Peter Awn sounds off
On Friday, Spectator sat down with the one and only Peter Awn, dean of the School of General Studies. Some highlights from the interview:
- In August, GS hosted its first recruiting session in Tel Aviv, Israel. But even though GS is interested in showing international students how they can receive a Columbia education, limited housing options remain an obstacle for prospective students. “In the same way that we’ve increased financial aid each year, housing has increased every year,” Awn said. “But what is really the dilemma for everyone, Columbia is incapable of buying more real estate in the neighborhood.”
- Awn said that “the last major piece of housing” created for GS students was in Riverdale, in the Bronx. But no matter how nice the apartments are, students are still hesitant to rent them because of the long commute to Columbia, Awn said:
“It’s a pain to get to, but it’s lovely. It’s really quite beautiful—but that’s the best they can do, at a significant distance. And they’ve done that with faculty housing. The one thing that isn’t going to happen is housing around the University, which is really what people want.”
- In April, the University Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging all schools to make their course evaluations public, although most schools haven’t done it yet. Awn said that he finds it “startling” that Columbia doesn’t publish course evaluations across the board:
“The arguments the faculty have made are sincere and heartfelt, but it’s not as if a student evaluation determines your whole career. It’s like giving a C on a paper—this is not a statement on your worth as a human being, it’s just a crappy paper. And I would look at student evaluations similarly. The fact that students are forced to rely on CULPA, I think, is tragic, because you have no idea how to evaluate what they really said.”
- Awn noted that students used to publish a “Columbia Course Guide,” which offered evaluations of instructors and classes and was, ironically, funded by the University:
“It’s supposed to be a learning experience for everyone involved. It does help in finding out how one comes across. It’s to respect that students have the ability to know what a good course is from a bad course.”
Why don’t some of these GS graduates donate money to build a GS dorm?
Because we graduate with $100,000 of debt. Whereas students from CC graduate debt free. Most GS students feel like they’ve paid for their education, and don’t feel the same need to give back as the students who aren’t paying off loans for the following 15 years.
Former fundraising professional here. People are missing the point if they think that CC/SEAS donations are due to either more student money or increased loyalty. That and what you said are all huge factors, and it’s morally imperative that they change. But more importantly, this is another area where GS was stiffed on the initial startup resources from Columbia (and the competence…clearly this isn’t Awn’s specialty). We need to build a fundraising network.
It’s abhorrent that we’re not included in the CC senior fund; just another way to keep us out of Columbia’s gooey center. But whatever. Why are we just sitting here with no progress on our own? Why isn’t Awn pledging a chunk of his salary to match the start of our “lifetime of involvement with the university” like Deantini? IIRC Coatsworth made his mark by doing this for SIPA.
I mean, the “donate more money” solution doesn’t cut it. Like half of GS is on food stamps…we’re recruiting the nation’s greatest community college students here, and so our former institutions aren’t known for being rich man’s playgrounds either. Having a billion dollar endowment is not common, guys. And idk if it’s true, but I heard that CC/SEAS runs at an initial loss for Columbia anyway so that they build that revenue base later from students who aren’t crippled by debt. Despite all this, it would be reassuring if Low cared enough about GS to shake us down for more than our (obscene) tuition.
Fuck GS.
Your frustration with GS is understandable. GS students really do deserve better.
…especially near the university. Unless you’re an undergrad at the more privileged schools, in which case, check out the new convent brownstones!
Dean Awn is a patsy for Low Library. It would be swell if he took our side once in a while.
GS really needs to live up to its status as an Ivy League college and an official college of Columbia: it needs to be providing much better financial aid, housing and integration. Yes, the School is still very young, and the current amount of integration is quite impressive, but it still has such a long way to go — there needs to me more of an effort to raise money and to improve student satisfaction.
GS needs to develop its own endowment and get donors. What do these GS people do after they graduate?
Most frequently grad school, law school, med school, some work in banking but they are way too busy paying off loans, so they usually don’t donate.
One of the major reasons why people choose Columbia (CC and SEAS) over other comaparable colleges is that they guarantee on campus housing for all four years. We are actually are one of the few colleges that do, including other ivy league schools. This is a huge draw, esp for an urban campus.
Columbia, Harvard, Brown, Princeton, : Guaranteed
Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell: only guaranteed for first 2 years, but my impression is Yale and Dartmouth most live on campus all 4
Penn: Seems to be only guaranteed the first year