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President, Provost Forum brings core student concerns to forefront

Ano opa Sundararajan
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Once every semester, Student
Government Association (SGA) hosts the
President and Provost Forum to provide a
platform for open speech and discussion
between students, faculty, staff and the
administration

The Spring 2016 President and
Provost Forum was held on Wednesday, March
9 during the lunch hour in the Hermann Hall
Ballrooml This was the second President and
Provost forum for both, university president,
Ala.n Cramb, as well as provost, Frances Bronet
in their current rolesl SGA President, Rahul
Wadhwani, led the opening remarks and
outlined that each topic would be given seven
minutes of discussion time, with the possibility
of returning to a topic should the event end
early, so as to allow for effective discussion on
as many topics as possible The forum began
with a set of questions previously submitted by
students through an online link

The first question addressed the
recent news about Main Building, asking the
President and Provost for ofiicial updates
on whether the building was sold or is being
converted to student housing President
Cramb responded by saying that since the
university is not in a position to renovate
the building, they are looking into finding a
suitable developer to renovate the building to
fix its foundational hazards and then convert
it into micro apartments for students or young
professionals With similar projects being
done in Pittsburgh and other east coast cities,
President Cramb said that this would be a
phenomenal solution that will bring life and
light back to the area, with several benefits for
the community at larger

The next question was in regards to
current and future renovations on campus, to
which President Cramb said that the university

is currently looking for developers who would
undertake complete renovations of Bailey and
Cunningham Halls to convert them into new
and modern apartments for undergraduate
and graduate housingl Additionally, the
university is also continuing fundraising for
the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation
and Tech Entrepreneurship, with 33 out of
the 45 million dollar target reachedl President
Cramb highlighted that more than 50 percent
ofthe space in the IIT Tower is now being used
by and for the university, as opposed to only
two floors a few years ago, showing continuing
progress and development He also added that
additional renovations will be made to other
buildings on campus as necessary when funds
become available to do so

The last of the questions submitted
through the online form ahead of time raised
the question of how Illinois Tech is interacting
with the Bronzeville community and what we,
as students, can do to aid that relationship
President Cramb started by pointing out that
we currently have a very good relationship
with Bronzeville and that we have a group that
discusses potential improvements with the
community and went on to say that the more
involved we are, the more projects that will
arise that can lead to increased partnership and
collaboration between our university and the
surrounding communities and neighborhoods
Provost Bronet added that Illinois Tech has
a campus planning committee that is talking
about how the university molds into its current
location and how neighborhoods around it
are impacted One of the architecture studio
classes at the university is currently studying
this very relationship, taking into consideration
feedback from the student community as well
as the surrounding communities that are being
studied She then directed the floor to Bruce
Watts, Vice President for Facilities and Public
Safety, who talked in more detail about the
planning process and the establishment of the

leadership team that oversees it, which includes
perspectives from athletics, academics, student
life as well as research and community affairs
Watts went on to say that student life needs to
be a theme across campus and learning needs
to take place across campus A lot of potential
changes to the Illinois Tech community are
being investigated, for example, whether
food service will always be as centralized
as it is today or if other means are possible
An audience member posed a followup
question asking how student voices were
being represented on the campus planning
committee to which Watts responded saying
that the project is still in its very early stages
and when a more concrete plan is in place, the
student government and different academic
departments will be contacted for student
representatives and other stakeholders Before
turning the floor back to Wadhwani, Watts
provided an update on the Rave Guardian app,
a hitech tool that facilitates communication
with those in our network and possibly with
public safety tool The current status update is
that another vendor needs to be contacted for
price comparison before hopefully launching
the app by the next fiscal yearl

Wadhwani then opened the floor
to questions from students in the audience
The first student to take the mic introduced
himself as an ally of Undocumented Students
and Allies (USA) at IIT, whose members
occupied a section of the room with mouths
taped to silence themselves and banners in
hand that displayed negative or derogatory
comments that have been directed towards
their community by faculty and staff at the
university He restated the six demands that the
student group delivered to President Cramb
recently and then shared the experience of a
fellow student who is a presidential scholar
but cannot afford the difference in tuition with
the latest 25 percent increase Although not
a question, he went on to say that there are

students, especially undocumented students
and students from low income backgrounds,
whose dreams may not come true because
of the tuition increase and asked for the
President’s response to this issue President
Cramb started by saying that he appreciated the
student sharing their viewpoint and continued
by saying that there is a process in place at the
university for every student to talk to the Office
of Financial Aid at any given time to discuss
their individual payment situationl “Issues of
financial aid are issues of the person," he said
and added that they could not be discussed
in a group to come up with any one solution.
The student ended with a followup comment
about the unlikelihood of alumni continuing
to donate to the university if students from
big high schools are continually negatively
impacted by tuition increases

The next student to take to the mic
raised questions about the discrepancies in
the information advisors and deans of colleges
have about undergraduate research and federal
work study He asked what the current status
of federal work study funds being used for
undergraduate research is and was directed
to Mike Gosz, Vice President for Enrollment,
for a response Gosz explained that every year
there is a block of money sent to the university
from the federal government Funding is
distributed based on students’ financial
need and eligibility, with the idea being that
students who participate in this program get
educationally trained and equipped with skills
that will help them in the work environment
The issue that arises is how the money is
allocated, with distribution through career
services being a plausible solution to drive
focus on academicsl

Continued on Page 3

Illinois Tech Robotics wins third Midwestern Robotics Design Competition title

Story on Page 5

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Correction:

An article published in our last
issue, titled “Undocumented Students and
Allies, with media in tow, deliver six demands
to President Cramb", mistakenly implied that

the President Ala.n Cramb, had referred to
undocumented students as “alien" during the
Fall 2015 President and Provost Foruml While
President Cramb did use the term “alien"

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during that event, it was only in reference to
his own legal status during his immigration

process when relocating to the United States
That phrase was never directed by President

 

 

Photo courtesy ofKevin Zheng

Cramb toward any students or student group,
and TechNews would like to apologize for
our lapse in phrasing when quoting President
Cramb’s remarksl