Thursday, March 09, 2006

Letter to the editor

Tomorrow the Rutgers Board of Governors votes on the fate of my alma mater Douglass College. We have a very active group of alumna who are really mad! This is a letter to the editor that ran in some newspapers by my friend Teri...

This Friday, the Rutgers University Board of Governors will vote on the future of our alma mater, Douglass College.

The administration of Douglass College, under Dean Carmen Twillie Ambar, has agreed there are ways to improve the undergraduate college system in New Brunswick and has offered many solutions. As it has been repeated over and over again, the problems the Undergraduate Education Task Force was charged to address can be corrected without eliminating the only public women's college in America.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine publicly described our college as "a jewel in New Jersey's higher education crown." Douglass College should be strengthened by the Rutgers University administration, not diminished.

We've read the recommendations recently released by President Richard L. McCormick. He has let down the women of Douglass College. In proposing the creation of the Mabel Smith Douglass Residential College, McCormick basically turned his back on the pleas of Douglass College supporters. He certainly dismissed the thousands of Douglass College commuters - past and present - who experienced the unique benefits of Douglass College without living on campus.

Since last summer, the nearly 35,000 alumnae and current Douglass College students have defended the independence of our college. We are serious about cutting off funding to the University. We are prepared to have our voices heard by the state government once again - en masse. In the last capital campaign, Douglass College alumnae gave $29 million. Douglass College alumnae or alumnae of a residential college are less likely to be generous to Rutgers University in the future.

Our expectation is that Friday the members of the Rutgers Board of Governors will agree that Douglass College remain as a four-year, women-centered, co-curricular and student life, degree-granting college.

Douglass College is more than a set of buildings. It is more than a residence hall. Douglass College alumnae will not be satisfied with a residential college. We will not be satisfied with a single College of Arts and Sciences. For many women in New Jersey - and beyond - Douglass College remains the pinnacle experience of our lives, and we will use our voices, votes and checkbooks to defend it!

Sincerely,

Theresa Sciacchetano

Douglass College alumna of the class of 1998 and former president of the Douglass College Government Association (1996-1997)

This letter was also endorsed by 120 Douglass College alumnae.
(Including me!)

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