PANIC: Someone has Stolen a Pillar!

Now that school is back in session I am back on campus (since I am a "student") so I went around documenting some changes. Look forward to boring/moderately funny posts in the coming days.

Now as you can see, one of the posts near Calvert is missing. Did someone steal it? Did Urgo steal it? Did someone run a car into it, just like a few years ago near the Statehouse?

Budget Meeting 6/5/2013 PANIC

There was a Budget Meeting yesterday. Urgo was not present, and probably won't be for future meetings and discussions, so as a "campus community" we should "mentally move on." Dad (via Urgo) went out for cigarettes and hasn't come back since (via seasons 16, episode 19 of the Simpsons when Nelson explains that his Dad went out for cigarettes and said 'smell ya later', but then he never smelled Nelson again #sad #bullies).

Anyway, Dorothy Fisher (who I have never met but she has cool lipstick) was there and transcribed a bunch of the questions and answers which is super rad. They are below~ thx bb #grateful(dead)

[Editor's Note: The Q&A is in live-blog format, so it's in reverse order, so read it from the bottom up plz. I bolded some 'cool' questions]

Meeting over everyone go home

friendly reminder to submit q’s to the budget committee via that google doc

Q- can there be a schedule of alumni weekend, or should we just go to the waterfront for 48 hours?
A- ok yeah we’ll send that out to faculty and staff

Q- will admissions committee be present during alumni weekend?
A- yes

Q- think about alumni who are also staff when thinking about branding because they know some shit
A- yeah

Q- why the fuck was there a shortfall?
A- idk but we need to look at data and self-evaluate

Q- hesitation about branding?
A- what are ‘authentic’ messages of St Mary’s? How do we communicate those messages?

Q- is board looking at branding’s relationship to budget shortfall?
A- we have a consulting company (which is obviously pretty shitty?) but this is so sudden (??) that no specific conclusions have been drawn

Q-What is happening with the gallery? (Who asked this? It wasn’t me…)
A-Reduction in operating budget. Cristin will have to decide how the gallery is maintained. The art storage facility has needs that need to be addressed. Selling some of the art is possible, but very complicated and would require we use the money to support the collection. The gallery will probably be kind of open.

Q- what about short-staffed staff depts?
A- this is a tricky one. no deets yet. concerns have been heard

Q- is college’s ‘branding’ changing?
A- short answer yes. Long answer not sure how this will need to change

Efforts to strengthen transfer pipeline for the base and others

Reduced personnel is not going to mean increased workload for remaining personnel. If anything, reduced services

Aaaaand there is now a new student/ family helpline, and admissions is trying to get out the message for first years that everything is stable

Also there is some kind of roster for enthusiastic alumni

Q- what about implementing alumni interviews? Not even as screening but as a persuasive tool
A- this is a great idea, which will be given to admissions

Q- can we harness the alumni to get a lot of energy and also dollars?? Specifically alumni weekend is like tomorrow, so hop to it
A- St Mary’s is all about people, community, stick to our talking points, ask alumni for money this weekend and also ideas

Q- wtf is up with budget increases in specific disciplines?
A- specific alumni gifts (I was wondering this too)

Q- are we asking Rich Edgar to come back??
- long applause-
A- it has been proposed, but isn’t currently in the cards

Also we’ve gotten an assload of donation money recently. Not sure if this is the same $$ mentioned in the email about jurgo or whether this $$ goes toward budget shortfall

Q- continued support for admissions while it reevaluates etc?
A- we need everyones good energy used for publicity and be tactical about reducing budget for fund raising and admissions

Q- is there alumni involvement w/ budget issues??
A- idk
(Beth Rushing is going to take the issue of Alumni back to budget committee for discussion)

also there was a weird discussion about pins that i didn’t understand

Q- will eliminated positions come back when things get better?
A- proposals for all new positions come to budget committee, which is transparent and recommends to president which new budget expenditures get put in place—it sounds like eliminated positions are really gone?

Q- why is the block grant a good thing?
A- it provides a tremendous amount of autonomy and has preserved us through many times of financial hardship—we might tweak block grant but it is here

Q- what about facilities improvements
A- 10% cut to projects this fiscal year. Long term facilities master plan was just completed, basically everything is going to be put off and the plan will be reevaluated and adjusted
A- Anne Arundel hall is state money so it’s going ahead anyway

Q- (convoluted) but I think it was about bloated administrator salaries?
A- no one has thought about this yet but they need to and it will definitely a topic of consideration

Q- why aren’t staff eligible for wage increase?
A- because the state doesn’t earmark money for that specifically and it just comes in a block grant which is different from other colleges and now that we have no money we can’t? Someone also shouted out that they would rather have less or no raise than have people lose their jobs

Q- WHAT CHANGES IN ADMISSIONS ARE BEING PLANNED
A- independent and committee reviews are underway, no actual changes yet

Q- how has commitment to academics actually played out?
A- filling vacant faculty spots, more proposed reduction of academic dept budgets than is necessary to best optimize what comes from where (this didn’t make sense to me)
A- also everyone on the committee wants to hear what you think about budget cuts

Q- dept chair budget cuts were proposed
A- they did a good job and if they have more ideas Beth rushing wants to know about them?

