Please Register and Login to this forum to stop seeing this advertsing.
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:49 pm
Pard4Life
Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 300
[quote="Pards Rule"]
Bogus Megapardus wrote:
Pards Rule wrote:
Disrupting studies?!? Cut me a break! Who has their windows open after a snow! And I'll bet the Zetes were the first one with their Marquis trays (sleds) on the hill after the snow.
Lesser persons were despoiling "their" lawn. Unacceptable.
I guess these folks eventually bought a second home in the Loveladies or North Beach areas of Long Beach Island and are the ones who do not want to open public access to "their" beaches on the north end. They are holding up federal funding for beach replenishment on LBI because fed regs require public access every quarter mile. They use every excuse imagined to oppose the replenishment project (and avoid the public access requirement) but ultimately the goal is to retain "their" beaches for their personal enjoyment.
Where is a Robert Moses when you need one?
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:26 pm
Bogus Megapardus
Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 14
Pard4Life wrote:
Where is a Robert Moses when you need one?
Perhaps Robert Moses was a Zete.
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:02 pm
Pard4Life
Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 300
Bogus Megapardus wrote:
Pard4Life wrote:
Where is a Robert Moses when you need one?
Perhaps Robert Moses was a Zete.
No, I don't think he was anything... in fact he started his own frat/honor society at Yale I believe because he was a Jew and the WASP powers that be discriminated if you were non-WASP/did not go to their boarding high school. Since this IS a sports board... he took on Walter Camp to get funding for other sports aside from football.
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:21 pm
Pard4Life
Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 300
Bogus Megapardus wrote:
Pard94 wrote:
if you didn't think the remaining greek houses days were numbered before...go ahead and read this.
. . . . except Zete, of course, which holds a double-secret special place in the heart of the trustees and will be the last remaining greek. Zete alums likely will complain that "the Lawn" - which derives its name from being Zeta Psi's front lawn - might be trod upon by unworthy others in the future.
The Master Plan authors, by describing the Lawn as "underutilized," probably didn't understand that "the Lawn" is supposed to be Zete's exclusive domain. Adding a residence hall on the Lawn beneath Pardee Hall will violate this unwritten edict and upset the Big Money Zetes who are going to be paying for this stuff.
Interesting... I was unaffiliated, but the lawn should be left alone because one is given a wonderful view of Easton from Pardee, plus the steps act like a 'gateway' to the city. True it is underutilized though... I think I walked down those steps once...
What influence does Zete have today? I did not get the sense that any one frat held sway over social activities or the 'way of things' at Lafayette. In fact, many of the guys I knew in Zete were very 'questionable' in terms of smarts, not to mention the rampant drug scene.
The old WASP grip on organizations through power and influence is nearly dead, if not dead already. BUT... there could be holdouts at our school since the BOT and controlling groups select people just like themselves to keep running things, regardless of the size of their selection pool.
Nobody mentions KDR either. I'm not sure what role frats play at the College aside from a social scene... I can understand why they were essential elements of a campus in the 19th century and only a few decades ago... but today?
And nobody has mentioned sororities... I run the risk of sounding sexist, but sororities are many times worse than frats in terms of group think/peer pressure/conformity and haughtyness.
Lafayette is perhaps to small to support a greek system because it runs counter to encouraging diversity. You have monolithic blocs of people who think the same and share the same ideals (for the most part).
Was Rothkopf affiliated at all? Just curious...
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:29 pm
Franks Tanks
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 532
Pard4Life wrote:
Bogus Megapardus wrote:
Pard94 wrote:
if you didn't think the remaining greek houses days were numbered before...go ahead and read this.
. . . . except Zete, of course, which holds a double-secret special place in the heart of the trustees and will be the last remaining greek. Zete alums likely will complain that "the Lawn" - which derives its name from being Zeta Psi's front lawn - might be trod upon by unworthy others in the future.
The Master Plan authors, by describing the Lawn as "underutilized," probably didn't understand that "the Lawn" is supposed to be Zete's exclusive domain. Adding a residence hall on the Lawn beneath Pardee Hall will violate this unwritten edict and upset the Big Money Zetes who are going to be paying for this stuff.
Interesting... I was unaffiliated, but the lawn should be left alone because one is given a wonderful view of Easton from Pardee, plus the steps act like a 'gateway' to the city. True it is underutilized though... I think I walked down those steps once...
What influence does Zete have today? I did not get the sense that any one frat held sway over social activities or the 'way of things' at Lafayette. In fact, many of the guys I knew in Zete were very 'questionable' in terms of smarts, not to mention the rampant drug scene.
The old WASP grip on organizations through power and influence is nearly dead, if not dead already. BUT... there could be holdouts at our school since the BOT and controlling groups select people just like themselves to keep running things, regardless of the size of their selection pool.
Nobody mentions KDR either. I'm not sure what role frats play at the College aside from a social scene... I can understand why they were essential elements of a campus in the 19th century and only a few decades ago... but today?
And nobody has mentioned sororities... I run the risk of sounding sexist, but sororities are many times worse than frats in terms of group think/peer pressure/conformity and haughtyness.
Lafayette is perhaps to small to support a greek system because it runs counter to encouraging diversity. You have monolithic blocs of people who think the same and share the same ideals (for the most part).
