Tutorial College Suspended

Tutorial College professors announced to their students and applicants on Thursday that the program would be suspended indefinitely. The surprising announcement has come as a disappointment to the students and faculty who have participated in this program as well as the freshman applicants and has raised questions about the severity of the budget crisis. Despite concerns over low enrollment, it had appeared that Tutorial would go on next year as planned. On March 15, however, Associate Professor of International Studies and Director of Tutorial College Michael Niemann announced to his classes "I was informed by the Dean of the Faculty's office that 'Tutorial College may need to be suspended for next year' for financial reasons." While Tutorial College's operating budget is only $30,000 yearly, it costs $150,000 to pay for replacements for the faculty who leave their departments to teach in Tutorial. It was said that the decision would be revealed on April 19 when President Jimmy Jones will address the entire community on budget matters.

It became apparent, however, that that date would pose a problem for Tutorial applicants who would need to register for classes prior to then. In advance of the budget meeting, Dean of Faculty Frank Kirkpatrick presented Tutorial faculty with a plan for a pared down program. Kirkpatrick explained "I was able to offer to continue Tutorial under somewhat more limited conditions." Instead of having four professors, there would only be three. This was explained to be in adherence with the 10 to 1 faculty ratio. Because there were fewer than 40 applicants there could be no more than three instructors. The budget for programming would be cut and there would no longer be a salary for an executive director. One of the biggest changes, however, was the fact that the faculty teaching in Tutorial would no longer have replacements in their departments. Because of these changes, the program would no longer be able to offer students five credits for the distribution requirements. It was decided by the professors that these conditions were not acceptable.

The professors are adamant about the fact that they did not want to make the choice to suspend Tutorial. "I reject the notion that we made a decision to cut the program. The administration took away the budget for replacing courses we were teaching, took away the administrative assistant. We could not offer students credit for five distribution courses the way we normally do. Because of the lack of funds for replacing students we would not have adequate faculty. By taking away most of the funding the program would not have been the innovative program it was designed to be," said Associate Professor of International Studies and Tutorial professor Janet Bauer.

Niemann said, "We were offered no replacements. Professor Beverly Wall is ordinarily the director of the Writing Center. Without a replacement she would have had to return to the Writing Center. This would leave myself, Professor Bauer and Professor Wade. I could not allow my classes to not be taught as it would jeopardize students completing their majors. Even if three of us remained we could have in good conscience covered the humanities and the social sciences but not art or science." As he explains, "It boils down to the administration saying this is what we have to make it work. It isn't so much that we rejected their proposal but that they gave us a choice that wasn't really a choice at all."

The decision leaves the question of what to do with the students who had applied, many of whom are extremely disappointed by this turn of events. Dan McElligott '09 had applied to Tutorial seeking an intellectual environment that he had been unable to find in his freshman year. Upon hearing of the suspension of the program, McElligott is now seriously considering transferring and has found that the late notice puts his plans in jeopardy. "I found it really troubling how most of the announcements about the program came in rumors. We weren't told anything at first. We were then told it was suspended. Then it was stated the final decision would be made April 17 after we were already expected to register for classes. Finally today out of the blue we all received e-mails saying it was done."

Jennifer Perrone '09 withdrew her application amidst all the talk of cutting it. "Just for a little self-protection I decided to withdraw my application just because the instability scared me and would disrupt my plans for next year. I thought I would be better off just making all new plans instead of banking on something that might not even exist." Despite this, Perrone was distressed to hear of the reasoning behind the cancellation of the program. "It definitely would have been more legitimate if the program was being canceled for lack of participation or disinterest. I understand that is not the case," she said. "Financial reasons do not seem like sufficient ones. That is just plain unfair to the students that were solely motivated to stay at Trinity because of this program. They were under false pretenses when being introduced to the college and all it has to offer." Niemann echoed this sentiment. "This program is advertised through brochures, through the websites, through visits to first year seminars. We promised something to these students. When the administration says you can only do Tutorial College under the stated circumstances we realized we could not have delivered what we promised."

The administration has made it clear that these students will be allowed to live in Summit East next year if they wish, and there has been talk of trying to incorporate some elements of Tutorial into their living situation. On Friday afternoon many of the students met in Summit with Professor Niemann, Dean of Students Fred Alford and Associate Dean of Students Ann Reuman. Alford explained that during the meeting students discussed options for combining reading discussions with the living space. One suggestion was a theme floor with a Great Books theme. Alford explained that "this process will take some time but, based on a show of hands, nearly all of the students who came to the meeting were interested in considering possible options."