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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 11:56 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Eric Holm:
June 12th, 2008 at 8:01 amThis forum must allow members of the ACCD community to post, not just comment.
Right now, it is in “blog” format, but I think what we would like to see is more of a “board” format. Instead of one column of posts, we need a structure that involves starting threads in the appropriate categories.
Like many, I’ve used threaded forums online during my time using the internet. But I’m afraid I cannot make a recommendation as to which software this website should use. I’m asking the webmaster to please research and install a threaded forum instead, or in addition to, a blog.
If those features already exist, then I’ve overlooked them.
Dan:
June 12th, 2008 at 7:19 pmI agree with Eric: a boarded format would be MUCH more effective. This would allow much better question/response organization. You would also not have to search endlessly for new discussion.
Jason:
June 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pmNo Communications task force members YET?@!%!#$^!!!!!!
I’m without words here…..
That is the fundamental problem right now?
Anonymous:
June 13th, 2008 at 8:59 amHistorically, Art Center has always found placement for administrative assistants who are left behind by a departing Vice President (or even a departing President). The precedent exists and I can prove it. Art Center has had a long history of treating the staff as family.
Rachel Tiede spent 10 years working for Art Center, yet she was terminated the day after having the audacity to publicly comment on Nate Young’s departure.
As an alumni, I demand that faculty, staff and students be allowed to speak their minds without fear of reprisal. Even if the president might not like the comments.
I find this termination to be unacceptable. Before any meaningful dialogue can happen, I feel that this wrong must be corrected and Ms Tiede either offered a new position (at her former salary, along with back-pay). In addition, an apology must be issued to the Art Center community (as well as Ms Tiede).
We’re all family. And we do not appreciate it when you suddenly toss our brothers and sisters out into the cold just for speaking their minds.
If my comment is moderated (or edited), I’ll work hard to make it be known publicly.
Let this serve as the “acid test” of transparency.
Anonymous:
June 13th, 2008 at 9:01 amHow about adding some alumni members (not employed by ACCD) to the task forces?
Ophelia Chong:
June 13th, 2008 at 9:04 amI am hoping that this is a true forum by being open to all, open to all opinions and questions.
Ophelia Chong
Anonymous:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:10 am27 hours later, and no other comments have been allowed to be displayed.
Let the truth set you free.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:35 amWe appreciate the suggestion that a forum might be more effective than a blog, and we’re looking into it.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:39 amHi Jason, Thanks for asking about the communications task force. We’re actually in the middle of forming the communications task force right now, and we plan to announce the members next week. We’ll keep you updated on this blog.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:41 amAnonymous, thanks for your suggestion about adding alumni members to the task force. We will forward your suggestion to the task force heads.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:44 amAs far as the speed of posting comments and answers, please be patient as we have limited resources. Our goal is to address comments and concerns as quickly as possible. In many cases, comments will be forwarded to the appropriate staff person for an answer. This process might take some time so we appreciate your understanding. We’re new at this!
Linda Chung:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:50 amI agree with Eric. Having a structure to post comments/replies/questions is easier to view instead of scrolling down and keeping track on what topic is being discussed.
Perhaps make board topics concerning finances (not just tuition), future development, immediate development, and/or events. Even put up polls for people who want to remain anonymous or do not have much to say but still want to be involved.
Anyway, I appreciate the charts provided and I’d like to request a new chart on the comparison in the schools’ employment rates.
Anonymous:
June 13th, 2008 at 11:58 amThanks for proving your mettle. Will the issue in comment #4 be addressed?
Ashley:
June 13th, 2008 at 1:02 pmI feel a core issue to this discussion is trust. We the students need to be able to trust the administration. What the administration needs to ask themselves is “what are we doing that lost the community’s trust in us?” This includes your business practices, long term goals, and short term results. A public apology to Rachel Tiede would be a good start. Second step would be to make public the entire school’s budget from 2007, including expected spending and where we went over. This includes administrative, educational, and maintenance. Include what departments went over budget within these larger categories. The more precise the summary is, the more likely we are to believe it. Stop juggling the numbers because it only tells us that you’re trying to hide something. Finally, include the students in future planning. We are the school and should have a say in the direction of it’s growth.
Ashley:
June 13th, 2008 at 1:08 pmoh, p.s. post a link to this forum somewhere prominent on inside.artcenter’s home page – the only reason I found this was thanks to ACSG’s email.
Dylan:
June 13th, 2008 at 1:47 pmVbulletin is the forum program I use. It is low cost and rather easy to set up. I used this for my own website and can help if needed.
http://www.vbulletin.com
Ophelia Chong:
June 13th, 2008 at 3:54 pmsuggestions:
Let students, faculty and alumni start new discussions.
Search field
Ophelia Chong:
June 13th, 2008 at 3:56 pmAnd like Ashley says post a link on inCircle, ACCD home page, and the ACCD student home page.
Jason:
June 13th, 2008 at 4:58 pmCan you tell me why that there are hundreds of alumni on the petition that agree the quality of the education is down.
