Students establish Union-Schenectady Alliance to revitalize the College's hometown
Cara Gallivan
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: News
DeBartolo and Walker continued working with Economics Professor Hal Fried throughout last term to convince "several major organizations downtown, including City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce, Metroplex, Proctors, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, the Arts Night Committee, UStart, the museum, and the community service organizations, to give Union students a non-voting seat on their governing boards to begin building these connections.
After obtaining Schenectady's seals of approval, Walker set out to recruit a team of students to serve as the liaisons to each organization over winter break. In addition, he sought out representatives from various campus groups, including Student Forum, the Minervas, the Multicultural Greek Council, the Inter-Fraternal Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the Concordiensis. Together, Walker noted, this system should "help us connect to every student across campus" as well as to the Schenectady community.
As for the necessity of such a committee, Walker echoed DeBartolo, insisting that "recognizing [the] strategic importance of Schenectady in the future of Union" is imperative to the school's continued success.
Furthermore, "upstate New York, specifically the capital region, has one of the highest concentrations of college students in the country. Unfortunately, it also has the second highest rate of 'brain-drain,'" Walker explained, describing the trend among young people to come to the area for education and then leave, taking the skills they have acquired here with them to other cities.
In spring of 2006, Walker wrote an article himself for the Concordiensis in which he explained, "Union is a well-reputed small liberal arts school offering a respectable engineering program. The problem is, every other small liberal arts school has become equally well-reputed. Though the caliber of Union students and the school's academic offerings constantly improve, they improve at every other school as well. When all other qualities weigh so evenly between schools, one substantial flaw is enough to turn away hundreds of applicants every year. Students come and see a lack of social potential (envisioning themselves confined to a hundred acre campus for the next four years) while parents foresee safety concerns. The college's self-promotion strategy reflects this-Union is not located in Schenectady, but just three hours away from New York City, Boston, and Montreal."
After obtaining Schenectady's seals of approval, Walker set out to recruit a team of students to serve as the liaisons to each organization over winter break. In addition, he sought out representatives from various campus groups, including Student Forum, the Minervas, the Multicultural Greek Council, the Inter-Fraternal Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the Concordiensis. Together, Walker noted, this system should "help us connect to every student across campus" as well as to the Schenectady community.
As for the necessity of such a committee, Walker echoed DeBartolo, insisting that "recognizing [the] strategic importance of Schenectady in the future of Union" is imperative to the school's continued success.
Furthermore, "upstate New York, specifically the capital region, has one of the highest concentrations of college students in the country. Unfortunately, it also has the second highest rate of 'brain-drain,'" Walker explained, describing the trend among young people to come to the area for education and then leave, taking the skills they have acquired here with them to other cities.
In spring of 2006, Walker wrote an article himself for the Concordiensis in which he explained, "Union is a well-reputed small liberal arts school offering a respectable engineering program. The problem is, every other small liberal arts school has become equally well-reputed. Though the caliber of Union students and the school's academic offerings constantly improve, they improve at every other school as well. When all other qualities weigh so evenly between schools, one substantial flaw is enough to turn away hundreds of applicants every year. Students come and see a lack of social potential (envisioning themselves confined to a hundred acre campus for the next four years) while parents foresee safety concerns. The college's self-promotion strategy reflects this-Union is not located in Schenectady, but just three hours away from New York City, Boston, and Montreal."
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Rick Gallivan
posted 2/19/08 @ 12:16 AM EST
What a wonderful article and mission for the students of Union. I am very proud of all of them, especially Cara. Too bad some people don't get it (you know who you are!). (Continued…)
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