Response to Bill

My name is Sandy Kaczocha, class of 2000. I like the rehab style opening, helps me understanding who's involved in the discourse.

I want to respond to a few of the points in both Bill and PJ's postings. The first thing I'd like to address is the real side of Waukegan. Bill wants us to ensure that we don't overlook the darker side of neighborhoods that are in the midst of regentrification. I'd like us to make sure that we don't also overlook the reality of Waukegan. My family relocated to Waukegan in 1979 when Shimer moved. I grew up in the Waukegan schools. I know many many students who were lost to stray bullets or the jail system. I was an early entrant not only because I was seeking to get away from the things we all thought lacking in High School. I was an early entrant because I no longer wanted to watch my fellow students get thrown out of third story windows or knifed in the counselor's office.

The real story is that Shimer is in one of the better parts of Waukegan and is very much encapsulated. The fact that people with an income and higher education are moving into the neighborhoods surrounding IIT is indeed a good sign. People investing their time and money into neighborhoods almost inevitably means a reduction in crime. Look at the crime stats for the area around Cabrini Green. I see no such growth happening in Waukegan. I know the city has plans, but the start of Waukegan's plan requires those same steps taken years ago to begin the regentrification in Pilsen, Bronzeville and Bridgeport.

I'd also like to make a point about Corporate America. I work for a credit card company, surely the epitome of Corporate America. What I've found is an increasing hunger for critical thinking abilities. I've read numerous articles in various magazines about the corporate world's increased recruitement and hiring of liberal arts majors. In fact, my mother finally finished her degree at Shimer last year. She did her thesis on the value of a liberal arts education in Corporate America. I helped her complete her research and there was plenty of evidence showing that the types of skills Shimer helps us develop and hone are the same types of skills that Corporate America wants in employees. All the theses are on the school's website, so check it out if you'd like more concete detail.

I don't believe that schools like IIT are actively seeking to crank out androids who can only do what they are told. All institutions want employees who can analyze a situation, dialogue with coworkers and create a sense of cohesion among disparate entities. This isn't something unique to liberal or non-corporate professions.

I'm currently attending graudate school online working towards my Masters in Computer Information Sciences. I'm attending a school that is very much all about the profit, but much of my experience has been very similar to my experience at Shimer. My classes are discussion based. I do have to read from text books, but the experience of taking the text and moving down a path of understanding through dialogue is virtually identical to what we all had when we were sitting around the octagonal tables.

I have been encouraged by my graduate studies. I've realized that the Shimer model is not only valuable in my eyes, but is something that other institutions both corporate and educational are seeking to emulate at least in part. I have been so encouraged that I was thinking that Shimer could potentially benefit by creating a program, maybe along the lines of Integrated Studies 1 or 2 geared towards professionals. I can't tell you how many courses and seminars are being offered around the world aimed at enhancing the critical thinking, speaking and writing skills of professionals. There are even more courses out there on how to facilitate and participate in discussions or how to work to create project group cohesion.

These are absolutely the kind of skills that institutions like IIT are looking to instill in their students. These are absolutely skills that the coporate world is hoping have already been instilled in employees. I don't think that places like IIT and Shimer are diametrically opposed.

One last point, I live in the northern burbs. The DePaul/Barat deal was most definitely talked about as a merger or acquisition. Everyone knew that Barat had reached a critical situation and was incapable of keeping their doors open by themselves. Depaul acquired Barat with dreams of financial benefit. The rapidity with which the decision about the move to IIT has to be made denotes to me that the agreement is indeed a financial one for IIT. Meaning, they have space to rent and want to get it rented. Surely everyone with eyes knows that there is no other financial benefit to partnering with Shimer right now.

Double Edged Razor

My name is Bill Brickey. I graduated from Shimer College in 1989.

Occam's Razor
"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate" or "plurality should not be posited without necessity." ( click on the words above to read about the Razor for yourself )

PJ, I think you have things the wrong way around.

Also, spelled Okham’s Razor; it is a Medieval Theory. Without going too far into mentioning how this type of “old saw” is twisted by people like George Bush to whip people into mindlessness let me just point out that this little rule of logic is prepositioned by the words “without necessity”. This dialogue is necessary because the move does not seem to be necessary.

