Planning committee lends an ear

Author: Katie Flagg

Middlebury College is ringing in the New Year with resolutions of an especially bold sort, led by a new president eager to chart the College's course for coming years. Just days after the end of the Fall 2004 term, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz announced his comprehensive Planning Committee for Middlebury's Future in a memorandum to the College community. According to Liebowitz, this long-term planning process "will focus renewed attention on Middlebury's core mission: to provide the strongest learning environment for the talented young people who choose to study here."

The last major planning initiative for the College culminated in the 1992 Long-Range Plan, a plan formulated under the guidance of Liebowitz's predecessor, John McCardell. McCardell's plan focused primarily on the infrastructure of the College, fostering the construction of the Center for the Arts, Chip Kenyon Arena and the Natatorium, new Ross and Atwater Commons buildings, McCardell Bicentennial Hall and, most recently, the new library.

Following the completion of many of the objectives outlined in the 1992 Plan - and, perhaps most notably, following Liebowitz's inauguration - administrators began meeting last fall to discuss the structure and direction of the new planning committee. According to convention, it is hardly extraordinary that Liebowitz should, at this point in his administration, introduce a new planning process. Said Dean of Planning John Emerson, "planning periods generally occur near the beginning of a new Presidency at a College."

Emerson is adamant that Liebowitz's plan will differ in focus and direction from McCardell's Long-Range assessment. "Our present planning process is likely to differ from the 1992 planning in that this one will focus more on people and their needs, and less on building projects, the physical plant and infrastructure," said Emerson.

While meetings last fall entertained discussion of the planning process and format, the President's plan was announced to the College community officially on Dec. 23. The actual strategic planning will begin during Winter Term and continue through the Fall 2005 semester.

Liebowitz has expressed views that, while the planning process will be equal in intensity to past long-term processes, the process should be confined to one calendar year. The pace of planning is due in large part to the structure of the planning committee.

As Emerson has written by way of introduction for the planning process, "the planning will be organized in ways that transcend traditional boundaries in our organizational structures." Eleven task forces have been formed, dedicated to evaluating specific, cross-departmental questions or challenges. A full list of task forces, along with rosters and objectives, is available at the Middlebury College Web site. Overseeing the progress of these 11 task forces is a steering committee comprised of 13 individuals, including two students.

"It is a complicated and large structure," said Emerson, "and it will encourage broad participation in the 11 or 12 areas represented by all the task forces. It is a structure designed to encourage fresh viewpoints and imaginative suggestions. It brings together many people with highly varied backgrounds and perspectives."

But participation in the planning process is not limited to members of the task forces and the Steering Committee. "I expect the task forces to be fully engaged with a broad cross section of the College community," Liebowitz wrote in his Dec. 23 memo, "to consider the advice and perspectives of members of Middlebury's off-campus constituents - alumni, parents and trustees."

A Jan. 6 town hall meeting kicked off the President's initiative to include the College community in the planning process. The question-and-answer session, with Liebowitz, Emerson and Dean of the College Tim Spears fielding questions from a small group of interested students. Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson was also in attendance.

"The purpose of the planning process is to chart the course of the College," Liebowitz explained. He identified the process as a "chance to be critical [of Middlebury] in both positive and negative ways."

The town hall meeting, said Liebowitz, presented a forum to "engage as much of the community as possible" in the upcoming planning process.

Liebowitz entertained questions from students ranging from social life on campus to financial aid, from the stability and structure of the Commons system to the effectiveness of the Feb admissions program. He also spoke on the leveraging of the C.V. Starr language schools and Breadloaf, grade inflation, comprehensive fees, diversity on campus, the role of the environment at the College and faculty tenure.

While questions raised by those in attendance varied greatly, Liebowitz and company consistently echoed a similar message: such questions are important in the planning process, and students should contribute their suggestions and queries to the Dean of Planning for individual task force consideration.

Liebowitz also used the forum last Thursday to outline the overview of the planning process and identifying the strategic goals of his initiative. At the top of this list is Liebowitz's commitment to strengthening the College's reputation as one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the country. In his memo to the College community, he expressed a desire to "harness and build upon" the momentum the College has generated in recent decades.

Furthering the College's reputation will prove difficult, though.

"I know that Middlebury has grown gradually stronger, and achieved heightened excellence, over the past three or four decades," said Emerson. "Although our reputation has grown as well, reputations tend always to lag realities. Middlebury is better and stronger than our reputation - as strong as it is - may suggest."

Liebowitz is also dedicated to enhancing the reputation of the College's summer language programs and both the Breadloaf School of English and the Breadloaf Writers' Conference. "These are the best programs and the country and sometimes the world," Liebowitz said at the Presidential forum. He acknowledged a commitment to "trumpeting their excellence," noting that the College has the "opportunity to showcase those entities."

An evaluation of the Commons program is also high on the agenda - an appropriate choice, considering the number of questions raised at the town hall meeting regarding the subject. Liebowitz asserted a strong belief in the housing and residential Commons system, but he quickly agreed that there remain flaws in the still-fledgling system.

"To me," he said, "it would be a great day when we don't talk about the Commons as separate from life at Middlebury."

Liebowitz's agenda also calls for a stready growth in the annual giving to the College coupled with endowment spending reduced to and maintained at five percent. The planning process looks to reassess financial aid packaging for students, hoping to reduce financial barriers for those students who wish to study at Middlebury as well as reducing the indebtedness of College graduates.

Broader objectives for the planning process will also focus on people and the community, students, faculty, curriculum, campus and infrastructure and resources.

But the planning process is not without its complications. "One very tangible challenge is in scheduling important meetings and conversations," said Emerson, acknowledging the difficulties inherently present in organizing the large body of participants. "Students, staff and faculty are seemingly overcommitted and it's surprisingly hard to find a time when all can meet."

What can current students expect from the planning process? Emerson warns that, because "strategic planning is inherently long range," there may be "little that we are doing right now tha
t will have a major impact on students next semester." According to Emerson, in fact, the results of the planning process are most likely to be felt by current first-year and sophomore students before they graduate.

"Certainly the work of the Task Force on Commons and Student Life, with its fairly broad agenda, is one that will affect students in tangible ways within, say, the next two years," said Emerson.

Furthermore, as the community at large has been encouraged to participate in planning, students, faculty and alumni all share a common opportunity for input and contribution in the coming months.

"Our Task Forces and our mailings and Web sites will certainly invite and encourage broad participation in planning," said Emerson. "Somewhat surprisingly, we have already had an impressive amount of voluntary input."

Emerson felt that the planning process will likely affect the way the College community views itself, as well as the strengths and priorities it possesses.

"In the long run," he said, "enhancing Middlebury's reputation and stature can only enhance the value of a Middlebury degree and the pride that all alumni have in Middlebury College. All students - past, present and future - and all staff and faculty stand to benefit from this emphasis that President Liebowitz has made so prominent in his agenda for Middlebury."