Q-enrollment data
A- final numbers won’t be real until the fall, but we need to plan for 3.5 mil
A- this is a problem that will be with us for a few years, and once we solve this in the short term we will need to keep thinking long trtm

Chip Jackson chokes up: “These are tough times for the college. Don’t let it be divisive.”

Discussion of living wage and furloughs etc: there will definitely be furloughs. there will also not be the recently state-mandated 3% cost of living increase but there will still be wage increases? Lowest end of pay scale gets highest increases. Same with furloughs. Low end of pay scale will get fewest furlough days.

20 vacant positions will “not not be filled” and 18 vacant positions will not be filled

Personnel: it’s possible to solve shortfall without layoffs???

Consistent discussion about implementation of transparency

4 principles for budget reductions:
1) preserve core academic principles
2) focus on teaching
4) work on unfilled positions rather than cutting people
(Sorry, I missed #3)

Budget stuff now:
enrollment level def means 3.5 million budget reduction

Kate Chandler is on budget committee! Also a lot of cool faculty! Also staff, students and administrators! Good.

Q- new/interim pres needs to be willing to conduct internal review and understand ‘soul’ of the college

Q- why doing pres search and admissions reevaluation simultaneously?
A- issues are complex but a ‘course correction’ can still be executed in the short term

Q— why are we using an organization to find a candidate for an interim president rather than looking at internal candidates?
A— we are looking for someone with wide range of leadership experience, not just student life or faculty or fundraising

Q— what is the long term efficacy of these presidential searches—this is the 3rd in 4 years? we need to think longer term than this
A— small, efficient, transparent committee? They’re not sure yet? Counseling with other people who do these kinds of searches (that’s a job?)

Q-  student/faculty involvement in search for short and long term presidents?
A- “A representative” from student faculty staff each. Balance of inclusive and efficient

External agency is seeking interim president. Expect person by July or August. “Not just a placeholder” —not an internal faculty/admin person then

Increasing board involvement on campus. Seeking ideas about how to interact with students more.

liveblogging budget meeting commencing

Urgo: A Postmortem

I liked Dr. Joseph Urgo from the very first day I realized I could combine his name into Jurgo (I think multiple people realized this at the same time, idk). I still like him and still think he was a pretty okay President. There are definitely some things that he did that I disagreed with like:

• Restructuring of Admissions and Financial Aid(e)
• Firing of Edgar
• Pat Goldsmith
• "failure to engage with student activists re: living wage and meatless mondays"
• Rebranding as a more "elite/quasi-private" school
• Fedoras
• Leslie's massive power over staff 

But what I really liked about him, more than Maggie, was that he was visible. I met Maggie twice, and only because of my involvement in SGA. And granted, he was probably very visible to me because it was his first year, and he wanted to make a good/visible presence that first year, so my thoughts and memories are a bit rose-tinted I suppose. So here are some of my fond memories of the man:

• Inviting he and his wife to dinner at our Townhouse Senior Year
• Vespa Scooter
• Weekly Open Hour
• Weekly Radio Show
• Beard
• Baldness
• Kinda funny and very casual with students
• Let us get eat crabs and drink at his house (buy it now for only 900k!)
• p chill dude

So IDK I mean it's definitely easy to blame this whole situation on Urgo, and probably a lot of it is his fault, but I still liked the dude I guess. That said, my favorite Townie made this for the blog, a SMCM Red Wedding~

 So leave your thoughts in the comments, what his "legacy" will be (via hot or not)

And to go out not with a bang, but a whimper

After three years as president of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Dr. Joseph Urgo has decided, for personal and professional reasons, to move on in his career.  He has requested that the Board of Trustees not renew his contract.  “I leave with mixed emotions because I have enjoyed my time so much at St. Mary’s College,” said Dr. Urgo.  “Leading St. Mary’s College for the past three years has been a tremendous privilege and a great pleasure.   The College’s legislative charge of high academic standards and financial accessibility, while challenging, is an inspirational mission.  In parting, I wish my friends and the good people of St. Mary’s the very best. ”

 During Dr. Urgo’s three years in office, the College endowment grew by nearly 30%  and the College received two $1M gifts earmarked for need-based financial aid, and an additional $1M gift for academic programs.  The College received additional state support through legislation that will fund a two-year tuition freeze and secured a performance-based funding project aimed at raising College retention and graduation rates. In all, the legislation amounts to a 14% increase in state funding for the College and the first legislated increase to the block grant since that method of funding was established in 1992.

