Thank You and Farewell
A Message from Donna E. Shalala, Interim President
As you know, on Wednesday my term will end as Interim President of The New School.
When I accepted this role, I promised to put the university on a stable financial path. With your help and collaboration, we have done exactly that.
Under the leadership of my longtime colleague Mark Diaz, we developed a transparent, long-term sustainability strategy that stabilized the university’s finances. Phase two of this important work led by Provost White and the Executive Deans will strengthen our academic structure and offerings.
To better support our students, we launched a robust first year residential life program for new students, significantly lowered on-campus housing costs, and redirected more funds to need-based aid for incoming students and continuing students. For PhD students new stipends will strengthen our ability to recruit and retain outstanding graduate students.
We increased the university’s fundraising by 56%, raising more than $37 million over the past year. This increase does not include a $6 million renewal grant from the Waverley Street Foundation that is in process for the Tishman Environment and Design Center.
We consolidated Government and Community Affairs in the President’s Office. As a result, we secured $1.5 million in matching funds from New York City to support the restoration and renovation of the auditorium in our flagship 66 West 12th Street building. We also received a $98k grant from New York State Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program to renovate the Parsons Light + Energy Lab.
We successfully negotiated outstanding collective bargaining agreements with unions on our campus and are establishing a new Labor Relations office to support productive, collaborative relationships with our employees.
We hired an experienced Vice Provost for Enrollment Management to strengthen the university’s enrollment management and retention goals.
We created a new Safety and Facilities division to better coordinate and respond to all types of situations impacting safety and security on our campus, and are equipping our buildings and classrooms with new state-of-the-art electronic access technology, among other important improvements to our safety policies and protocols.
We renovated the 2nd Floor of 39 West 13th Street to offer flexible space for student organizations to gather, including new permanent homes for The New School Free Press, WNSR, and University Student Senate.
We improved the dining experience on our campus with a redesigned and refurbished University Center Dining Commons, a new cafe on the 8th Floor of 6 East 16th Street, and enhanced vending options in 39 West 13th Street, 55 West 13th Street, and 65 West 11th Street.
We sponsored with the University Student Senate an initiative to eliminate single use plastics on our campus, installed new water refill stations, and distributed thousands of free reusable water bottles to students, faculty and staff to further our commitment to sustainability.
To encourage effective activism by members of our community, we will begin offering a free three-credit course in January titled Socially Responsible Investment: Theory and Practice—it will be open to all students, faculty, and staff.
And we made our campus more welcoming for everyone with new seating areas in 55 West 13th Street and 39 West 13th Street, added multi-use charging stations in a variety of locations, and refreshed the lower level Welcome Center reception area in 72 Fifth Avenue to enhance our orientation activities.
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I want to express my deep and sincere appreciation to the entire New School community for your dedication and unshakeable belief in the university and its limitless promise.
To the senior leadership team—thank you for your commitment to The New School. You have been my trusted colleagues, and I am grateful for your partnership.
To the trustees—you have my deepest gratitude for your courage in letting me take the university on a journey that was promising, but challenging.
To my colleagues on the faculty—thank you for your dedication to advancing your academic disciplines through your research, scholarship, creative practice, and your devotion to guiding our students on their academic journeys.
To our staff—you make this university run smoothly and efficiently. No matter what your job—whether it’s working with students, faculty or visitors, keeping our technology up and running, or maintaining our campus—your contributions are invaluable.
And to our students—you have inspired me with your passion for learning and enthusiasm for making our world a better place.
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I want to end the way I began with a message about the sadness we all feel about the tragic wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.
It was a message about the fragility of life on this planet.
Fragile, a song performed by Sting decades ago, is worth listening to again.
The words of the opening stanza are:
“If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow’s rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime’s argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all though born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are.”
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We are one community with the shared responsibility to ensure the safety and well being of all. The New School must continue to be a place where we listen to and vigorously discuss difficult and sometimes painful issues. Respectful dialogue is a hallmark of great American universities.
Professor Joel Towers will begin his tenure as The New School’s tenth president on August 1st. I wish him and all of you a bright future.