These are my answers: What are yours?
ACCD [71% of only 543 applicants were admitted]
[Average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates $70,000]
RISD [33% of 2,557 applicants were admitted]
[Average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates $22,500]
CalArts [31% of 2,776 applicants were admitted]
[Average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates $30,051]
OTIS [56% of 921 applicants were admitted]
[Average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates $44,706]
Pratt [42% of 4,326 applicants were admitted]
[Average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates Not reported]
AIC [84% of 1,354 applicants were admitted]
[Average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates $26,011]
SVA [69% of 2,530 applicants were admitted]
[average Indebtedness of 2006 Graduates $30,600]
All the above information was provided by http://www.collegedata.com
And these numbers above are because we are accepting portfolios graded with a four on a scale of 1 to 10, In my opinion of course.
If enrollment is down again in the fall, will you let in threes?
Why are we only getting five hundred and something applicants?
Please do not say because we need a new building.
Jason:
June 13th, 2008 at 5:04 pmHere are some excellent questions from the blog that you should also answer.
7.1 For the past 10 years what are (i) the number of employees (ii) the number of faculty and (iii) the number of students?
7.2 For the past 10 years what was the level of spending (per student) (i) For the total cost of employees (non-faculty) of the school (total employee costs, divided by the number of students), and (ii) For the faculty of the school (total faculty costs divided by the number of students)?
7.3 For the past 10 years what are the ratios of Employees (non-faculty) to students, and Faculty to students?
7.4 For the past 10 years, what is the year-over-year percentage increase in Employee (non- faculty) costs versus year-over-year change in Faculty costs?
7.5 Access to the Income and Expense statements for the past 10 years (with detail on costs)
7.6 Is Art Center allocating a disproportionate amount of capital to Administration over Education, and if so why?
7.7 What portion of the Master Plan building costs will come directly from Tuition Revenue?
7.8 How much money has been allocated to scholarships for the past ten years?
7.9 What are the enrollment goals for Art Center for the next 5 years, and why is it that these have to keep increasing? Is the absolute pool of ‘exceptional’ young designers (to be) growing so fast? What is the current ratio of enrollment application to admissions, and how has this ratio changed over the past ten years?”
We would prefer to see raw numbers itemized by catagory. As well as the calculations
Anonymous:
June 13th, 2008 at 5:09 pmWhy does Art Center not have an Ombudsman?
Patrick Hruby:
June 13th, 2008 at 5:36 pmThe way that Rachel Tiede was treated is inexcusable. Richard has no room to feel that his ten years of service has earned him any security. Apparently it amounted to nothing for Rachel.
Jason:
June 13th, 2008 at 7:11 pmYour projections are for a 117k education is only good for a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
The I.D. and Environmental Design departments are B. of Science
15 units which are 5 classes is the common class work load.
15 unit divided by 144 units (Bachelor of Science Degree) = 9.6 terms
We’ll keep it simply and say $15,000 x 9.6 terms which equals $144,000
We’re #1!
What is the ratio of Bachelor or Arts to Bachelor of Science?
What percentage of students of B.Sc students take 18 units?
Scott:
June 13th, 2008 at 9:16 pmCommunity Forum Moderator could you please add your name and contact info on every page of this site.
Its hard to communicate with a title and not a person.
Jean Ford:
June 16th, 2008 at 9:56 amIn response to Anonymous, June 13th, 2008 at 8:59 am:
As a matter of College policy, we do not comment on individual personnel
matters.
–Jean Ford
Anonymous:
June 16th, 2008 at 2:49 pmA multi-layerd question about scholarships. I figure a week’s turnaround time is more than adequate for a reply…
Of all the dollars applied to student tuition in the form of Art Center scholarships for summer 2008, please indicate the following numeric data points:
A) Total gross tuition revenue for the summer term (full tuition • # of students = answer)
B) Of the gross above, how much was “scholarship” money? (both $ and %)
C) Of the scholarship money applied towards tuition, what (both $ and %) came from outside-funded scholarship or endowment funds?
D) Of the scholarship money applied towards tuition, what (both $ and %) came from money which can be traced to funds collected from raw, cash tuition revenue?
E) How many “endowment” accounts exist at Art Center? Please name them and their stated purposes.
F) Are all endowment accounts being utilized in the manner for which they were intended?
G) Of my tuition dollars for Summer term, how many of them went back to another student to help them cover THEIR tuition costs?
H) Are the scholarship awarding processes documented in each department? Are they audited? If so, by whom? Please provide the process documentation.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 16th, 2008 at 4:04 pmRegarding the question about the ombudsman, could you clarify the question? Are you asking on the part of students, faculty, staff? There are several interpretations of an ombudsman so we want to make sure we understand what you’re looking for.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 16th, 2008 at 4:13 pmHi Scott,
Thanks for your comment. We have a small team working collectively to moderate the blog. Our job as moderators is to forward your questions to the appropriate person, and then to post their answers here, and we’ll continue trying to streamline the process.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 16th, 2008 at 4:28 pmHi Jason,
Thanks for you questions. One of your questions pertaining to the portion of master building costs coming from tuition is answered in our FAQs. The answer is zero!
