Do you understand the university's facility plans, financial plans, capital needs and fund raising targets well enough to make that definitive statement about Alumni Hall?
Do you think that the trustees, the administration' the admissions consultants and the donors that are driving the fund raising campaign (many of whom are huge basketball supporters) have taken the time to understand all the tough trade-offs, pro, cons and every possible alternative? if you don't, you are naive.
Do you think its possible that they have some insights/information that you are not aware of, or do you assume that they are they just foolishly shooting in the dark?
Your enthusiasm is great. And you are certainly entitled to your opinion. That makes it fun. I happen to disagree. You are often wrong, never in doubt.
Jennings beach, You are over reacting. This is an informal board. I missed a grammar point and that makes me a disgrace? Perhaps a little harsh don't you think?
1968stags, I am not taking any cheap shots, I only asked a question about the status of grennan? I used the same statement SJ used to justify removing grennan from the team.
Before the "Grammar (not grammer) Police" step in here, the verb is spelled "overreacting" but it doesn't/does not matter. I understand exactly what stags74 is informally saying (actually writing) and it doesn't bother me at all. Maybe it also shouldn't be that much of a big deal to everyone else or turn this Stags Message Board into a spelling, grammar or punctuation test.
Do you understand the university's facility plans, financial plans, capital needs and fund raising targets well enough to make that definitive statement about Alumni Hall?
Do you think that the trustees, the administration' the admissions consultants and the donors that are driving the fund raising campaign (many of whom are huge basketball supporters) have taken the time to understand all the tough trade-offs, pro, cons and every possible alternative? if you don't, you are naive.
Do you think its possible that they have some insights/information that you are not aware of, or do you assume that they are they just foolishly shooting in the dark?
Your enthusiasm is great. And you are certainly entitled to your opinion. That makes it fun. I happen to disagree. You are often wrong, never in doubt.
Stagmania: Your comments are quite simplistic. How is it that Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Monmouth have the money to invest in facilities and Fairfield does not? Do they charge more for tuition? No. Do they have bigger endowments? No. Then how do they do it?
Its about leadership and vision. Its about product pricing. Its about fundraising. Its about gaining economies of scale by increasing enrollments such that the cost of sports per student is lower. Its about accepting donations that were offered (Fairfield turned down money for a new arena in the 80's because the donor wanted to build a dual purpose hockey/basketball arena). Fairfield has historically done so many things wrong, it has always been a question of leadership. Some examples:
1) I wanted to get an MBA. I met with father Kelly about adding an MBA program at Fairfield. He thought it was a bad idea, he wanted to be different and started a graduate school of communications. It failed. So after UNH, UConn Stamford, RPI, Quinnipiac, and Sacred Heart established successful MBA programs in the region Fairfield got into the act. As a me too school they lost all of the strategic advantages they had if they had been first to market. Lack of vision 2) Fairfield started a football program which they could not sustain financially long term. Lack of vision. The result was they had to cut sports years later and the hockey program was then became an unnecessary casualty of that. Lack of vision. 3) Fairfield failed to secure the land by northwest/Jogues when it was available for sale and to expand in the 80's. Lack of vision 4) Jack Welsh and GE made major donations to SHU? Why didn't Fairfield secure these funds? 5) GE headquarted in Fairfield gives more money to UMass than to Fairfield. Its probably Sobro's fault, it has nothing to do with poor leadership at the university. 6) Fairfield did not take money to build a dual purpose arena in the 80's because there were "strings attached and they didn't want an ice rink" 7) Fairfield divested land they owned that could have been used for expansion. Poor planning, no vision. 8) Financially the university administration has wasted literally millions of dollars because of a lack of a long term facilities plan. Among the mistakes. a) More than $250K to standardize sidewalks because initially the university used 11 different kinds of sidewalk materials, and wanted to have just one because it would look better. Just the study to decide what kind of sidewalks to standardize on cost $35,000. b) The university wasted more than $200K building new tennis courts only to rip them out 6 years later because they wanted to build a road where the tennis courts were. c) They also wasted money on the older tennis courts which had been repaired only to be replaced with a parking lot. d) Then there was the time they moved the entrance near the prep without obtaining permission from the town. They then had to move it back to where the old entrance was because of traffic issues. I don't know how much that one cost but you can but have heard it was over a $50K blunder. These are just a few of they items, there are many many more. Some of the other ones are complex issues related to funds wasted in association with the library, heating and cooling systems, the print shop, the decommissioning of the chapel, etc but each of them had some major component of waste in them that could be measured in the tens of thousands. Please don't talk about long term vision. Leadership has wasted Millions because of a lack of vision that have been consistently demonstrated over 40 years.
