University Senate sponsored an open forum for the Syracuse University community to address Chancellor Nancy Cantor with questions or concerns Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium.

Although only faculty members directed questions to the chancellor, discussion surfaced on several of the most relevant topics at the university today.

Librarian Marty Hanson asked the chancellor for clarification of SU’s recent involvement with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. She said she was surprised to find SU does not have a good ranking when it comes to freedom of speech. She said she felt disturbed and bothered about how this is affecting current and perspective students’ perception of the institution.

‘It isn’t affecting our applicant pool at all,’ Cantor said.

The most recent case FIRE was involved in concerned a student from the School of Education who was suspended from the student teaching program after posting comments on his personal Facebook page. Douglas Biklen, dean of the School of Education, said he could not speak on anything specific about the case.

Biklen said the school makes these decisions due to similar instances every semester. He said these are not freedom of speech issues, as they are sometimes framed and interpreted, and students need to learn how to act professionally.

‘We are absolutely committed to freedom of speech,’ Biklen said.

Though Hanson said she still considered this very depressing information, Biklen said there are appeals procedures students can go through.

The national discussion on rising tuition and how to keep costs down was also addressed with the chancellor. Barbara Kwasnik, chair of the Committee on Curricula, said nationally, the federal government seems to ‘be painting things with such a broad brush.’

Cantor said it is important to understand net tuition, which is not just looking at the costs overall, but what people are actually paying. She said SU has been focusing on financial aid across income brackets to get a better indicator across the entire continuum of students attending SU.

When Cantor came to SU eight years ago, she said SU had a model of a 6 percent annual tuition increase. But, she said, by about 2014 or 2015, there should only be a 3 percent tuition increase at SU.

To also help with financial aid, Cantor said there needs to be a larger emphasis on creative programs to save money, like partnering with community colleges that have SU-approved associate degree plans. This way, students can come to SU afterward to finish their majors with financial aid.

‘This is a win-win situation,’ Cantor said. ‘Those students, nationally, graduate at higher rates than students entering in their freshman year.’

Another idea is to develop more online courses, Cantor said.

Kwasnik later stressed the difficulty of keeping tuition costs down with the federal government’s push that everyone should obtain a higher education.

Cantor said she personally believes American higher education should be open in the sense that universities should be reaching out and creating the most opportunities possible.

‘Because, in a knowledge economy, if we want to close the gap between the haves and the have-nots, we’ve got to be educated,’ Cantor said.

This country values education, Cantor said, but everyone understands the strains of affordability and the institution’s ability to create an enriched, interdisciplinary environment. She said it is important to find this balance but feels it is something SU does well.

rebarill@syr.edu 

Published on February 8, 2012 at 12:00 pm