APP decision-making is over; it’s time to move on

Given the recent alumni correspondence submitted to our student newspaper concerning last month’s Academic Prioritization Program (APP) announcement, as well as the current alumni petition going around attempting to pressure the Common Boards of Trustees and administrators into reversing the program eliminations made, I feel the need to tell these alums one important message—it is time to move on.

While I fully recognize that the decisions made as part of the APP are causing faculty you may have loved and cherished to be laid off, as well as the major you may have graduated in to be eliminated, the truth of the matter is that the colleges had no choice. Given the dire financial situation these institutions face in light of declining enrollment and mounting debt, something had to be done. The fact that more programs were not eliminated is actually somewhat of a surprise.

One common criticism I have heard from alums is that these program eliminations—particularly the elimination of certain majors, minors or concentrations—are an affront to the liberal arts mission of CSB and SJU. That is complete nonsense. If you actually take the time to read the full announcement, you will see that a majority of the affected departments will still offer general education courses in their area. A few will still offer students the ability to minor in that department. So while it may be impossible for students to major in some areas, it will still be possible for students to take courses in an overwhelmingly large variety of subjects.

Looking at the list of general education course offerings for CSB and SJU, it is extremely difficult to fathom how anyone could accuse our institutions of not being dedicated to the liberal arts—even if you take into consideration the loss of four departments that are being eliminated entirely. Just because students can’t major or minor in some areas doesn’t mean that our school doesn’t find those areas valuable—if they didn’t, you wouldn’t see so many general education classes still being offered even after these program eliminations. Alums, you need to take notice of our student body’s reaction to these program eliminations. Many of us are indeed saddened by them, and some of us initially did struggle to accept it. As an organ student myself, the loss of liturgical music is truly difficult and painful. But we, as students, were told by the powers that be that we needed to accept the final decisions made during the prioritization process.

And the overwhelming majority of us have done so. We have accepted the outcome because we understand the financial difficulties that CSB and SJU face right now. We understand that the institutions have to respond to conditions as they are, and not as they might wish them to be. Yes, it would be nice if the world were perfect and these program eliminations wouldn’t have to happen. But that isn’t life. We all know that life isn’t fair, and that we have to face difficult truths in it. Rather than complaining about the parts of life that aren’t fair, the overwhelming majority of us students are instead trying to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation.

Rather than whining and lamenting about it, and trying to convince the powers that be to reverse course because we just can’t handle the truth, we have moved on and are focusing on our schoolwork. As students at CSB and SJU, we are told to follow the Rule of St. Benedict. Likewise, alums are supposed to take what they have learned from St. Benedict while at CSB and SJU and apply it to their lives. In a way, accepting the outcome of these prioritization processes could be interpreted as a form of obedience and fully obeying the powers that be—an act that St. Benedict considered to be of great importance to all who are part of a community. Indeed, St. Benedict writes the following in Chapter five of his Rule: “Obedience, however, will be acceptable to God and agreeable to men only if compliance with what is commanded is…free from any grumbling or reaction of unwillingness. For the obedience shown to superiors is given to God, as he himself said: ‘whoever listens to you, listens to me.’ If a disciple obeys grudgingly and grumbles, not only aloud but also in his heart, then, even though he carries out the order, his action will not be accepted with favor by God, who sees that he is grumbling in his heart” (RB 5.14-15, 17-18).

Most of us students have faithfully upheld the Benedictine heritage of our institutions by accepting the outcomes of prioritization and the directives of the powers that be without grumbling. If you’re going to consider yourself a proud graduate of a Benedictine institution, then it is time for you to toughen up, accept that the decisions are final and follow St. Benedict’s command to obey the powers that be and move on. Every second you spend griping about these program eliminations is a second that could have been spent using the degree you got to actually make an impact on the world. It is time to grow up, accept that life isn’t fair and get on with your life. It’s that simple.