Last Edit: Apr 5, 2014 20:09:57 GMT -5 by reindeerfan
rf, Well said but depressing to read again. Sadly there have been far too many examples of inaction, bad decisions, poor planning and a lack of vision by Administrations at Fairfield University.
I don't see an on campus arena/convocation center being built for far too many reasons, especially the town and costs. Alumni Hall, the home of Stag Women's Basketball, Stag Volleyball and the largest capacity on campus facility is continually being neglected and will be fixed "when funds are available". However, AH is called "not up to Division 1 standards" or as Siena would say "lags behind peer institutions". Why isn't there a public phase of a capital campaign at Fairfield to fix AH, fund Rafferty Stadium and other priorities?
Siena has raised $39.2 million towards their goal of $50 million for their "Living Our Tradition, The Campaign for Siena College". It includes $6 million for the renovation and expansion of their on campus ARC home court and recreation center:
Over the past 10 years, Siena has increased its athletic scholarships and augmented its coaching staffs, but lacked the resources for a major renovation and expansion of our indoor athletic facilities. Our facilities now lag behind those of our peer institutions, let alone the colleges and universities whose national reputations for academic excellence and athletic success we seek to rival.
$3 million for their Saints Alive! initiative:
Saints Alive! is Siena College Athletics’ annual giving program. More than 400 friends and alumni have joined together to help Siena meet the growing challenges of competing in Division I intercollegiate athletics. The Saints Alive! mission is to provide the best possible environment for our student athletes to succeed, while maintaining the high standard of athletic and academic excellence associated with Siena College.
I wont respond to to all of that. Sounds like you are very bitter about FU for many reasons, but if you try hard enough you can find lots of fault in any large institution over the long term. That is your choice. I am sure they have made many mistakes, and I agree that academic types are often not good managers, a challenge for many colleges. The administration has brought in many impressive business types in the past year to address some of these issues.
There are many passionate people who give extensively of their time (and money) to make FU the best it can. I am sure that many mistakes have been made and we could all do better.
Jack Welsh graduated from UMASS. That is the connection.
How do the other schools do it? They borrow the money. They also skimp on academics with part time teachers, etc. That is one way to go, and lets see how that plays out over the next 10 years. Some will make it work, many won't. Quinnipiac will be interesting to watch in this regard. The landscape for higher ed has changed since the recession and will never be the same.
You have to look at endowment minus debt to figure it out. FU has been conservative, rightly or wrongly.
SHU, Monmouth and Siena are NOT in our league in anything but gyms and hoops, Compare academics, faculty, quality of student, job placement, financial aid, etc, etc. NOT close.
Look at the Forbes list of best colleges. Its good because, unlike the other rankings, it list all schools in one category. Siena, SHU and Monmouth are three of the lowest rated schools in the country. That is not our vision. They are not our peers. Its a struggle, but FU is bringing in really good classes. Those schools are not getting the same kids.
FU will have a public phase and raise 4-5 times what Siena is talking about. Our endowment is 300 and will be much larger in the next few years and we will have many of the facilities that we need to continue to compete with our actual peers. It will not be easy.