Throughout his tenure as president, Urgo has supported broad access to education in the liberal arts and sciences, speaking and writing often on St. Mary’s public mission.   Joe and Lesley Urgo have been strong advocates for the natural beauty of the campus and under Lesley’s volunteer efforts, established the College Arboretum.

The Board is grateful for Dr. Urgo’s commitment to St. Mary’s College of Maryland and his advocacy for liberal arts education.  The Board wishes Dr. Urgo well in his future endeavors

President Urgo's House is For Sale

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/47157-S-Snow-Hill-Manor-Rd-Lexington-Park-MD-20653/37587679_zpid/

That is all.

PANIC: New Budget Cuts

There has been a lot of discussion the past week or two regarding the lack of "new student college deposits."

Vocabulary
New Student College Deposit - n - a $500 deposit that students pay to the school, showing their intent to attend St. Mary's. A student who makes this deposit generally attends the school, but some may "melt" and never attend.

The Issue
These deposits are a really good indicator of how many students are actually going to show up in August. This year the school got a lot of applications (in part due to the new Common Application, which makes applying to SMCM as easy as "checking a box") and the college accepted a good number of students. The issue is that not enough students have "accepted" St. Mary's as their choice, resulting in a lower than expected number of "new student college deposits."

Apparently this shortfall comes in the form of about 150~ less deposits than previous years (including last year, which already had a shortfall). The school was looking for around 124~ more in-state and 24~ more out of state students to submit these "new students college deposits," indicating their intent to attend SMCM.

The fallout
This represents, according to indicators, a budget shortfall of approximately $3.5Million.

(Math? 150~ x $23,000 = $3,500,000~)

This is, obviously, a lot of money. And it is going to have a big impact on several areas of campus (more on that later~) and departments and positions. Faculty and Staff had meetings this week where they were briefed with this new information, which has obviously upset many. The new budget (one where $3.5Million has been cut) is being taken to the Board of Trustees this Friday.

How did this happen?
Apparently (according to Anonymous [still don't know who that dude is but they seem to have a lot of opinions]) Urgo has blamed the lack of enrollment on "failures of facilities and faculty curriculum, but it has nothing to do with changes to admissions in the past two years." Could this be the ghost of Rich Edgar, haunting admissions and causing this to happen? Could this be the result of sacking Rich Edgar and Lisa Crowe last year?

"Failures of facilities and faculty curriculum" seems like a tough sell (hello, let's also take a moment to recognize that this quote may not necessarily be accurate nor correct). When students apply to a college, how much do they look into the specifics of the faculty and curriculum? I feel that there is only so much that a prospective student can know without actually sitting in on a classroom, which very few do (or maybe a lot do this, IDK). Does "the failures of facilities" refer to the various mold incidents over the past years (really decades...)? The "Mold Ship" got SMCM a ton of press #allpressisgoodpress.

What about admissions then? According to students working at the admissions office some "early admission" (I did this!) prospective students received their letters of admission until later than usual. Additionally, these students have stated that "counselors have been encouraged to go to private institutions rather than public."

But why? Could it be at the request of Maureen Silva, new (2010) Vice President for Advancement (AKA fundraising) for the college? It's no secret that more rich people go to private high schools, and rich people are probably more likely to give money to the college. Could this shift be part of this issue?

Theory: More public high school students view SMCM as a reach school, whereas more private high school students view SMCM as a safety school. This could explain the lack of students accepting their admission into SMCM. But this is just a theory, one based in stereotypes and assumptions.

Impact
So what does this impact? A lot of things. Less money means smaller budgets. According to the same Anonymous from above (who appears to be "in the know") and other "sources"the following may be cut

• No new staff positions
• No visiting professors
• No sabbaticals 
• Boyden Gallery will be closed 
• No cost of living adjustments for staff
• Staff job cuts
• Other cuts that will be made throughout the summer

 And a staff that once again feels like they have very little input.

Solution
Is there a solution? Maybe "don't fix what ain't broke" #southernsayings. 

The faculty is obviously upset. They want to delay the voting so that there can be faculty input.

Something clearly went wrong here.

You should be
Mad? Scared? Angry? Disappointed. This is all really disappointing and I hope it does not lead to further big changes. I really just want an explanation.

