In joint State of the University addresses yesterday, President Joseph Aoun and Provost Stephen Director proposed a suite of institutional changes they said will make the university more competitive and more sustainable, including shifting toward four-year degrees and a decentralized model of operations.

Both President Aoun and Director said the worldwide economic crisis presented tough challenges that would force the university to adapt.

The program was held from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Curry Student Center Ballroom. About 200 people, mostly faculty and staff, attended.

“Frankly, in the face of crisis, there are opportunities,” Aoun said.

To ensure the university’s survival in tough economic times, the president offered a variety of proposals. Aoun said the university should move toward four-year degree programs.

“This has to be done,” he said.

Many students, Aoun said, feel their fifth year at Northeastern has the potential to hurt their competitive edge upon graduation.

Director focused his address on move away from a centralized model of university governance and a focus on research that, within five years, the university could become a world leader in. He also said an important factor in shifting from five- to four-year degree programs required reevaluating co-op, which includes ensuring that students work co-op jobs that advance their educations.

“We need to enhance our experiential education beyond co-op,” he said. “This is something the university has started on, and we need to continue it.”

Aoun said the university needed to continue to expand its “plus-one” Masters degree programs, as well, which allow undergraduates to earn a graduate degree with just one extra year of study. He stressed that students should be free to pursue interdisciplinary Masters degrees, or even ones completely different from their undergraduate focus.

“We need to afford this possibility,” Aoun said.

Aoun said Northeastern must become a leader in lifelong education. He compared the university’s need to refocus its goals in the face of economic problems with Americans wanting to return to school to prepare for a different career.

“You will see we have an obligation to society, to retool and help others to retool,” Aoun said.

Director echoed the idea of promoting lifelong education.

“This is a time when many in society are looking to retrain themselves,” Director said.

He said Northeastern would serve veterans returning from military service by providing them with the high quality education they are entitled to under the G.I. Bill, which helps soldiers pay for college.

In addressing a move toward decentralized university governance, which he discussed in depth at last month’s Faculty Senate meeting, Director said the plan “will set decision making closest to where the resources are being used.”

Director and Steven Morrison, chair of the Faculty Senate Agenda Committee began the meeting with a short speech and acted as moderator. Most questions were directed at Aoun, and addressed topics including janitor compensation, environmental policies and financial aid opportunities for students of color.

Students also had the opportunity to pose questions to Aoun and Director.

Dominique McCadden, co-executive director of the Husky Energy Action Team, questioned what university officials were doing to combat environmental problems.

“Now that the students are doing their part to bring sustainability to campus [by agreeing to pay the Renewable Energy Student Generated Fund], what is the university doing,” she asked.

Aoun challenged McCadden’s question and asserted that the university was taking significant steps to be environmentally conscious, changes that have paid off in the past year.

“Last year, our university moved in terms of its [sustainability] grade,” he said. “We got a grade, and the grade didn’t go to the students, and it didn’t go to the faculty or the staff. It went to the university.”

Aoun also challenged the premise of a question from a representative of the Progressive Student Alliance, who argued Northeastern had not done enough in regards to the salaries and work conditions of janitors on campus. Aoun said the janitors had recently renegotiated a contract through their union and it was not the university’s place to interfere.

At the end of his address, Director emphasized optimism in Northeastern’s future, which echoed Aoun’s sentiments.

“I am certain that we will emerge at the end of this year as a better, stronger university,” Director said.