Perhaps some of you have missed the NCLB years of public schooling in Chicago. I have not. I am teaching in the public schools near the beautiful Pilsen area. I know multiple students who have lost loved ones to stray and intended bullets in the soon to be regentrified area. No freshmen year Shimer type college student needs to be walking around Pilsen, Bridgeport or any other part of southwest Chicago casually at night. That is a reality. It is a simple truth. Don’t try to complicate it with rhetoric about regentrification and art hippies moving into the neighborhood. The art hippies are moving into condominiums or homes with security doors, locks and/or guards or better yet they know the hood. They are protecting themselves against the displaced, the unhappy and the uneducated. Gated neighborhoods are not uncommon.

There is a concerted effort in this country to “dumb down” education for the common folk in order to create a more affordable working class. If you are a degreed Shimerian working in corporate America you see it everyday. The story of America’s success is the story of cheap labor. This is the impetus behind schools like IIT. They want to produce workers. People who stand up for their rights in the work place slow down the wheels of production. This is why I don’t think we should be associated with IIT.

IIT is what it is and it serves a purpose. Shimer serves a purpose as well. They are fewer and fewer schools that do what Shimer does. The educational paradigm is shifting for the worst. Each day it moves closer and closer to the Western World Business Management Paradigm. The paradigm is a pyramid. The leader sits at the top and the orders are passed down hill. It is the way that businesses are run and it is the way that sports teams are lead. For my feminist friends this is also known as the male power archetype. This is in sharp contrast to Shimer’s power archetype which is more feminist or flat decisions and activities are taken on together.

The way this decision is being made is more in the spirit of a school like IIT. We Shimerians are actively involved in our communities. Anyone who expected to move the school by walking into a room and saying, “This is what we are going to do, now do it.”, is, kindly put, sadly mistaken. I did not vote for George Bush and I am not part of his America any more than I have to be. I am going to ask the hard questions and I am going to expect cogent answers. If I do not receive intelligent responses I will be suspicious. This, I would think is to be expected of all Shimerians. We ask questions, we ask a lot of questions and we expect answers.

I ask the questions about Shimer because I am weird. I am not perfect. I don’t fit easily into the top down management structure. If it were not for Shimer, I would not know the difference between being lazy and having a learning disability. Shimer fits a niche. Pursuing a relationship to have a financial profile like all the other big institutions takes us out of that niche. That’s right I said us. Despite the love hate thing I know who I am, and I am a Shimerian. When something happens in that community that calls me I will respond. I am worried about all the other “unique” people that will come after me. Where will they go if the only thing that is left is IIT and DePaul University?

In response to some recent posts: Many of the arguments in favor of the move have three major components in common:

1.) The arguments acknowledge a lack of data to support the argument in favor of the move.
2.) The arguments dismiss the lack of data or logic as part of the complexity of business; beyond the understanding of laypeople.
3.) The arguments suggest that in spite of these curiosities and concerns the move is a good thing because it will bring Shimer in line with other colleges and universities.

In the “..Thoughts from left field...” post he says: “Unless you're willing to ascribe extreme bad faith to the Shimer administration when they say that Shimer will remain financially and administratively independent…” seems to imply that arguments against moving are arguments against the administrative bodies at Shimer College. This is a brilliant way to quash intelligent dialogue.

Please do not insult the integrity of this blog and its patrons by trying to create friction that does not exist anymore than it always has. Asking questions about things that will impact you or something you care about greatly is not a sign of animosity or bad faith. It is healthy adult behavior and good citizenship. The comments posted here contain legitimate questions. These are the legitimate arguments and thoughts of concerned alumni and students (and now teachers and board members). I guard carefully against disparaging comments and demonizing.

Furthermore:

(1) The articles posted here, in regard to Barat College, were from legitimate sources located on the internet in the public domain. They were not solicited. Barat was required or expected to produce 800 enrollments per year and failed. That factoid came from the office DePaul has set up to field questions about the Barat closure. As a result they were closed down after 4-5 years. It would be good to know ahead of time if there is such a stipulation in the contract with IIT. In which case the move would definitely not be a good move; unless, one feels, that by moving to the IIT campus, Shimer College will increase its enrollment goal over 800% within 5 years of its move. The point of posting the article was not to demonize the move but to give a framework to understand the possibilities and parameters of moving a College or University for those of us not currently moving Colleges or Universities. Unless someone is willing to post the details that show that this is not an issue, it is not a cogent argument to suggest that examining the similarities is equal to bad faith in the administration. There are those of us who believe that our education at Shimer taught us to ask questions and not to trust blindly. Following this charter should not put us in opposition to any part of the Shimer College Family. It should make them proud of us. We want to know what is going on.