Note:
This is long. I did not proofread. Some of this information may be inaccurate. Comment with thoughts, corrections, etc. <3 br="">

Maryland Legislative Reception

St. Mary's hosted a 'legislative reception' on Tuesday ft. free booze and 'appetizers' and invited alumni, so obviously I went. 

Apparently it was also a "networking" event. Apparently people wear 'suits' to "networking" events and not white oxford shirts (w/rolled up sleeves) from TJ Maxx w/a Guinness tie?

But being "gainfully" employed I was more interested in the booze and food and stories about St. Mary's from the 90s 80s etc. 

RATINGS:

Booze: 8/10. Hosts brought wine (red and white) to me and made sure my glass was never empty. The wine reminded me of Franzia, which is a 10/10 in my book. Beer was limited to Heineken and Amstel. IDK why those are considered "fancy event beers" but w/e, they are pretty okay. Kristina nda disappointed in the lack of Natty Boh, via that is what a lot of 'old' (read: older than 25) people complained about.

Food: 5/10. There was some fancy "medium rare steak on a piece of bread" stuff which was rad, and a lot of cheese, but idk I was hoping for mini sandwiches or something that would become my dinner. 

People: 9/10 I met famous sailor Gary Jobson and then bragged to my parents about it. Talked to Urgo, he is still an expert on Faulkner and I still don't know what a Faulkner is. Talked to Chip Jackson, still a great dude. Talked to Tom Botzman about his new job. Apparently they asked him about a blog post I made years ago calling him "cute" (I stand by that remark) during the vetting process (I learned that word on House of Cards). Since he got hired I'm assuming that it was my blog that really tipped the odds in his favor. "The SMCMLOLBLOG Bump." So, you're welcome Tom! He has high hopes for the college getting money from the state this year, I hope he is right. There were also legislators I guess? 

Highlight of the night was meeting IRL Leslie Knope (via Parks and Recreation). She works for the Parks Department (specifically the bay), has blonde hair, is in her 30s, and is very happy/chipper. We got her contact info because we wanted to hang out/drink with her but then we lost it so IF YOU KNOW HER PLEASE GIVE US HER CONTACT INFO via needing to hang out with the real Leslie Knope.

Anyway, hopefully I will drunkenly run into some of those alumni at alumni weekend!

Anyway it was a great event and I got some business cards (via networking)! And gave some out to people who usually just handed them back to me.

Urgo Responds to Criticism EDITED/UPDATED

Urgo, a week later, sent out the following email about the Admissions changes:

Dear St. Mary’s College Community,

News of changes in Admissions and Financial Aid took many by surprise. I want to outline the reorganization of our admissions and financial aid functions and articulate why these changes will move the College forward in significant ways. The new strategy has necessitated a reorganization of positions, which included the departure of colleagues who have contributed a great deal to the College over the years. We will miss Rich Edgar and Lisa Crowe. I want to thank them for their hard work over many years in the service of St. Mary's, and wish them the best in their future endeavors.

For years, St. Mary’s College separated its admissions from its financial aid processes. In Admissions, we admitted students regardless of their financial profile and awarded merit aid to the highest achievers. Then, in Financial Aid, we distributed our limited budget for need-based aid equitably among accepted students who qualified, and capped the amount any single student would be awarded. These policies resulted in many students being left with a large gap between what they were awarded and what they could afford, and we lost many students whom we believed would benefit from  a St. Mary’s College education. 

We need to do better—and we will. 

In order to offer prospective students the opportunity to benefit from the St. Mary’s experience, we will integrate admissions and financial aid and, for this reason, the reorganization of these two divisions at the College is critical.

Under the guidance of our legislative charge to be “affordable to all and thriving on diversity,” we will admit students and strive to make their attendance at St. Mary’s College financially possible. Wherever we are able, it is our plan to offer larger grants and smaller loans to students with financial need. We are in the planning stages of a campaign to raise private funds to help us move toward the goal of placing St. Mary’s College within financial reach of any student whom we admit.

We will also continue to award merit scholarships in strategic ways. In 2012-13, students will be required to apply for merit aid, and scholarship applicants will also be asked to submit the FAFSA to determine if they might qualify for federal and state funds.

In order to achieve the best possible mix of students in our community, it is imperative that we select our classes from a broad and deep applicant pool. To date, our entering classes have been consistently strong. We must secure that strength going forward in an increasingly competitive environment.