Regarding your other questions, these require some research and I’ve forwarded them to the appropriate individuals. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Ashley:
June 17th, 2008 at 12:37 amI know that every time we ask about costs for the Gehry building we’re told that it’s all paid for by fundraising. Great! Just a few more questions that are a bit more specific. The five full time staff working in the architectural office on campus – are their salaries paid for by fundraising? Their benefits? What about overhead from the office? And I’ve heard that most of what they work on is building permits, negotiating with the City of Pasadena, improving the South Campus..? Please specify, thank you!
Perfect Storm:
June 17th, 2008 at 9:56 pmSecond time asking — please do not delete again!
Please go on the record with answers to the following questions:
1. The college pays $600,000 per year in principal and $863,000 in interest on bonds (2002, $21.7 mil), and $628,000 per year in principal and 434,000 in interest on a term loan (2003, $9 mil). These monies were borrowed for South Campus construction and other Master Plan building/construction. So, how is it the administration can claim no tuition is spent for Master Plan construction. The last I heard, paying back a loan is the same as paying for what the loan purchased.
2. Please indicate by how much Eduction was over budget in 2007. In addition to International Initiatives, which other departments are included in Education’s budget whose managers did not report to Nate Young, and for which he had no budgetary oversight? By how much were those departments over budget in 2007? Please include also the departments that charge only a percentage of their budget to Education, such as Communications and Marketing. Do not play semantics with “Education” and “Educational Support.”
3. The ACCD audited financials indicate over $6 million in restricted funds were moved to unrestricted operating. Restricted funds are typically earmarked for education, and designated by a donor for a specific purpose, e.g., Funded Educational Projects (FEPs). They are not supposed to be diverted to any other purpose without the donors’ permission. Please explain why these funds’ restriction were lifted, and which donors have been informed of this activity. Please indicate whether or not the college would have finished in the black for 2007, had these restricted funds not been taken from education and applied to general operating.
Anonymous:
June 17th, 2008 at 11:38 pmThis year, for the first year, the graduating students of the photo department were told that they would not be getting a promo.
The cost we were told was $8,000 for the promo, and that we were just not going to get one.
I asked, why not give us the money or even a portion of it for other costs involved in putting together a grad show. Perhaps free prints from our print studio? Or, with 10 graduates why not give the graduating class $4,000 to be split within the group to help pay for what we needed to create an incredible show that would get alumni and professionals in our field interested in Art Center again?
I was told no, the money was gone and there was nothing I could do about it.
So now I am spending over $2,000 of my money on a grad show and the tools of my trade that i will need to try and make a living outside art center, (promos, cards, website, portfolio books.)
Shouldn’t we have a reasonable expectation to have the department put as much money into our graduation show as to the show before ours?
Have I not spent as much on my education here as the graduating class before mine?
Anonymous:
June 18th, 2008 at 10:00 amCan you please comment on the conference call you placed with Nathan Cooke and explain why it was felt necessary to suggest that his scholarship was in jeopardy. Who authorized the phone call? Was this an “administrative mistake,” or was this the action of one individual?
Cameron Tiede:
June 18th, 2008 at 11:42 amOn behalf of Rachael Tiede and myself we would like to thank the Art Center Community for the out pouring of support for our family. We have received numerous emails and telephone calls from many of our friends and colleagues over the past 3 weeks, we truly appreciate your kind words and encouragement during this period of transition in our lives. We respectfully urge the board of trustees to restore education as the top priority at Art Center.
Sincerely, Cameron Tiede (alumni Illustration 2001 and Faculty member)
p. hanenberger:
June 18th, 2008 at 5:01 pmCan someone please comment on the conversation had with Nathan Cooke regarding his initial blog post and how/why his scholarship was brought up? I would also like to hear if this an authorized communication from the school or was this individuals acting on their own part.
Erica Clark:
June 20th, 2008 at 2:13 pmThe call to Nathan was meant to be a personal outreach to understand why he chose to post a blog instead of coming to anyone directly with his concerns. Nathan is one of our best and most accomplished students, and has participated in a number of Art Center’s special projects and programs. We were especially taken aback because he had just been an important member of the volunteer team at the Design Conference, working closely for three days with all of the College’s leadership with plenty of opportunities to bring up his concerns about sustainability. We were also surprised at the amount of misinformation and mixing of issues in his post, but never in any way suggested that his scholarship or internship were in jeopardy. We understand that Nathan later updated his post, stating his feeling that this misunderstanding has been resolved and that he’s comfortable moving forward together in the spirit of open and direct communication. We couldn’t agree more.
Community Forum Moderator:
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pmJason, please see the latest post to the forum (6/23) in which Kit Baron, Vice President of Admissions, addresses your questions about admissions requirements.