(2) I am a Chicagoan and yes Chicago is being regentrified at the expense of the poor. Why would anyone brag about or espouse the process of regentrification as something good? It is a way to legally move poor people out and affluent people in. But if regentrification and growing intellectual population are your argument, so be it. Crime is generally higher in Chicago than in Waukegan but no matter how one paints it, as neighborhoods in Chicago go, Pilsen and Bridgeport are still some of the riskiest if your skin is the wrong color or you look like an easy target. I work in and around them and I don’t have a problem, so I don’t want to paint it like Viet Nam or Iraq. But please don’t tell people that they can hang out in Pilsen or Bridgeport at night the way the do in Waukegan. Safety is an issue in that part of Chicago still.

(3) Waukegan has produced poets, comedians and authors. While it is not an intellectual Mecca let us not forget that there are some extremely intelligent and innovative people born and raised in Waukegan. It can still be a good home for Shimer. Let us not forget that Notre Dame is in Indiana, of all places. The commentary on Waukegan’s intellectual capacity makes us look bad. There is nothing that we know that is so special that we should feel that we are better than those who do not know it or do not espouse a particular idea or possess a special degree. It is not that I feel I am above any intellectual snobbery but I really fight against in myself. I think I learned that at Shimer.

(4) Left of Field also said...“…but nobody's going to compose pastoral poetry about downtown Waukegan, either.” This statement may be the reason that Shimer flounders in Waukegan. How many poets, artists and comedians does Waukegan have to produce to get a break from the intellectual elite?? Can we get over ourselves?? Shimer needs a small community to thrive and Waukegan needs a unique educational experience to promote the hell out of. Maybe they want to help grow a college. Has anyone asked them?

(5) Next IIT’s pedigree was never in question. The meat of the argument against them for me is that IIT is part of a new class of colleges designed to serve the needs of Corporate America. They intentionally forgo intellectual pursuits in favor of getting people ready for the work force. They are designed to do two things prepare you for Wal-Mart or Wall Street. If this is not the case I have not seen anything that suggests the contrary. I for one am really genuinely concerned about the education being watered down in favor of catering to the goals of a financially driven agenda. Also, I have a hard time buying the, “Good Samaritan” picture we are painting of IIT. IIT is a business and I don’t see that they need anything but Shimer’s name and property.

About the potential benefits mentioned in the last post:

1.) Poor Location – This point is very subjective and assumes that all avenues for growth in Waukegan have been explored. No factual data was supplied to support it. Also, I just learned that there is a new marketing plan for the Waukegan area this makes the most sense to me.

2.) Crumbling Physical Plant – That is not a reason to move it is a reason to research avenues to pursue funding for renovation. This is a point that might be presented to the city of Waukegan. Shimer is one of the things that keep Waukegan ahead in the race for growing municipality. Besides, IIT is ugly. This is a cogent point because it speaks to the learning environment.

3.) Lack of Extra Curricular Activities – If you really want a football team and sports bars with naked chicks of the girls gone wild variety you can go to a different school. There is St. Johns if you want something more upbeat with that respectable intellectual tinge. The train ride to Chicago is 45 min. and what about Ravinia or the Botanical gardens. I know they are not easy to get to but they are there within reach. They can ride bikes and get some exercise.

4.) Small Incestuous Social Scene – This is the nature of institutions. I would bet I could get 9 out of 10 college students to show me the click they hate and tell me evil stories about the townies. But this is a valid point. You can change clicks more easily at a larger and better placed university. In small communities everyone knows each others business. If you don’t like this aspect of small colleges you can go to a larger one.

5.) Lack of Diversity In Electives – This is about money and impetus. It will be the same no matter where Shimer is. If they want traditional or additional programming they will have to pay people to work as professors and provide them with infrastructure. IIT could definitely help with this but I feel the price may be to high and the rewards to few.

And one more thing about Occam’s Razor.

In today’s political and economic climate the simpler truth would be the unpleasant one. Owning and selling real-estate is the fastest way to make money. Mergers and Acquisitions are the new business model. The simpler idea is that someone is making money and that that is the motivator. The more complex thought is that there are secrets that we should not know for our own good and the good of Shimer’s future.

