<p>
[quote]
By CHEVEL JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 8, 2005; 6:06 PM</p>
<p>NEW ORLEANS -- Staggered by Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University announced Thursday that it is laying off about 230 faculty members, dropping some sports and eliminating several undergraduate programs, including electrical engineering and computer science. . . . </p>
<p>The private university plans to resume classes in mid-January, though it expects a costly one-third drop in enrollment. . . . </p>
<p>Tulane said it will eliminate about 180 faculty positions at its medical school and about 50 at its other graduate schools and its undergraduate program. . . .
The university said it will continue to participate in such NCAA Division 1 sports as football, baseball and men and women's basketball. But it eliminated men's track, men and women's tennis, men and women's golf, women's swimming, women's soccer and men's cross-country.</p>
<p>The university also said that it will concentrate on areas where it can excel. Five undergraduate programs _ civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, computer engineering and exercise and sports science _ will be eliminated.</p>
<p>Incoming students will be housed on a cruise ship in the Mississippi River. . . . </p>
<p>Under the plan, the university will establish a new undergraduate college. All incoming students, regardless of their field of interest, will enter through the college. In addition, students entering next fall and after will be required to participate in community service work and help to rebuild New Orleans.
<p>Not all of these students are 'visiting students'. It was pretty obvious that the elite colleges with extremely limited and competitive enrollment weren't simply going to admit them. Others, like SMU, TAMU, etc will most likely admit anyone that wants to stay. These schools don't typically have restrictions on when transfers can occur. In many cases, I imagine the transfer occurred in the fall anyway.</p>
<p>180 positions elminated at the medical school? How many faculty were there? Who are these people- adjunct community people or tenured faculty? Tulane is a University, not a college. How much can you eviscerate a well established graduate level program and not see it impact the perceived quality of the university as a whole? Medical schools, as well, more than almost any division of a University, are a committment to the community as well...so much for that. </p>
<p>Thank goodness they still have the money for Division 1 Football!</p>
<p>A teaching hospital and medical school requires patients. I'm sure they weren't particularly happy about the decision, but they have to start to recoup in increments. I think Cowan is just doing what he has to. (Yeah, I noted the Div. I Football, too - maybe it's a revenue producer?)</p>
<p>Is it possible that Tulane's medical facilities were so damaged as to prevent them from being used at normal capacity in anything close to the near future as teaching hospitals...no bldgs. means no patients means nowhere for future docs to learn??</p>
<p>Also - do you think they kept the D1 football in order to provide the revenue to keep the other sports afloat? If they dropped football (likley the largest moneymaker of all their sports programs), they'd have to erase ALL the other programs as well?</p>
<p>Let's see, I have to build a house, buy a car, restart my business, refurnish my home...better save the $500 though (or whatever it costs) to get seasons tickets for Tulane football? Will there not be sick people in New Orleans? A university hospital of reasonable caliber is part of the essential infrastructure of even a moderate sized city...if you build it, they will come.</p>
<p>None of us know the budget, or all the details of course, hopefully those in the know have a reason for their choices that makes these hard decisions more logical.</p>
<p>Regarding the Division I football program, Tulane is not a football powerhouse. when we took the Tulane tour in July, our guides told us the games are so poorly attended that all the students who go get to sit on the 50-yard line. </p>
<p>I can't comment on how profitable/unprofitable the football program is for Tulane. Hoewever, I do believe the cuts at the medical school are due to shrinking population of the city and the school. Again, that is just my impression, and I could be totally wrong.</p>
<p>I don't think that Tulane Medical Center has a hospital any more. The major hospitals in downtown N. Orleans were pretty much destroyed. Even if they could get them up and running, teaching hospitals usually serve a largely low-paying customer base. I don't think there is any money in N. Orleans or Lousiana to support those hospitals right now.</p>
<p>New Orleans was one of the first cities to develop a 'walking district' as part of its urban core. My FIL was the city planner involved in the establishment of core aspects of the design of the French Quarter. Maybe this is a chance for NO to do something vital and new as well. As Wisteria notes re: engineering at Tulane, "Rebuilding New Orleans is an unparalleled service-learning and research opportunity for such a program". </p>
<p>The same can be said to be true for the medical school programs. There is difficulty in many major medical schools throughout the US related to funding, staffing, etc, etc. Instead of gutting the Tulane program, hopefully there will be a restructuring that will address what is unique about the city, the needs of the community, etc....an optimistic spin on what at face value seems draconian...</p>
<p>As for the students, faculty and staff caught in the transition- if there is to be residual committment, there will have to be something to work towards..really an unparalleled re-building- but also a chance to do something different, maybe?</p>
<p>Maybe Tulane should ONLY have engineering, city planning, public health, public management, disaster relief, meteorology, and medical schools.....</p>
<p>A college/university built around the theme of 'disaster prevention and relief' (okay, this is truly tangential, I know....)- if the US can fund military academies....well, why not???</p>
<p>wiseria wrote: "It's quite sad and ironic that they have to eliminate civil and environmental engineering! Rebuilding New Orleans is an unparalleled service-learning and research opportunity for such a program."</p>
<p>So True! My son has an interest in both ME and CE. He applied to Tulane and was accepted EA. I found myself secretly hoping he would choose Tulane because of the truly remarkable civil engineering opportunities and challenges presented in New Orleans and Lousiana. We visited in July and were so impressed by Dr. Mehrabadi (sp) of the ME Department and Dr. Grubbs. </p>
<p>My heart goes out to the Tulane students who are midway through their college career and will find themselves displaced.</p>
<p>great point, wisteria. This is so tragic, but Tulane will come back and probably be all the stronger for it. In the meantime, lots of hard decisions.</p>
<p>I found the article a glaring contrast with the almost daily emails my daughter is getting from Tulane begging her to complete their "priority application." I know they need to market to make sure they have a decent sized class next year, but the emails and mailings she's receiving make scant mention of how Tulane will be changing. In fact, the new video they have on their admissions site makes it seem like Tulane and New Orleans haven't changed much at all. I wonder what their plan is to let prospective students for next fall learn about the changes because right now they're not mentioning cutbacks or things like this (from the link):</p>
<p>"Incoming students will be housed on a cruise ship in the Mississippi River. Apartments in New Orleans are hard to find because of the widespread flood damage.</p>
<p>Under the plan, the university will establish a new undergraduate college. All incoming students, regardless of their field of interest, will enter through the college. In addition, students entering next fall and after will be required to participate in community service work and help to rebuild New Orleans."</p>
<p>It's a split message. Again, I know they have to make tough decisions to get back on their feet, but at the same time, what is their responsibility to fully inform prospective students of how they will be affected?</p>
<p>As I have followed the discussion over the past several months, it became clear to me that the panel that the Tulane trustees put together to review the school's situation was going to wield way more power than I would have liked to have seen. </p>
<p>The break between the reality and marketing is stark; yet given the circumstances even before this news, few if any prospective students would have been wise to make up their mind about Tulane and N.O. without at least one visit to the city and campus.</p>
<p>The debate between Football and academic cuts is so old and tired. Even and school that do not face the extreme challenges that Tulane faces, there are those that resent any $$ going to a sports program over an academic department. But, more than ever before, the Tulane Football program was indeed the face of Tulane, and it impact was rewarded with the NCAA Courage Award. Even if only symbolic, it has value high value this year.</p>
<p>As the parent of a Tulane student, I am deeply saddened by the cuts, the destruction, and the challenges that all face. But, this is the reality and at least the vast majority of those effected by the school decision have the ability to move forward with their lives -- a better position to be in than those who formerly lived in the lower 9th ward.</p>