From the Mafia

On Feb. 15, provost and executive vice president W.A. “Bud” Baeslack III spoke about upcoming strategic initiatives to an audience of approximately 50. Less than half of those in attendance were undergraduate students despite the event being billed as a chance to “hear and be heard.”

There was an effort to market the event via The Daily, a banner on Case Western Reserve University’s homepage and an email to select student leaders from the Undergraduate Student Government, but attendance was underwhelming.

This might not be surprising when the description of the event stated “Join Provost Bud Baeslac Friday, Feb 15. for a forum on next year’s tuition rates and enhanced academic initiatives.” That sounds like an awful way to spend a Friday afternoon; sorry provost Baeslack.

In an only-at-CWRU moment, there were more students filing out of Intro Physics than students waiting to enter Strosacker for the event with the provost directly afterward. Professor Chottiner joked that he should probably erase the physics on the board while the provost’s support staff set up for the presentation. Maybe next year they will consider leaving the physics on the board in an attempt to confuse overeager first year students to stay for the forum.

In a series of posts starting this week, CWRU House Mafia will attempt to cut through the university doublespeak and offer a balanced assessment of some of the projects highlighted in the provost’s presentation.

A new weekly contributor to The Observer, CWRU House Mafia is a blog beyond The Daily that strives to engage and develop a deeper sense of community at Case Western Reserve University. They’re only a click away at cwruhousemafia.tumblr.com.