RISD faculty take out pitchforks

[thisandthat]

RISD

Seems to be going through a lot of trouble at the moment - perhaps it's worth a heads up to anyone considering going there.

"Dear RISD Board of Trustees,

On Wednesday, March 2nd, the faculty of the Rhode Island School of Design voted No Confidence in both President John Maeda and Provost Jessie Shefrin by a margin of 147 to 32. This motion signals that an overwhelming majority of faculty are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. While it does not have any binding implications at the present, the future implications of a divided administration and faculty is terribly frightening.

RISD is being turned upside-down."

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The Prez Sez:

"When I arrived at the College in 2008, I learned that applications and inquiries from prospective students had been consistently declining for the past decade at a time when the number of college applications were increasing in the U.S. Our campus had grown quickly and become more residential, yet we were not offering commensurate services to ensure the highest quality student experience. Furthermore, the number of alumni who give to RISD — an important barometer of confidence in the school – was in steady decline, dropping from 3,423 out of 15,003 alumni in 2002 to only 2,722 out of 20,208 alumni in 2008 – a 20% decline in the number of alumni donors, and a drop in RISD’s alumni participation rate from 23% to only 13%. It is important to note that during this period, the average number of alumni donors per U.S. higher education institution held steady, and that the national alumni participation rate only fell from 13.4% to 11%."

[pocketdictionary]

I graduated from RISD in '09 with a BFA in Painting. The faculty overwhelming hated the previous president, Roger Mandle, as well. There was a vote of no confidence against him before Maeda took over. In my opinion, Maeda is a freaky, kooky dude who's a total narcissist, but he HAS been moving the school in a good direction. There are tons of opportunities and resources there now that I did not have access to. More fellowships, grants, scholarships, student groups, publicity, sharing of information, and social action projects for starters. The biggest problem with RISD is that people cannot afford it, honestly. A graduate degree from RISD goes much, much further than an undergraduate degree in terms of name power and networking, so there's that to consider. I'd say 85-95% of RISD alumni are way passionate about the school changing their lives for the better... but I won't deny that a lot of alumni are also bitter about the huge burden tuition can be. I personally have $50,000 worth of loans, which is low compared to some others since I was lucky enough to get a scholarship. I'm a grad student at SAIC now and I know that RISD was pivotal in preparing me for my time here.

[pocketdictionary]

By the way, I have done work-study in both the RISD and SAIC Office of Development. When I worked at RISD, our participation rate in the Annual Fund was 19%. SAIC's alumni participation rate in the Annual Fund is 2% ... much lower!

Edited April 1, 2011 by pocketdictionary

[sightless]

Aren't the both schools ask almost same amount of grad tuition to expected students?

I mean we need to pay $40k for RISD or SAIC grad programs per year.