TO:      COLLEGE COMMUNITY

FROM:  JOHN C. REYNDERS, PRESIDENT  

RE:       A CALL TO ACTION FOR MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE

DATE:   FEBRUARY 29, 2000

INTRODUCTION

At several critical junctures over the past 105 years, circumstances have threatened the dreams of our original founders. But in each instance, led by such sturdy examples as Lillian Dimmitt who would not abandon her "college in the cornfield" and Earl Roadman who balanced a budget by exchanging livestock for tuition, the Morningside community has always summoned the vision, creativity, and initiative to prosper and prevail. We must never forget what those who went before us believed in so strongly, nor how much they were willing to sacrifice. Their legacy is to be found in the face of every student whose life has been transformed--or could be transformed--by the Morningside experience.

Once again we find ourselves at the crossroads. As all of you know from our small-group discussions over the past months, budget deficits have returned to threaten our ability to pursue our historic mission. If we are to pay true homage to those whose courage kept Morningside alive, we must do as they would do: look critically at the present and devise a strategy with which we may march boldly toward the future.  

Today's public is not necessarily inclined to share our belief in the value of an education based on the liberal arts foundation and delivered in the small-college setting. Numerous surveys bear this out and suggest that the number of small private institutions will be reduced by one-third over the next twenty-five years.

We can all agree that modern advancements, particularly in technology, have ensured that teaching and learning will evolve in the decades ahead--as it should. It is our task to make it equally evident that the most productive focus for shaping new pedagogies in higher education is to be found in traditional places like Morningside. Only in environments such as ours can students grow not only through the acquisition of knowledge and skills but also through the guided development of personal and spiritual perspectives; only here can they come to understand that learning is not encapsulated in a four-year program but continues throughout a lifetime. Students who graduate from Morningside take with them much more than a degree; they venture forth with relationships and experiences that will sustain them long after they have exceeded our immediate influence. The world outside our walls must come to learn how and why we strive to produce the genuinely college-educated person, not simply another addition to the work force.    

With these thoughts in mind, we can see that the goals of our summer task forces and five-year planning process must not be reduced to financial considerations alone, although those concerns are of great importance. What lies before us is a critical opportunity in this third century in which we have existed to revisit the goals of our past, realistically define ourselves for today, and rededicate ourselves to sensible rigor. The product of this process will permit us to describe who we are and aim to be-to ourselves and to that skeptical marketplace in which we compete. Our self-examinations must result in a clear articulation of the unique and valuable symbiosis we construct between our liberal arts and pre-professional programs. Our goal of financial health must be fully integrated with a compelling argument for the worth of our educational mission.  

THE PLANNING PROCESS

It would seem self-evident that a planning process should produce tangible measures that ensure long-range, positive results. Yet a surprising number of such processes fail this simple test; they defeat themselves from the outset through the planning process itself. Noted planning authority George Keller instructs us in the necessary characteristics of process that can prevent such failures:

The process must be participatory and controversy-tolerant. There must be urgency in the process because the fate of the institution matters and is at stake. Looking outward is important because the environment is changing and competitive. There is an attitude of active control over the institution's future rather than one of passivity or desperation. Real planning is about setting priorities and making choices--difficult choices. It is about having goals and dreams, but it is also about recognizing limitations and letting things go. Planning must concentrate on specific decisions and actions based upon well-defined priorities, and it must provide the means for achieving goals rather than stop with the goals themselves. The process will be imperfect, and it never really ends.           

It would be my hope that each individual task force would begin with a thoughtful consideration of Keller's directives and that it would review his words regularly throughout its deliberations. While the issues we explore will differ with each task force, Keller's words must serve as the touchstone that unifies us in our proceedings.

As the task forces meet regularly over a six-week period spanning June to early July, they must be committed to engaging in the kind of candid conversation that goes on daily in our community--but usually only behind closed doors or over the coffee pot. This planning process provides the occasion for an open airing of our deepest concerns and our highest aspirations. To do anything less would be a disservice to each individual, to the constituencies they represent, and most importantly, to the College itself.  

Each group will be given a specific area to examine, but should regard perceived boundaries as permeable; such boundaries are, after all, somewhat artificially constructed for the sake of organizing our discussions. When it is logical and in the best interest of the institution for a task force to venture into what seems like another group's territory, it should feel free to do so.

At the culmination of our discussions, the task forces will deliver their recommendations to me. It will be my responsibility to imagine the pieces as a whole and to integrate ideas within the comprehensive five-year plan that will be presented to the Board of Directors. While I will make no claim that I will accept the recommendation of a task force in its entirety, I will give clear credit for those suggestions that are incorporated and note significant difference of opinion if and when they exist.  

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Throughout the deliberations of the summer task forces, several guiding principles, beyond those that Keller offers, must be applied. They are as follows:

•  Deliberations must be guided by an insistence on the "greatest good for the greatest number." This approach--academic Benthamism, some would call it--requires a shift from the disproportionate ways in which Morningside's resources have sometimes in recent years benefited a minority and not accurately reflected institutional priorities.

•  We must begin with the assumptions that we have a student body well worth serving and that while we must continually strive to increase diversity, the characteristics of our student body will remain relatively the same. Only if we are realistic about who we are (and who we are not) can we arrive at a coherent program of study and advising that will allow students to develop academic skills, intellectual confidence, and moral and social awareness--in short, an education for life as well as for a career.  

