6 ms·

It doesn't say what she's done for the college, other than she's been "fantastic". I suppose she's brought in a lot of money from fund raising and contacts she

by throw7 12y ago

It doesn't say what she's done for the college, other than she's been "fantastic". I suppose she's brought in a lot of money from fund raising and contacts she has. I wonder if she's liked by the faculty and students? Boards will often overlook a lot if the president brings home the bacon.

CWuestefeld 12y ago
I'm an alum and no longer have any association myself (I've even managed to lose myself so they can't call asking for donations). But I have friends still around, including at least one still on the staff. My impression is that the school, including staff and student body, has a pretty positive view of her.
- andyhnj 12y ago
  I'm an RPI alum also, having graduated well before Jackson became president. The few people I know who are still actively involved with RPI don't like her much, and I think the inflated salary is a big part of the reason why. (Of course, most of the people I knew at RPI were malcontents to begin with, so maybe that's not a representative sample...)
  - CWuestefeld 12y ago
    Heh. I was such a malcontent, hence my quip about evading their donation request phone calls. My time there was well before Jackson, too - '84-'89.
- sigmar 12y ago
  2011 alum here. When I was a student ('07-'11), Jackson was dislike by many (not all) students, and by some staff (hard to say how much). I was working for the student newspaper when Jackson unilaterally suspended the faculty senate, which created a ton of animosity. My understanding is that the student opinion of her got better after I graduated. (Info about the faculty senate if anyone is interested: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_rensselaer_polytechnic_institute_for_icing_shared_governance https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_r...)
  - hga 12y ago
    Whoa. I note that "shared academic governance" is a requirement for accreditation; one wonders if RPI is too big to not be accredited?
- brightsize 12y ago
  Alum here too and like you I've managed to drop off the fund-raising radar. I wish I could say the same about Williams College where I spent my last semester (exchange program) who, despite my protests, seems to regard me as a graduate for fund-raising purposes. Every year I get a new guilt-inducing calendar "gift" in the mail.
kelleyb 12y ago
I'm actually at RPI right now. A majority of the student body, at least those I've talked to, don't particularly like her as President. A part of that is the inflated salary, but it's also how the school's being run. The most recent example is actually happening right now. There have been some robberies in a couple of the residence halls recently. Mainly in the one which is in probably the most sketchy area near campus. The robberies are blamed on people from the neighboring area "piggybacking" into the residence hall (waiting for students to scan their cards, and then following them in), and going into unlocked rooms to steal things. It's an understandable assumption, right? Well, they responded by locking down all residence halls to only the people who live there. Now, if you want to visit a friend, or you actually need to get into another hall for something, you have two options. One, wait for a friend to come down and let you in, or two, follow somebody else into the building. The policies meant to help prevent robberies through piggybacking are actually making legitimate students piggyback into buildings. After a couple more robberies, they've only increased security measures further. Each residence hall now only has one entrance/exit in the entire building, with every other door designated as emergency exit only. RA's are supposed to stay at the doors and check IDs, with their obviously unlimited free time. If a student's door is found unlocked, campus security will lock it and put a sign on the door announcing to the world that this person left their door unlocked. Even if it was just to pick up their laundry. With each robbery, the campus is turning into essentially a police state. A lot of people think that these policies are instituted by Residence Life, but I've got friends there and they're all just as pissed as the rest of us. They also get crap from all the people who think it's their call, when in reality the decision came from MUCH higher up. And all this is in the past month or so.
shponglemoorthy 12y ago
Alum (08-12) here, most students dislike her. It's hard to see the benefits she brings to the school, and very easy to find negative points to pin on her, such as the laying off of 80+ employees in '08, the new president's house mansion she had built (which was actually bigger than the town of Troy had permitted her to build, forcing Troy to offer an amended permit AFTER the base of the house had already been built), and the construction of EMPAC (experimental media and performing arts center), a 500 million dollar commitment to furthering the Arts in a STEM school. These negative points could be refuted and cannot be completely attributed to just Mrs. Jackson, but students don't really think about those sorts of things when deciding whether or not they like their president.
- CWuestefeld 12y ago
  > and the construction of EMPAC Ah. My friends currently involved with the school are part of EMPAC, which explains their positive feelings toward her.

