By By Rob Tokanel, News Staff

On Thursday, The News sat down with Northeastern President Joseph Aoun and asked some pressing questions about various issues facing the university.
During the interview, President Aoun outlined his plans for issues concerning the economy and possible college organizational changes and stressed the importance of advancing the school’s commitment to urban engagement and educational progress, in spite of the foundering economy.
Aoun said that while the recession is forcing some universities to compromise priorities and cut back funding due to increasingly starved resources, Northeastern is using a different strategy. Aoun said Northeastern has a strategic plan for containing costs while building momentum toward a series of initiatives that will bolster the school’s quality of scholarship and communication.
‘We have a great momentum, and we have to capitalize on that,’ he said. ‘Other places have retrenched. We have not retrenched, and we have decided the opposite:’ to move forward, to build on our momentum and increase it, and that’s precious.’
Aoun cited the recent drive to 46 new faculty, discounts for graduate programs for recent alumni and the addition of new online programs as applications of the school’s core values:’ boosting support for established teaching missions, increasing financial aid and fostering productive relationships with the community.
In order to further these goals, he said, the school would consider the possibility of making organizational changes deemed potentially beneficial. This could include restructuring the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Criminal Justice, a measure he said could allow for more communication between faculty in the two colleges conducting vital research in the social sciences.
Aoun stressed the fact that any changes would be merely organizational and would not diminish the quality of the Criminal Justice program, but would seek to improve it.
‘I think students are saying, ‘we came here because we have a top Criminal Justice program’ ‘hellip; the answer is, they are absolutely right,’ he said. ‘That’s why they should come here, and is it going to be diminished? Absolutely not.’
Recently, a committee was formed to examine the possibility of restructuring the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Criminal Justice. Aoun said committee members will provide a report some time in the coming months.
The possible changes, he said, are not something students should fear would alter the school’s identity.
‘The organizational aspect is not what drives the university,’ he said. ‘It is the quality that you are building.’
The two colleges are currently structured under interim deans. Once the plans are more concrete, Aoun said he would consider hiring new deans for the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Criminal Justice. He said it made more sense to wait until plans for the colleges were established so that prospective deans would have a better idea of what they would be undertaking.
He also addressed the possible expansion of university co-op schedule options. Aoun said the university would not eliminate co-op, and that he has a group working on a report on the current state of the program.
‘Employers are looking at co-op as a great opportunity for them,’ he said. ‘They get to know students, the students get to know them and it’s vibrant and it’s going very well. So I want to make it very clear, we are not changing co-op.’
Aoun also acknowledged some cost-containment measures that were taken as a result of the economy, including halting the plan to construct Building K, the proposed residence hall that was to be built near Matthews Arena. As of now, the plans are postponed until further notice.
‘Given this very difficult situation in terms of the economy, our priority was to preserve our educational mission,’ he said. ‘We felt that in this environment, launching the new building was going to tax us tremendously financially, and this is why we took the decision to postpone [construction].’
However, the economy is not the only determining factor for university decisions, he said. Aoun said with any plan, Northeastern also has to acknowledge the needs of the community and the school’s responsibility to engage its neighbors in ways that are mutually beneficial.
Aoun said he is also open to the criticism and suggestions of students and faculty, who help contribute to a scholarly environment by circumventing the status quo.
‘I don’t want to stifle any discussion here,’ he said.