Morgan steps in to save day
Campus Times
October 17, 1997
cartoon by Stephanie Lesniak
In a brilliant administrative change, President Stephen Morgan is now
supervising offices in enrollment services.
In the beginning of the semester, it was discovered that the Office
of Financial Aid went over its allocation by approximately $900,000 in Financial
Aid monies. At the same time undergraduate enrollment is declining. Many
mistakes are being made, obviously, and Dr. Morgan is taking it into his
own hands to straighten up the mess.
Although Dr. Morgan will not be involved directly with the day-to-day
operation of the registrar's office, financial aid, undergraduate admissions,
academic affairs and academic advising, Dr. Len Hightower, assistant to
the president, will work with these departments.
What a positive change this will be, particularly for students. Now
that Dr. Morgan sees that something is not right with this institution,
he has decided to take control of the matter, attempting to fix the problem
as much as he can, with Dr. Hightower's assistance. It seems as though something
always tends to go wrong with financial aid or enrollment services. Now
Dr. Morgan will hear these complaints directly, since he is now in charge.
President Morgan does not want the University of La Verne to look any
worse than it already does concerning the decline in enrollment annually
and the overage that has occurred two years in a row. Who else is supposed
to take care of this matter if the deans have already tried?
One of the details the president will deal with is the professional
service supplied by these offices. Many students have complained of how
difficult it is to have a phone call answered or returned. With Dr. Morgan
calling the shots, students might actually be able to talk to their counselors.
At the beginning of the summer, Dr. Morgan sent out a memo regarding
his opinion on this matter. He expressed deep concern about "strengthening
and nurturing" the system. He wants the services to be as student friendly
as possible. This is a positive first step.
Enrollment should be growing, not decreasing, and financial aid should
not be giving away money that they do not have. Dr. Morgan is doing the
right thing by taking control of the situation. Somebody with authority
has to fix these problems before the University really gets into a debt
that it cannot escape and before enrollment at ULV disappears.
The real tragedy is that it took this long, but it is such a dramatic
step to see real change that students can put their hopes and futures into.
Dr. Morgan should be given credit for taking on the responsibility. It was
time for something to change.