by throw7 12y ago

CWuestefeld 12y ago

I'm an alum and no longer have any association myself (I've even managed to lose myself so they can't call asking for donations). But I have friends still around, including at least one still on the staff. My impression is that the school, including staff and student body, has a pretty positive view of her.

andyhnj 12y ago
I'm an RPI alum also, having graduated well before Jackson became president. The few people I know who are still actively involved with RPI don't like her much, and I think the inflated salary is a big part of the reason why. (Of course, most of the people I knew at RPI were malcontents to begin with, so maybe that's not a representative sample...)
- CWuestefeld 12y ago
  Heh. I was such a malcontent, hence my quip about evading their donation request phone calls. My time there was well before Jackson, too - '84-'89.
sigmar 12y ago
2011 alum here. When I was a student ('07-'11), Jackson was dislike by many (not all) students, and by some staff (hard to say how much). I was working for the student newspaper when Jackson unilaterally suspended the faculty senate, which created a ton of animosity. My understanding is that the student opinion of her got better after I graduated. (Info about the faculty senate if anyone is interested: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_rensselaer_polytechnic_institute_for_icing_shared_governance https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_r...)
- hga 12y ago
  Whoa. I note that "shared academic governance" is a requirement for accreditation; one wonders if RPI is too big to not be accredited?
brightsize 12y ago
Alum here too and like you I've managed to drop off the fund-raising radar. I wish I could say the same about Williams College where I spent my last semester (exchange program) who, despite my protests, seems to regard me as a graduate for fund-raising purposes. Every year I get a new guilt-inducing calendar "gift" in the mail.

kelleyb 12y ago

I'm actually at RPI right now. A majority of the student body, at least those I've talked to, don't particularly like her as President. A part of that is the inflated salary, but it's also how the school's being run. The most recent example is actually happening right now. There have been some robberies in a couple of the residence halls recently. Mainly in the one which is in probably the most sketchy area near campus. The robberies are blamed on people from the neighboring area "piggybacking" into the residence hall (waiting for students to scan their cards, and then following them in), and going into unlocked rooms to steal things. It's an understandable assumption, right? Well, they responded by locking down all residence halls to only the people who live there. Now, if you want to visit a friend, or you actually need to get into another hall for something, you have two options. One, wait for a friend to come down and let you in, or two, follow somebody else into the building. The policies meant to help prevent robberies through piggybacking are actually making legitimate students piggyback into buildings. After a couple more robberies, they've only increased security measures further. Each residence hall now only has one entrance/exit in the entire building, with every other door designated as emergency exit only. RA's are supposed to stay at the doors and check IDs, with their obviously unlimited free time. If a student's door is found unlocked, campus security will lock it and put a sign on the door announcing to the world that this person left their door unlocked. Even if it was just to pick up their laundry. With each robbery, the campus is turning into essentially a police state. A lot of people think that these policies are instituted by Residence Life, but I've got friends there and they're all just as pissed as the rest of us. They also get crap from all the people who think it's their call, when in reality the decision came from MUCH higher up. And all this is in the past month or so.

shponglemoorthy 12y ago

Alum (08-12) here, most students dislike her. It's hard to see the benefits she brings to the school, and very easy to find negative points to pin on her, such as the laying off of 80+ employees in '08, the new president's house mansion she had built (which was actually bigger than the town of Troy had permitted her to build, forcing Troy to offer an amended permit AFTER the base of the house had already been built), and the construction of EMPAC (experimental media and performing arts center), a 500 million dollar commitment to furthering the Arts in a STEM school. These negative points could be refuted and cannot be completely attributed to just Mrs. Jackson, but students don't really think about those sorts of things when deciding whether or not they like their president.

CWuestefeld 12y ago
> and the construction of EMPAC Ah. My friends currently involved with the school are part of EMPAC, which explains their positive feelings toward her.