We are casting a wider net for qualified applicants, revising recruitment materials, and stepping up fall recruitment travel schedules. We have streamlined the admissions process by becoming exclusive users of The Common Application. We’ve altered application deadlines, aligning them with other colleges in and out of state. Our applicant pool will be evaluated by committee to assure we continue to build the kinds of talented, quirky, independent-minded classes for which St. Mary’s has always been known, but which we risked losing without significant realignment of the Admissions and Financial Aid offices.

We’re not changing our end-goal, but our strategy is evolving. My commitment to you is to work to preserve what we hold most dear, and what we know as the essential spirit of St. Mary’s College. As always, I am available to discuss the reorganization or any other issues of concern.

This was a long email!  Let us ~analyze~ it.

Urgo states that "the news of changes in Admissions took many by surprise," which if we are to believe various rumors and comments on this 'student' blog would include Rich and Lisa themselves.  According to comments Rich had "and hour to clear out his desk" and "Lisa had no time to say goodbye to coworkers."  IDK how truthful these comments are, but that would be kinda 'shitty' if they are true.

So, according to Urgo this is all the result of decreasing number of applicants.  According to some INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM the 2016 class is comprised of LESS THAN 250 STUDENTS (usually it's like 400~).  Which is an absurdly low number.  Obviously something had to be done.  Urgo's first plan was to make St. Mary's less unique via jettisoning the old application and using the increasingly popular 'Common App'.  The Washington Post writeup covers this and explains it a bit (along with the whole situation, and links to SOMDnews.com but failed to reference this ever important 'student' blog) that basically you fill out on application and you can send that to lots of expensive fancy schools.  So, the idea was that by making St. Mary's, a college that is often described by many as being 'unique', less unique via a simpler application process more students would apply.  But clearly that didn't work since the incoming freshman class is UNDER 250 STUDENTS (btw this figure comes from a really reliable source). 

I would like to pause here because it seems like no one has even commented on the fact that perhaps applications are down BECAUSE TUITION HAS BEEN RAISED FOR FIVE OF THE PAST SIX YEARS.  And that tuition had doubled over the past decade.  Tuition has literally doubled over the past decade.

Okay.

Moving on, the 'mainstream' Common App clearly failed, so Urgo's next plan is to restructure how Financial Aid is distributed.  In the past St. Mary's used 'blind-based-need admissions,' meaning that you get admitted regardless of how much financial aid you need.  Which makes sense.  Actually I think I used the wrong term just now, but you should read the WaPo article for a fuller explanation.  Urgo wanted to change this system to 'need-sensitive' meaning that admission of a student will depend on the family's ability to pay for college.  I don't really understand this.  Are people's families actually able to pay for college, like...100k over the course of four years?  I thought everyone just took out loans that will stick with them for the rest of their life.  IDK.  Anyway, the idea is to admit people whose families can pay for college (is this a real thing?) and then to only admit some people whose families cannot pay for college.  By admitting fewer people 'whose families can't pay for college' they will be able to support those people better financially.

Okay, so the above got a little difficult to understand by the end because I forgot how to write coherently.  But the basic idea is, increase the amount of financial aid PER STUDENT that really needs it, and decrease the amount of financial aid going to other students.  So I THINK this means increasing for financial aid for really poor kids, and reducing financial aid for middle class kids who can't fully pay for college, via college is fucking expensive.  Which sounds okay, via getting more poor kids into college.  Also the total amount of financial aid money that is going towards 'need based' vs. merit is increasing from 25% to 50%, according to comments.

Sorry if none of the above made sense.  Some of my explanations may be way incorrect.  Anyway, it would seem that Rich and Lisa did not agree with this plan, and so they were sacked.  There are also allegations that the new VP Pat Goldsmith just wanted her own people in charge of Admissions and Financial Aid, and that she selected a friend for the job.  Who knows if those ~rumors~ are true though.

Okay so I think most importantly, what does this mean for the future of ~St. Mary's~ ???

I think that some people would agree that over the past few years as tuition rates have increased the number of really affluent students has increased.  I can honestly say that if St. Mary's cost what it does today, when I first applied, I would not have applied.  So, with the new system that gives financial aid for fewer people (but those that do get it will get a lot, which is great via supporting people who cannot afford college) I would imagine the number of 'affluent students' will continue to increase, similar to how nearby private liberal arts colleges (George Washington, Georgetown, American, St. John's, etc.) have lots of 'affluent students'.  Which in a sense is good for the school, via they will probably donate more.  And if the students are affluent/prestigious, then the institution will begin to be seen as 'prestigious.  The new policy seems like a deliberate effort to make permanent the changes that have occurred over the past few years, the increase in 'affluent students,' via pricing the college out of range of many students, those who can't afford the 15k+ tuition without any financial aid.

