to reorganize to offer the same services at a lower cost.

Figley comments that the people who near retirement are the ones getting the buyout offer.

Question from the audience..... may I call you Mike? I have a comment. In light of the LBC incident, I as a parent of one of the victims...

Audience member: I cannot express the positive impact you made by calling each one of them within 24 hours

Applause

Audience member: I commend you for the swift action you are taking and will be taking in regards to this unfortunate incident.

Fitts: This was very difficult for the students involved and I want to commend the services Tulane was able to provide them.

Fitts commends Erica Woodley for her concern for students and the student support systems at Tulane.

Fitts: We cannot avoid everything, but we can be there for students.

Audience comment....I graduated from undergraduate in '64, Law in '67... I am thrilled to see how many people are coming back.

Next question: in looking at the deficit reports, there are significant expenses for buildings...

Audience member: Is there some way that some sort of dedicated maintenance can be provided along with a gift for a new building?

Fitts: Short answer = yes. Part of getting better control of our budget going forward includes just that.

Fitts: Buildings need to be invested in to ensure that they continue to be wonderful environments to support our activitites.

Fitts: Facilities renewal will be part of any campaign that we enter.

Audience comment... I've never seen the campus look better.

Next question from an alum from Latin America... what was the effect of the recent Latin American alumni meeting and what will come from it?

Fitts: My trip to Latin America.... one of my coolest moments as President.

Fitts: Tulane has one of the strongest relationships with Latin America compared to other universities in the US.

Fitts: Stone Center is the leading center for the study in the US. One of my coolest moments was going to Panama, seeing the new Panama Canal before it flooded...

Fitts: And meeting with President Solis in Costa Rica, a Tulane alum, was also a huge thrill.

Fitts: Going forward we will continue to support many more connections between Tulane and Latin America.

Fitts: One of our goals is to expand our international presence. Latin America is a huge part of that.

Figley: We have time for one more question.....

Question from a current student: what is being done to increase ethnic diversity at Tulane besides the Posse Program?

Fitts: It's a very important priority. I talk about the value of diversity that you see on campus....

Fitts: We have made substantial improvements but are nowhere near where we want to be.

Fitts: We are appointing a new VP for Enrollment Management and it's a high priority in terms of the admission process.

Fitts: We are looking at ways to increase our financial aid packages.

Fitts: We don't have competitive financial aid packages....

Fitts: And we need to work on that through endowment.

Fitts: When minorities come to campus, they need to be supported and feel like they have people to talk to. We are looking to expand that support within Newcomb-Tulane College.

Fitts: Recruitment, financial resources, and support... we have to improve in all those areas.

President Fitts: Thanks to all of you!

Fitts: This community is so important. I am so excited about Homecoming and all of you who've come back for it.

Fitts: When you go home, please let everyone know about what a special place Tulane is.

That concludes today's Town Hall meeting.