Finally, to be clear, this blog was meant to gather facts to facilitate discussion. I have no data that suggests that anyone is doing anything untoward. I know that there are board members who want to move Shimer College to Chicago. I know that there are students, alumni and faculty who believe this is a good idea. I know that there are others who disagree. I believe this is a bad idea based on my own insights and research. I do not however, “know” that this is a bad idea. The facts presented thus far suggest that it is not wise.

I am waiting for facts to the contrary. If the move is good for Shimer and this is the simpler of the two theories on how to save Shimer, why can’t we simply know the facts?

My Sincere and Heartfelt Apologies

Please be aware that in my years at Shimer Teachers, Faculty, Students and Board Members all attended classes sooner or later. This made everyone a student. Therefore in my eyes all Shimerians can post on this blog.

This is the spirit of dialogue. It is one of the things that gives me pause regarding the secrecy around the decision to move. In my experience it is not Shimerian to exclude withour clear cause and justification.

( For those of you that are laughing at that last sentence --- so am I! )

Please feel free to post here if you are a member of the Shimer Community.

From John McGough

First, thanks to Sarah for acting on this helping us get together.

I'm not sure if we should be making the argument that Shimer has 'a marketing problem'. Enrollment and attendance at Shimer has been and is consistently low.
It seems to me that this is largely a result of the nature and position of the College, as it is, in
today's academic world, and not largely not the result of mistakes or errors by individuals. Numerous strategies have been employed to tackle this throughout the years, with varied and modest-to-no effect.

However, this year's graduating class is projected to be something like 30 students, the highest in recent memory and perhaps since the move to Waukegan. What went well here? Something was different this year, and this deserves serious attention.

It also seems obvious to me that the solutions - bureacratic at their core, suspicious on every side - discussed by the current President and his cohorts amongst the faculty and Board, would not simply move the College, but effectively end it as the institution - faults included, and these are many - that it currenty is. Plus, there is NO way imaginable that a move to IIT in and of itself would 'improve marketing' or enhance enrollment.

The President and upper-level administration salaries (no longer on level with the rest of College employees) have added an extra $250,000 to the current budget. And despite this, still no effecive strategy or action in the way of building the College. I suggest we make the argument that any and all discussion of the College's future (always largely grounded in its finances, no?) has to start here, along with a serious look at the rest of the budget.

There are definite material interests, in my opinion, for the proposed move. In the last few years, Shimer has hired 'outsiders' and broken with its egalitarian pay structure to benefit from the supposed expertise. The old guard is getting older, and over 20 years in Waukegan have probably stretched their ideological and material committment to the struggling College and its
mission to the breaking point. They want to retire, ideally with a secure-enough pension. IIT, a corporatized and thus 'legitimate' university, is seen as securing this.

I would also not be surprised to discover other more nefarious connections between those plotting the move and those who stand to benefit on the Board or IIT. The bureaucratic nature of the 'discussions' on it to date, and the carefulness of the arranged, exclusivist meetings, certainly raise suspicions.

Anyhow, just trying to point out that the solutions offered refer only in the most fantastic and idealist manner to the identified problems facing the College. We - the opposition - should draw up our own balance sheet to oppose this, including a comprehensive evaluation of finances, and the Colleges tradition and the accumulated intellectual and manual labor that has gone into building the Waukegan institution and which now stands to be stupidly and quietly 'sold'.

In militant opposition to bureaucracy everywhere and the Proposed Move to IIT,

John McGough
Class of '98

From Vicky Muehlesen

heard about this blog in a message from Sara. I don't know any of you guys, but I am a Shimer graduate, and I do have something to say (rather a lot…)
Since most of you already seem to be set against the proposal to move, this long message probably won't persuade you otherwise, but I'll post it anyway. Feel free to e-mail me if you want any more details about anything.

First, to introduce myself, I'm Vicky Muehleisen, and I attended Shimer from 1982-1986, which were probably some of the darkest years for Shimer. (There were about 20 people in my entering class, and I think only about 6 who graduated). I went on to graduate school (MA in linguistics from Temple, PhD from in linguistics from Northwestern), and now I teach at a big university in Tokyo. I've been in Japan for 11 years, and I plan to stay here, but I still have ties to the Chicago area. In fact, my brother teaches at IIT (at the College of Engineering, and I've visited the campus a few times. For a long time after graduating, I didn't go back to Shimer (the usual love-hate thing that many Shimer graduates have, I think), but I've gone back to visit a few times in the past few years, I read the newsletters and check out the web page from time to time. From my perspective, I think the proposal to move to the IIT campus is a good one.