So IDK, that is my ~tin foil hat~ theory.  What do yall think ???  Any important points/issues I forgot to address?

Parking on Grass

This past February Urgo sent out an email urging us to no longer park on the grass on campus.  I never really noticed anyone parking on grass on campus, so I had not realized it was an issue.  Here is the email in question:

Dear Campus Community,

We all recognize and celebrate the beauty of our campus; it’s among the hallmarks of St. Mary’s College. The establishment of a certified Arboretum is perhaps the most tangible, recent expression of that recognition. And we’ve all worked hard to keep the campus – our academic home – free of trash and marked by points of natural and cultivated beauty. I am especially grateful to the students who participate in the Sunday “Keep St. Mary’s Beautiful” clean-up tours on campus, to the physical plant and groundskeepers who tidy up, remove full trash containers, and maintain the campus, and to each and every one of us who picks up, rather than passes by, a stray piece of litter.

A beautiful campus is conducive to academic contemplation as well as to spiritual renewal. It’s been our goal at St. Mary’s College to move parking off campus and on to perimeter areas. We’ll soon be starting a project to make our one thoroughfare – State Route 5 that bifurcates our campus – a safer area through traffic safety and calming. On campus, I have asked Public Safety to be diligent in enforcing traffic and parking prohibitions. We should not be parking our cars on grassy areas, in front of academic buildings or residence halls where parking is not allowed, and we should not be driving cars on walkways. We don’t like to do so, but violators will be ticketed. When going across campus for meetings or events, let’s take advice from the wellness committee and make it a walking, not a driving (and parking) opportunity.

Please continue to help to maintain the integrity of our grounds. Our campus landscape is a fundamental aspect of our identity; a sense of place is inherent in the way we think of the College.

I appreciate your help in preserving the beauty of our campus.

Joseph R. Urgo

President

A pretty reasonable request.  Even though parking on campus is not always easy, there is generally enough room for everyone.  The only major downside to this is that (apparently) Admissions was no longer allowed to let perspective students park on the Admissions field/SMUT field (via people play ultimate there).  This is a huge issue because tons of cars come on those Saturdays for open houses and they need somewhere to ~park~.  So that obviously upset Admissions people (notice a ~trend~?).

But then during a recent River Concert Series performance people were allowed to park on that field, on the grass.

So what is the deal~.  Are people allowed to park on the grass or not ???

File this under: incredibly minor things that normally wouldn't bother anyone, but will probably piss people off via general mood of anger towards SMCM.

Changes over at Admissions

Some big changes going on at Admissions!  Here is an email that was sent out recently (actually IDK if it got sent out yet, found it on LinkedIn):

Dear Campus Community: 

Admissions at St. Mary’s College is in the process of launching an ambitious, national recruitment campaign designed to improve the quantity, quality, and diversity of our applicant pool, which has been shrinking in recent years. 

A bold campaign requires positions that are both thoroughly grounded in traditional best practices in admissions and financial aid and that are creative, innovative, and forward-looking. We’ve combined two traditional assistant director positions to create an Associate Director of Admissions and Financial Aid position. We anticipate the creation of one or two additional new positions that will create vital linkages among admissions, financial aid, and other key constituents. 

In the reorganization, two positions - the Director of Admissions and the office administrator - have been eliminated. Rich Edgar served St. Mary’s College of Maryland for 25 years, and Lisa Crowe gave St. Mary’s an astonishing 37 years. We thank them for their many contributions, and wish them well in future endeavors. 

Sincerely, 

Pat Goldsmith 
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

Didn't really know who Rich Edgar was so I used some Investigative Journalism™ to find out some stuff about him.  His name is 'Rich', which I imagine means that he is an affluent dude.  And his last name is Edgar...is he related to the Baltimore poet?  Maybe he was let go because of this morbid connection?  I found this small photo of the dude:

He is pretty attractive, so I don't think he was let go due to being ugly or anything.  I think I met him once, maybe.  Also he is an ass. coach for soccer.  Other bro that got 'let go' (read: fired?) was Lisa Crowe.  IDK who she is, but she worked here awhile.

So what caused this?  According to the email Admissions is tryna go in a 'new direction'.  Personally I think they should go in One Direction:

Unfunny jokes aside, it seems like they are tryna have a position that combines multiple roles and creates greater 'synergy' between offices.  Which makes sense I guess.

But also this could be another example of 'letting people go due to clashing personalities/visions' via the sacking of Bayless, repositioning of Officer Mary,  and others, which has been going on since Urgo took over.  My guess is a greater emphasis on positioning the school as a 'nice school' and moving away from the image of SMCM being a 'chill hippie school'.  As the institution becomes more expensive it will be vital to make it seem to be 'worth the money', and the easiest way to do that is to make St. Mary's seem like a serious institution.

