EDITORIAL & OPINION: A good strategic plan for SAS

Dean Preston's initiative hits on many areas that need attention as SAS moves to enter the 21st century. In particular, we are enthusiastic about the school's plan to increase funding to the Biology, Economics, English, History, Political Science and Psychology departments. The success of these core departments is undoubtedly crucial to the school's overall well-being. The plan would also not be complete without its emphasis on faculty recruitment. We hope that the $5,000 research grants for professors at all stages of the tenure process help bring qualified faculty to the University. In particular we would like to see new faculty hirings in English and Political Science, two departments that have had significant difficulty recently with faculty recruitment and retention. But even as SAS looks to reduce its percentage of tenured faculty, we hope that officials will not bypass opportunities to recruit top senior faculty members to needy departments. The planned renovation of Bennett Hall and the school's securing of new homes for the Psychology and Music departments are also long overdue. But we hope that this strategic plan is only a jumping-off point for SAS, a school that has been plagued in recent years by a veritable revolving door of top administrators and has consequently suffered from a lack of long-term planning. Associate Dean David Balamuth's words that "there will certainly be things of significance done that are not articulated in the plan" should be taken to heart in the continuing pursuit of academic innovation. Enabling undergraduate students to perform research, exploring new dual-degree and interdisciplinary program options and expanding the availability of freshman seminars are still other worthy goals to which SAS officials should be devoting their time. Nonetheless, SAS' $19 million plan, in our opinion, represents a tremendous start to fixing several of the school's problems and making other areas even stronger.