•  We must acknowledge that in the current educational market, we cannot continue to offer everything we presently offer and do it well enough to be competitive. At a time of necessary reduction and consolidation, our solution cannot be to become a smaller version of what we are at this moment. Rather, we must identify areas of distinction or potential distinction and allocate resources to encourage strength in these areas. Only in this way may Morningside differentiate itself from those "generic," "vanilla" liberal arts colleges with which we are often lumped--and sometimes for good reason.

GOALS FOR THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN

Our five-year plan must be driven by three goals that are interdependent:

1) To achieve fiscal stability, i.e., a balanced budget within five years.

2) To ensure challenging, rich academic and co-curricular experiences for students.

3) To create a satisfying place for our faculty and staff to work.

CHARGES FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TASK FORCES

1) To develop mission and vision statements for the institution.

2) To define the appropriate role of intercollegiate athletics at Morningside.

3) To identify the criteria for assessing strong academic departments and programs that are central to Morningside's mission.

4) To conduct a thorough review of all tuition revenue issues including undergraduate full- and part-time opportunities, graduate programs, and niche programs.

5) To search out inefficiencies through an investigation of the non-personnel related expenditures of the institution.

6) To examine student life at Morningside with an eye toward developing a more fully integrated academic and co-curricular environment on campus that will help to retain greater numbers of students.  

OBJECTIVES FOR THE TASK FORCES        

MISSION STATEMENT AND VISION

This group will include the co-chairs of the five task forces, the senior staff, the chairman of the Board of Directors, the president of the student body or his/her designee, the president of the alumni association, the president of Faculty Senate, and the president of the College. The coordinator of the task forces will preside as chair.

Objectives:

1) To assess our current mission statement for its content and concision.

2) To define what it means to be a "college educated person."

3) To review our competition and comparison schools (including local publics and community colleges) vis a vis our strengths and weaknesses.

4) To look carefully at demographics in the Midwest and evaluate other external factors for the opportunities they afford or challenges they present.

5) To carefully analyze the composition of our student body using the following measures:

• Demographic information
• Interest areas
• CIRP data
• Satisfaction surveys
• Retention information
• Graduation information

6) To establish "dashboard indicators" and determine what statistical information is needed to gauge our effectiveness in reaching the goals of our five-year plan.

7) To examine the role of college governance in the ongoing nature of planning.

8) To develop a skeletal outline for the vision of Morningside based upon the work of the other task forces.

EVALUATING THE APPROPRIATE ROLE FOR INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Objectives:

To examine the appropriate role of intercollegiate athletics at Morningside by answering the following questions:

1) Can we sustain the monetary costs of remaining in Division 2?

2) Are Division 2 athletics consistent with our mission and vision?

3) If the response to #2 is "no," then what are our options?

4) What are the potential institutional ramifications for changing divisions?

5) What are the financial ramifications in terms of costs, fund raising, and new revenue opportunities if we should expand the number of sports that we offer?

CRITERIAL FOR EVALUATING DEPARTMENTS AND PROGRAMS

Objectives:

1) To establish and prioritize the criteria to evaluate academic departments and programs that are central to ensuring Morningside's long-term survival. This process should include but not be limited to questions regarding enrollment trends, market demand, historic institutional strengths, strengths of our current faculty, distinctiveness, redundancies with our competitors, and our strong desire to deliver a quality, well-rounded education.

2) To define Morningside's niche in the academic marketplace.

3) To discuss how restructuring might impact the core and the ways in which we can address this issue within our governance structure and in a timely fashion.

ADMISSIONS, GRADUATE, AND PART-TIME OPPORTUNITIES

Objective:

To devise strategies for attracting more students, which, in turn, will generate additional revenues. This will be done by answering the following questions:

1) What graduate opportunities make sense?

2) What part-time opportunities might attract a new population?

3) Are there niche markets we should explore such as LD, dance, debate, new athletic teams?

NON-PERSONNEL COST ISSUES

Objective:

To examine all non-personnel items in our budget by answering the following questions:

1) Are there efficiencies that can be achieved?

2) Are there collaborative opportunities with other institutions that can be explored?

3) Is a dramatic price reduction a viable strategy?

STUDENT LIFE AT MORNINGSIDE

Objective:

To examine the issues surrounding retention and the graduation rate at Morningside by answering the following questions:

1) Who are we losing?

2) What are the significant issues regarding retention?

3) What short-term and long-term strategies can we employ to improve retention?

4) What goals are realistic for the retention/graduation rate?

5) How can we effectively blend the academic and co-curricular aspects of the students' experience?

6) What are the critical student life issues on campus? How do we best address these issues?

7) Is theme housing a viable option?

CLOSING REMARKS

I end this document with my sincere appreciation for the willingness of our community to participate in this important process. Such loyalty and dedication are hallmarks of this institution. I am confident that guided by these task forces we will, in our collective wisdom, forge a promising future for Morningside.

As I have done thus far, I will continue to keep the entire community informed about our progress in this planning process. Throughout the summer I will be giving updates from the task forces, and in the fall I will share the culminating five-year plan that will be presented to the Board. As always, I invite and welcome your questions and responses.