It's the same thing that has been going on since the 90s.  President Lewis (or at least he was around when it happened) got the school to be an Honor's College, in part to help move away from the notion that St. Mary's was a hippie liberal arts school.  And Maggie did the same thing when she took over, working to rebrand St. Mary's as a fine institution of learning.  And it just continues to the most recent graduation, which banned the distribution of beer to graduates.

So, my guess is that St. Mary's will continue to brand itself more and more as a 'good school'.  And this is just another part of it.

It's no secret that the number of applicants to SMCM has steadily been on the decline.  It's almost as if raising tuition consistently for several years in a row has had a negative effect on how many students apply to and can afford SMCM.

PANIC: Historic St. Mary's Under Attack!

It appears that last night someone drove their vehicle into the wall outside the recreated Statehouse.  Photos below were graciously provided (AKA stolen from their facebooks) by two SMCM staff members, Tricia and Sushinsky. 

Who could have done this?  I have a few possible theories:

• The Hulk (via the Avengers)
• The British, seeking revenge
• A drunk driver
• A drunk British driver (this is the most likely answer IMO)
• Dr. Urgo on his Vespa (another likely possibility)

According to facebook comments the driver left a license plate.   At the scene of the crime.  The only way they could have been dumber is if they had left their actual license.

I don't even remember what specials the Door has on Tuesdays...so I'm not sure if people actually go there on Tuesdays, via drunk driving.

Another troubling issue is that this road isn't a real road.  It's a small offshoot of Route 5 that no one really has any reason to drive on, for the most part.  Why were they drunk driving on this road?  Did they start on this road (via someone drinking in the park/waterfront) and then try to go home?

Overall a very bizarre attack on History St. Mary's City.  Not sure why the British are still upset about this.

Joe Urgo on Facebook

Do yall ever get on facebook, usually in the mornings, and take a look at which of your friends are online.  And then you see it.  You see that Joe Urgo, Prezbro, is online.  Waiting to chat.

Wonder if anybody ever 'chats him up'.  Just smiling there (also note his profile picture is from the 2011 graduation, arguably one of the best SMCM graduations in the past year), waiting for u to chat him.

What would you say?  R U 2 Scared to chat the Prezbro?

"I ain't a-scared of no ghosts Urgos" - The Ghostbusters (circa 1980s)

Hate to admit that IDK what I would say.  Feel like I would bother him and his busy schedule of wearin' hats, going 2 meetings, and other Presidential things. 

Wonder what he does on Fbook all day.  Wonder if he is more of a 'farmville' kinda guy, or more into 'Word with friends'.  Do yall think he is a DrawSomethinger???  Wonder if he plays Team Fortress 2 and collects hats (obscure nerd reference, BTW trading Buds for Unusual Hats). 

 Do I spend too much time contemplating this??? [answer:  yes]

In conclusion, here is a short documentary by Deanna Clements and some other bros about Urgo http://vimeo.com/39659262 which is fairly entertaining.

I dare yall to chat up Urgo and post results in the comments.  Anyone with good chat convos/screenshots will win a prize (IDK beer probably)

Urgo looking at things

Usually I would say other blogs are 'lame' (via I hate competition) but this one is funny.  It's a blog of Urgo looking at things.  http://josephurgolookingatthings.tumblr.com/

Dean Bayless Sacked

Urgo sent out a brief email recently announcing the end of Dean Bayless's time here at St. Mary's.

(Click it for a larger version, duhhh)

According to sources that are probably marginally accurate, her contract was not renewed.  contracts are weird.  I guess it is like when you are playing baseball and you have a bad season so your contract doesn't get renewed, and you go play for a Minor League team, but you are so good there that you end up playing for an even better MLB league next year.  I think that was basically the plot of 30% of all baseball movies, and may be an indicator of Bayless's future.

I think a lot of people saw this coming, via new Prezzys coming in and 'cleaning house'.  The two did not seem to mesh completely in terms of philosophy.  And views on beer.  Wonder how they will find a new Dean.  I hope it is a long drawn out process that takes 1.5 years.

IDK how to feel about this.  Apparently she started in 2007, which means we've grown up with this college together or something, and leaving together (and both of us looking for jobs!)

Good luck in the future!

Also I refuse to post that image that compares her to a certain Harry Potter character.

Also, lolz:

An Ode to Maggie O'Brien

Miss u sometimes Maggie O.  Miss ur chill ~nonexistant~ vibes.  Kinda miss those days when seeing the President was a rare event that few got to experience.  Now any bro can chill with the Prez at his open hours, or do something dumb like invite Leslie and he over for dinner in their townhouse.

