Anderson had some additional in-
formation to share and said, “The space the
idea shop and IPROs occupy now is not a
building that we own; we rent the space for
$600,000 a year. With the new building, we’ll
be saving money on that rental. We also rent
space for the Institute of Design downtown,
and rent is $1.2 million a year.” He says this
new building will allow us to move out of both
of the rented spaces into our own building to
save money on rented space.

In addition to speaking about plans
for the new building on campus, Anderson
also talked about current renovations in En—
gineering 1 and upcoming renovations in the
Life Sciences building. He stressed that the
university cares about new buildings as well as
modernizing current buildings.

Another question came from an au-
dience member regarding a clerical error that
Financial Aid made that resulted in her need-
ing to pay more than she was initially billed
for. President Anderson says that mistakes
inevitably do happen, but the university does
their best to correct them. “One thing that has
happened at the university that has helped us
improve more than anything else is the Stu-
dent Speak Survey. There’s always room for im-

provement and we always need your feedback,”
he said.

The next question came from an
audience member who is a tutor at the Aca-
demic Resource Center; she asked if the ARC
will be expanded from the small space that it
currently occupies. Provost Cramb says that
he has spoken to Chris White, Vice Provost for
Academic Affairs, regarding the situation and
that White had expressed the space might need
to be expanded.

Another question came from an au—
dience member; he expressed that, when he
meets with employment recruiters from vari-
ous companies, they say that IIT isn’t a univer-
sity that many companies pay a lot of atten-
tion to. He asked whether there was a plan for
IIT increase its awareness among employers.
President Anderson says the primary prob-
lem is that we are a small institution. He as—
sures students that the problem isn’t the quality
of graduates, but the quantity. He added that
the university is always working to bring more
companies to career fairs.

Student housing was the next topic
of discussion. A student from the audience
asked if there were any plans to improve infra-
structure in residential buildings. Anderson

WSW! | Tuesday, November 4th, 2014

President, Provost Forum
addresses' stu ent concerns

(Continued from Page 1)

said, “We have continuously put physical in-
frastructure improvements into housing. Dean
Stetz and her staff work hard with our facilities
staff to make sure things improve. We’re look-
ing into a possible opportunities to renovate
Bailey and Cunningham Halls, which would
provide us with 300 more beds for students.”

A related question was posed by a
member of the audience. The asked whether
there was a plan to build any new residential
buildings on campus, especially considering
that the university plans to increase under-
graduate enrollment. Provost Cramb says the
university is looking first to reopen the unin-
habited buildings on campus and fix rooms in
residential buildings that are empty because of
maintenance problems.

As time started to run short for the
event, Connors asked the president and provost
if they had any additional items they wanted to
discuss. President Anderson brought aware-
ness to the 125th anniversary of the university
in 2015 that will be a cause for celebration on
campus. Provost Cramb again reiterated that
it is important to do is to develop student life
on campus and raise participation in activities
outside of the classroom.

A few final questions were consid-

ered as the event began to come to a close.
First, a question from audience asked why
there are so few opportunities at career fairs
for international students. Anderson says the
situation is generally out of HTS hands; the re-
cruiters need to make the decision to hire in-
ternational students. Cramb added, “We have
a job to do to let our employers know that our
students are employable. Once our companies
understand that there is a low barrier to hiring
international students, it will work out better.”
He also says that job placement statistics for
domestic and international students are pretty
similar; international students at IIT are able to
find jobs after college.

The final question came from a stu-
dent in the audience and asked if there are
any future plans to improve wireless internet
on campus. Provost Cramb assures students
that the university does have plans to improve
wireless. The university is working to address
problems related to network capacity as quick-
ly and as best they can.

After the question, the event was
over. Aderele closed by thanking President An—
derson, Provost Cramb, and all of the students,
staff, and faculty in attendance.

Photos by Kevin Zheng
—