A University in a Metamorphosis

Recently, the Stevens administration has sought to connect the current bout of construction on campus with an image of a “University on the rise”, meaning a growing university with high prospects ahead. While I agree that we are on the cusp of significant growth, I feel that a “university in a metamorphosis” would be more appropriate for the ground situation. Even though change for the better is happening all around campus, some long-standing issues still have not been alleviated, while others have even been aggravated. Now, topics of diversity and inclusion are quickly moving to the forefront of the university’s objectives, being reflected in the hiring of our diversity educator, Liliana Delman, the growth to celebrity status of the SGA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and the appearance of Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Psi Zeta. Though Stevens proudly states online that a record 10,000 students from all 50 states and 95 countries applied here, we would seem less diverse knowing that half of our students are from New Jersey, our percentage of Pell Grant recipients is well below the national average, underrepresented minorities make up only around 15%, and only 30% are female. Compared to our peer schools, we are still lacking in terms of resources or support services for LGBTQ+ students. Even though record numbers of students are applying to Stevens and accepting their offers, the residence life still copes with frequent overcrowding and will likely only get worse once Hayden will be closed. Our upcoming towers will alleviate many concerns, but until then we are essentially attending school on a construction site. A similar overcrowding effect will be felt in our most understaffed academic departments. If we accept more students, we will also further exhaust our faculty unless we rapidly hire more. Some majors, such as Computational Science, have already been discarded from the curriculum, or are on the brink of extinction. While expansion is underway, our campus culture has to adjust. More students mean more pressure on the faculty, which could augment academic pressure, and in turn exacerbate mental health issues among students. Our recent spike in suicides has made the mental health emergency here more than apparent. Luckily, various initiatives have since materialized, with the President’s Mental Health Task Force being created, and SGA President Jason Chlus making mental health a top priority. Furthermore, the SGA itself has even experienced similar expansion, with three new committees being recently created—Diversity and Inclusion, Auditing, and Government and Community Relations—yet still struggles with filling vacant seats. Greek Life has also undergone change, with “Rounds” being struck from Bid Night activities, the IFC implementing new procedures to handle policy violations, Kappa Sigma recently being added to the IFC, and Lodge receiving a suspension last semester. A sense of this change is becoming more palpable. Some are even calling into question the Pinnacle Scholars Program. Our university is in the midst of rapid change, a metamorphosis of administrative objectives and undergraduate student life, laying the groundwork for expansion while also causing growing pains.