Missu wine producing prez.  Miss ur wine that apparently was not very good and given out to underage students on the reg.  Most of all, miss u RPG (EDIT: Apparently "it's a large flashlight with a scope made from spare plumbing equipment you dolt" [SUPER-EDIT: It's definitely something military related]) holding prez (see below).

Where is the wine and guns Urgo???  Can we really trust a President that doesn't have wine and guns???  Isn't the liberal arts education/Faulkner all about wine and guns???

Wonder what she is up to now?  I think she is chillin over in Oxford via heading the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.  I remember this annoyed some facultybros, not sure what the current situation is though.

Apparently everyone was into her for the first half of her being here (via honeymoon syndrome).  Also she really changed the ~vibes~ of the school into being more srs and academic (apparently) which is cool I guess.  Also she was a really good fundraiser, which is probs why she was never around.

I think ultimately, (13) thirteen years is too long for any prez to be around.  Maybe there should be a limit of like a decade or so.  People get burnt out, stop caring as much, etc.  But I dunno.

missu bb.

PAYCHECK PANIC

Recently [well, really a discussion that has been going on for awhile, and will continue to] a lot of discussion over the paychecks to staff [primarily grounds, maintenance, housekeeping, etc.] faculty and administrators.  Just gonna post some of the information/emails and not actually comment on it via it is a difficult situation.

Here is a Point News Article Terrorist newspaper article about the increase to administrative salaries of 15 administrators which Dr. Urgo later pointed out was semi inaccurate via there were increases to staff and faculty salaries as well (see email below).

It is particularly distressing to me to face external limitations on employee eligibility for salary increases. We will continue to work with legislators in Annapolis to broaden eligibility, and ultimately, to see an end to the state wage freeze.

This year, despite the state wage freeze, we have been able to work within state guidelines to make a number of salary increases effective in January 2012.  

Scheduled January 2012 Increases:

Faculty – 58

23 Assistant Professors

22 Associate Professors

13 Professors

Also, in January 2011, 40 tenure-track, assistant professors received increases.

Faculty adjustments listed here do not include salary increases that come as a result of promotions, tenure, and periodic reviews. Over 50 faculty members received this category of salary increase in 2011. Others are eligible for these increases in 2012.

Faculty Librarians – 2

Staff – 18

4 Athletics

4 President’s Cabinet

2 Business Office

2 Campus Technology Support Services

1 Academic Services

1 Advancement

1 Facilities

1 Financial Aid

1 Registrar’s Office

1 Waterfront

The student newspaper has a story this week with partial information about salaries on campus that I and others have found to be misleading, and unfortunate. I intend this email to help us all understand the issues we face regarding salary increases, and the progress we’ve made within state limitations. I am happy to meet with anyone, singly or in groups, to discuss the situation and the decisions we’ve implemented.

Joseph Urgo

President

St. Mary's College of Maryland

Only comment here that I want to make is that while positions such as athletics, president's cabinet, CTSS, and the various offices, none of these (other than the one facilities pay increase, which I could guess may have gone to Kevin Mercer [bless his soul, beautiful man]) are going towards the staff that the students are concerned about, those working for low(ish) hourly wages. 

So, there are some facts about this, primarily for the alumni readers.  Check out the article's comments, especially the 4chan troll, along with some insightful commentary. 

Oh and there was a reply to the Urgo all student email from above:

I agree with President Urgo’s statement that The Point News article is not totally accurate, but I disagree that it is “misleading” and “unfortunate.”  The salient message of the article is that the most poorly paid employees at SMCM are not getting raises.   In this message, the article is accurate, and tells a story that needs to be told. 

Matthew (25:29) said it millennia ago:

For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

So, how do we solve this problem within the constraints of the State’s mandate?  We have efforts under way to establish a Joe Carroll Staff Award, with a 1 of 1 match for an unnamed donor.  If you haven’t already contributed to that fund and can afford it, do so.  Your $1 is worth $2. 

But a once-a-year fund will not solve an endemic problem.

The Point News article mentioned support for establishing “a fund to reserve money until it would be legal to disperse among the staff.”  I, and I am sure many others, call on the President and other “operationally critical staff” to explore this and other creative solutions.  Let’s all be part of the solution, not the problem.

Not sure that we needed the religious quote, but it does bring up the issue of 'rich get richer, poor get poorer' along with other good points.  Hope this educated yall to some degree, please leave comments if I missed anything or am wrong about anything or if I am still unfunny etc. thank you

SEACREST OUT