Was Rothkopf affiliated at all? Just curious...
Agree that the Greek system is mostly a social outlet, but I believe it is (was) an essential part of what makes or made Lafayette Lafayette. Without a greek system the school will suffer IMO as we compete with schools like Bucknell, Colgate and Lehigh who still have thriving greek systems and that is desirable by many students.
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:07 pm
Lafalum
Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 843
I believe Rothkopf was a Pi Lam
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:51 am
Lafalum
Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 843
Strategic plans/master plans are all about a blueprint for a wishlist. It assumes an infinite amount of time with an infinite amount of money neither of which is rationally available. Ultimately the management of the school will be about making choices from limited resources. We can not raise enough money to accomplish everything in the plan in the next 10 years. So the choices may become do we hire 35 new professors or make hamiliton street a brick walkway, build underground parking garages, etc,etc.
We want to add employees (faculty and a small number of administrators) but keep the student population the same. That can only happen by raising tuition ( probably very difficult in the years ahead), getting alumni to give a huge amount of money, or making a killing in the market ( that worked well the last several years). Consider this ...if 35 new faculty cost 3.5 mio per year you need 70 mio in additional endowment to support that, add in the buildings.office space and maintanence then add in the beautification wants, scholarships, and inflation etc while all keeping the student population the same...... a ten year plan is very ambitious. On the other hand by starting some of those initiatives without identifying the funding would be irresponsible.
But this is a map...a very long term map which by the end of ten years will need to be revised again.
Moody's mentions in its latest review of the college (Sept 25) that we are relatively endowment dependent(29% of revenues in FY 2008) which indicates we have less room to use endowment for strategic expenditures without raising significantly additional new money. Borrowing money Moody's says will place stress on the current rating and outlook.
Last year's yield on accepted students was a modest 26 pct on an 11 pct decline in applications points to our limited ability to raise tuition going forward.
We have significant challenges in filling in this map.
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:16 am
Pard94
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 762
Location: Weare, NH
Lafalum wrote:
Strategic plans/master plans are all about a blueprint for a wishlist. It assumes an infinite amount of time with an infinite amount of money neither of which is rationally available. Ultimately the management of the school will be about making choices from limited resources. We can not raise enough money to accomplish everything in the plan in the next 10 years. So the choices may become do we hire 35 new professors or make hamiliton street a brick walkway, build underground parking garages, etc,etc.
We want to add employees (faculty and a small number of administrators) but keep the student population the same. That can only happen by raising tuition ( probably very difficult in the years ahead), getting alumni to give a huge amount of money, or making a killing in the market ( that worked well the last several years). Consider this ...if 35 new faculty cost 3.5 mio per year you need 70 mio in additional endowment to support that, add in the buildings.office space and maintanence then add in the beautification wants, scholarships, and inflation etc while all keeping the student population the same...... a ten year plan is very ambitious. On the other hand by starting some of those initiatives without identifying the funding would be irresponsible.
But this is a map...a very long term map which by the end of ten years will need to be revised again.
Moody's mentions in its latest review of the college (Sept 25) that we are relatively endowment dependent(29% of revenues in FY 2008) which indicates we have less room to use endowment for strategic expenditures without raising significantly additional new money. Borrowing money Moody's says will place stress on the current rating and outlook.
Last year's yield on accepted students was a modest 26 pct on an 11 pct decline in applications points to our limited ability to raise tuition going forward.
We have significant challenges in filling in this map.
Man Lafalum...you're a party pooper! I think we all know in our hearts this is a LONG term deal. That being said, some of the more interesting projects are listed as "Phase I" (Hamilton Green included). It would be interesting to know what the priority is for the Phase I projects and the timeline for each. _________________ Pard94
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:29 am
Lafalum
Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 843
Didn't mean to be a party pooper but unless YOU have a really fat wallet don't expect the bulldozers to arrive in the next six months. I think some of the ideas are terrific especially expanding to the east side of the campus but it is a road map on a long journey that will require management.
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:41 am
Pard4Life
Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 300
Right lafalum, as usual. I was reading this plan as the "Lafayette 2026 Plan" ie bicentenial year, or more realistically 2030/2035. I was also reading this with "recession," "donor wealth decline," and "new college operating paradigm" blaring in the background. While awesome, this plan is about a decade too late. Parents will not tolerate skyrocketting tuitions from private schools like ours any longer. Which ties into the larger point of improving our academic quality to become an upper echelon school like Swathmore, Middlebury (with DI athletics) to the point where parents/students will want to attend no matter what because of our high quality. If not, then we run the risk of being stuck in the "decently smart students who are rich" classification, plus the studets we buy with Marquis scholarships. The eternal question is "how to reach this plateau?" Buildings and greening are a very small portion, but increasing our student body to make the school more vibrant would be a start (plus increase our donor pool by 2035) and allow us to offer more programs to make students want to attend. We still need a brand overhaul. It has improved, but not as much as it could.
And, this looks like the most ambitious building and transformative initiative since the 1950s? Or ever?
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
I think we all know in our hearts this is a LONG term deal. That being said, some of the more interesting projects are listed as "Phase I" (Hamilton Green included). It would be interesting to know what the priority is for the Phase I projects and the timeline for each.