The biggest reason is that it would give so many advantages to Shimerians in terms of curriculum. I absolutely loved the Shimer curriculum--I took as many credits as possible each semester, doing all the classes in Soc Sci and Nat Sci, and doing a lot of independent studies in sociology, philosophy, and botany. But although I really wanted to do more science, there was just no chance to do it at Shimer. These days, there must be many Shimerians who are interested in environmental issues, and IIT has interdisciplinary course on the environment. It's true, as someone said, that IIT is a tech school, but technology can be useful. Aren't there Shimerians who'd like to be able to take classes in computer programming, web page design, etc. as a way of expressing themselves? My brother also pointed out to me the Center for Ethics in the Professions and the Math and Science Education Program, both of which are nationally known and which could be of interest to Shimerians.

Another reason in favor of the move is that the general facilities would be so much better. It wasn't until graduate school that I realized how great it could be to have access to a real library, not just a collection of books stored in the basement of the Waukegan public library. And the dormitory! I know people have a lot of attachment to that run-down building, but it was already dangerous when I lived there. From what I saw the last time I was there, in the summer of 2004, there have been some cosmetic improvements (the scary basement is not so scary anymore), but basically, it still seems to be falling apart. It's true that the Shimer dorm rooms have kitchens, but since they have the same stoves that were already no working right 20 years ago, I'm not sure how useful they really are.

What are the specific arrangements for the dorms at IIT? Will the Shimerians be living together in the same dorm? Are there some communal kitchens available? If so, then people can cook and eat together sometimes, as one way of creating a sense of community. (That's what the Chinese students in Tokyo seem to do, in whatever dorm they are living in, and it works for them. And don't they still have community lunches and potluck dinners at Shimer, even though the dorm has kitchens?)

The Chicago location would be great! IIT is much closer to the Art Institute, the Field Museum, the Chicago Symphony, all those used bookstores, not to mention the restaurants and the Chicago Blues Festival. Back in my Shimer days, I was lucky to get down to Chicago once or twice a semester. It would be so cool for Shimerians to be just a short El ride from the Art Institute. Maybe the neighborhood surrounding IIT is dangerous, but I don't think it's nowhere near as dangerous as that of Temple University, and students seemed to adjust to that environment pretty quickly. And what does "dangerous" really mean? When I was going to Northwestern, I lived in Edgewater, another "dangerous" neighborhood in Chicago, and it was really not as bad as the reputation would lead you to believe. My brother hasn't had any problems commuting to and from IIT, even when using public transportation in the evening. What does Waukegan have to offer? As far as I can see, Waukegan has never been especially welcoming to Shimer, and it certainly isn't very attractive to potential students. I went to Shimer in spite of the fact that it was in Waukegan, not because of it.

I can understand the worries about Shimer losing its identity, but I don't think it will really be a problem. Right now, I am at a big university (50,000 students), divided into many schools; I'm currently teaching at two undergraduate schools, the School of Law, and the new School of International Liberal Studies which just opened in 2004. Even at such a big place, the students quickly feel an identity with their school because of the shared curriculum. Even at our new school, which doesn't even have it's own "space" within the university yet, (we're just using empty rooms at various locations aroundthe campus), students feel a strong identity just because they are studying something that the others aren't. As long as Shimer sticks with its core curriculum, people will feel that they are Shimerians, and if they "Shimerize" the space as they intend to, it will be even better. My brother also thinks there would be no problem with Shimer keeping its own identity. He says most of the techie-type students don't especially identify with IIT, and the ones who do want to be part of a group join one of the student organizations. From the point of view of the average IIT student, then, Shimerians would easily be able to keep their distinct identity. He also says that Vandercook feels like a clearly separate entity, but that regular IIT students really enjoy being able to take music classes there.

About the only thing that I don't like about the proposal is that IIT doesn't seem to offer many (or maybe any) classes in foreign languages, something which is sorely lacking in Shimer's curriculum. But at least there are plenty of international students on the IIT campus.

Shimer has been in Waukegan for more than 20 years, and it just is not thriving. I think it's time to try something new.