We did have a really bad hoop season. Not the end of the world. I believe most of us on this board would have hired Syd if we were AD and that we would give him another year if we had to make that decision.
Congrats to the lacrosse team, we beat Michigan yesterday. See you at the Ohio State game.
Thanks stagmania. You sound close to the thinking at Fairfield. I agree that the hiring of Kevin Lawlor '79, a seasoned CFO, was an excellent decision which should bring discipline to the decision-making process at Fairfield. I think his impact has already been felt within the Fairfield 2020 strategic planning process.
With regards to your comments about our peers, they tend to support my view that we are not amongst our peers in the MAAC. As I have discussed ad nauseam, I believe our peers (i.e., Loyola and Holy Cross) are in the more academically focused Patriot League and that we would be a better fit there. While the quality of basketball may suffer slightly, I feel the overall athletic and academic profile of the Patriot League presents a significant strategic opportunity for Fairfield. We might even have a better chance of making the NCAA Tournament, which is our ultimate goal. Do you have any insight as to whether this view is shared amongst the decision-makers at Fairfield?
And, yes, the lacrosse program is the best thing happening athletically at Fairfield. Ohio State is down this year, but, they have a very talented squad and lost several close games to some national ranked teams including an OT loss to Johns Hopkins. This will be a dangerous game. First things first, though, we need to take care of business against Air Force and Quinnipiac. And you just know that the Quinnipiac squad will be amped up to ruin Fairfield's season.
Last Edit: Apr 6, 2014 12:49:38 GMT -5 by Stagophile
Not sure Monmouth, SHU, Niagra and Iona even make the list. If they do, they are very lowly ranked. It will be nice when we start kicking their butts in hoops too.
Not sure Monmouth, SHU, Niagra and Iona even make the list....
I could not find them on the Forbes list. I'm not sure how much credibility there is when Forbes ranks Oklahoma Wesleyan last at #650 but does not include Monmouth University, St. Peter's University or Niagara University. The Princeton Review and US News & World Reports among others list top colleges and have their own ranking systems but it is interesting to see the criteria and methodology that Forbes used to determine their rankings:
However, Forbes ranks Fairfield University #185 Overall but also #131 in Private Colleges and also #83 in the Northeast. Is there really that much difference between Fairfield at #185 and Lewis & Clark College at #184 or Millsaps College at #186?
Thanks stagmania. You sound close to the thinking at Fairfield. I agree that the hiring of Kevin Lawlor '79, a seasoned CFO, was an excellent decision which should bring discipline to the decision-making process at Fairfield. I think his impact has already been felt within the Fairfield 2020 strategic planning process.
What was discussed at the 2020 presentation was a complete joke, IMO. The highlights: tuition will remain at current levels and they expect a tougher sell into the traditional feeder base as it will be diminishing. There was nothing strategic about it. Lawlor's hire/background looks like it is a step in the right direction but we can't be sure if he has any real power to make decisions. If the presentation was a "tell", then it's not going to mean much. We were hoping for something bold and really got nothing.
Thanks stagmania. You sound close to the thinking at Fairfield. I agree that the hiring of Kevin Lawlor '79, a seasoned CFO, was an excellent decision which should bring discipline to the decision-making process at Fairfield. I think his impact has already been felt within the Fairfield 2020 strategic planning process.
What was discussed at the 2020 presentation was a complete joke, IMO. The highlights: tuition will remain at current levels and they expect a tougher sell into the traditional feeder base as it will be diminishing. There was nothing strategic about it. Lawlor's hire/background looks like it is a step in the right direction but we can't be sure if he has any real power to make decisions. If the presentation was a "tell", then it's not going to mean much. We were hoping for something bold and really got nothing.
Well put. Bold would have been devising a strategy to expand our base for high school seniors outside of New England and better marketing of our value proposition and to capitalize on our strengths to distinguish the school from competitors. Heard nothing of that kind.