By Rachel Slajda
Despite troubles in the past year at Northeastern, President Richard Freeland spoke positively about the future at the State of the University address in Blackman Auditorium Wednesday.
“This fall we find ourselves, for the first time in Northeastern history, included among the nation’s most highly regarded universities,” President Freeland said.
However, chair of the Faculty Senate Agenda Committee Robert Lowndes pointed out some bumps in the road ahead of Northeastern on its way to the Top 100 on U.S. News and World Report’s list of best colleges.
“The goal is the Top 100, not the top tier,” Lowndes said.
Northeastern moved from 127 on the list last year to 120 in this year’s rankings, bringing it up to the group of top ranked universities. Excited about the achievement for the university, Freeland offered physical “milestones” to those in attendance, in the form of painted rocks that read “Top Tier.”
Student success, admission selectivity and retention rates were examples of university improvements Freeland cited during his speech.
“Our position in these … categories has changed, and that continuing progress is the primary explanation for our steady rise in the overall rankings,” Freeland said.
In his address, Lowndes acknowledged Freeland’s dedication to the Top 100 goal, but also said despite the improved student success, the university still needs more professors instead of full-time non-professorial staff.
“[Students] expect and deserve the vast majority of their classes to be taught by full-time professorial faculty and high quality classrooms, laboratories and studios. While progress is being made we are far from meeting these challenges,” Lowndes said.
Improving faculty resources as well as the faculty to student ratio were among Lowndes’ concerns. Lowndes cited another leading co-op school, Drexel University, as a university with an optimal faculty-to-student ratio.
“The most important [measure] is the faculty-student ratio, where [Drexel has] a ratio of 10-to-1 compared to our 16-to-1. Last year they leapfrogged over us into the top tier. This year they jumped again to 106. And they have accomplished this with quite different strategies,” Lowndes said.
One of the rankings that helped Northeastern move toward the Top 100, Freeland said, was the peer rating. It was the first time the university received a 3.0 out of a 5.0, which shows the academic strength of students and the university’s reputation among leaders of other universities.
One of the areas that can bring Northeastern into the Top 100 faster, Lowndes said, is increasing the number of doctorates awarded each year.
“The number of doctorates awarded by Northeastern de-clined again in the latest rankings. By 2002, the number of doctorates awarded at Northeastern had declined to just 50, and we had slipped in the national rankings to 183, just ahead of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell,” Lo-wndes said.
Strengthening community relations was one of the themes of Freeland’s address, which echoed Vice President for Administration and Finance Larry Mucciolo’s statements concerning the financial outlook of the university.
“Additional debt on the order of $300 million will be needed to carry out our agreements [with the city], excluding projects included in the next master plan, and this will require superior operating budget performance, investment returns and debt management,” Mucciolo said.
The university has either been “smart or lucky” when dealing with financial matters, Mucciolo said. The university’s current debt exceeds $500 million and will increase by $300 million with the two new residence halls that will be proposed by the end of the year, Mucciolo said.
The first year of the Academic Investment Plan, said Provost Ahmed Abdelal, helped contribute and will continue to add to the quality of the university by focusing on strengthening undergraduate and graduate education and developing research.
“Through the enabling of the Academic Investment Plan, I am confident we are on our way to becoming a great university,” Abdelal said.
After the university officials spoke for almost 90 minutes, the floor opened to remaining staff, faculty and student questions. Student Government Association Vice President for Academic Affairs Bill Durkin said he was happy to hear some of the goals in the Academic Investment Plan were met so the university can move on to the next phase.
“I think it’s encouraging that we are moving up to the Top 100; I’d like to see us reach it before I graduate,” Durkin, a middler, said.
Freeland said to further improve the state of the university, members of Northeastern have to “keep their promises” by strengthening the already growing retention rates.
“Achieving our goals in the area of student success is the biggest thing we can do to improve our financial position. Every 1 percent increase in our graduation rate is worth $1 million in our annual operating budget,” Freeland said.
