This merger is a bad idea that gives Poly nothing tangible
Mordechai
Polytechnic Alumni need to have an open Town House Meeting on the Poly
campus with President Hultin and Chairman Matthews.
I think our alma mater is being sold off to the lowest bidder
(historical sale of Farmingdale Campus, sale of Patents, sale of Air
Rights, dumping 150 years of achievement and graduates all over the
world) in exchange for nothing tangible from New York University.
Polytech has no VP of Engineering Research and Development necessary
to bring in large R & D funding and coordinate research by the Poly
faculty. It abandoned the Symposia made world famous by Polytechnic
Press; it no longer has a Research Office to bring in federal
contracts and funding support from DARPA, Air Force Office of
Scientific Research, Naval Research Laboratory, industry, etc.
The bread and butter Electrical Engineering Department is way down in
the ratings. What are we doing to fix this? Bob Blosser and crew
built the Biomedical Engineering Department. What happened to it?
Georgia Tech, MIT, Stanford bring in hundreds of millions of dollars
of R & D to keep the laboratories and the Professors alive and sustain
their First Tier Engineering Schools. What do we have? $9.7 Million
of Engineering R & D, antiquated labs, and buildings that are falling
apart need to be addressed in the Poly Strategic Plan.
What about Admissions activity? We have alumni all over the world who
will gladly help recruit students just like MIT, Stanford, Cornell and
all other First Tier Schools.
Why have the admissions activities failed? What are we doing about?
Do we just pack up and sell out to NYU? We bought their engineering
school in 1973 because NYU couldn't make it work. We now want to give
them an instant Engineering University in exchange for nothing
tangible?
We need a Poly Engineering Team to solve this Engineering Problem with
Poly Alumni stepping up to the plate. We spent lots of money for
tuition at Poly and gave plenty to the annual fund drives. I think we
need to get our act together before we sell off everything in exchange
for a few intangible promises and no hard cash.
The Polytechnic Alumni Association needs to get this Town Hall meeting
arranged before we sell the place off to NYU for a pittance.
Best regards,
Mark Schlam BSEE 72, MSEE 73, Post Graduate for 7 more years all at
Poytech
GERALD J HERSKOWITZ
Your thoughtful analysis of why Poly is in this terrible predicament is
exactly correct!
I also strongly agree with you that there are tremendous opportunities for
Poly alumni to help avert the
pending sellout to NYU, which will further deteriorate it's position. I
believe the alumni have a crucial
role to play at this point in Poly's history. I am in full agreement with
you in the need for an open
meeting with President Hultin and the Trustees is in order. Please let me
know what I can do to support your effort toward setting up such a meeting
and what else I can do to help you and the Alumni Associate organize such a
meeting.
Gerry Herskowitz '57
hat about Admissions activity? We have alumni all over the world who will
Mordechai Schlam
to NYU for a pittance. Some of them are:
1. Leasing of Air Rights instead of sale. We sold off the Farmingdale
Campus and gave a windfall to a developer. Why didn't we lease it or
develop it ourselves? Are we ready to do this again for the most valuable
piece of property in the downtown Brooklyn area? Aren't we an Engineering
School? Did we close the Civil Engineering Department? I know at least one
Commercial Real Estate Broker who is an alumnus. There must be many more
willing to donate their time and ideas. Have any of you guys seen the MOU
for the Air Rights? They won't show it to me.
2. The Strategic Plan has major deficiencies. Polytech is giving half the
story to the Alumni. It agrees to provide the "Strategic Plan" and then
leaves off the "Implementation Plan" mentioned on the last page. There are
many good points in the Strategic Plan. However if fails to address major
issues:
A. Fixing the campus and labs to attract students
B. They don't even know the strengths and weaknesses of the
existing departments (see item A.1 on page 7 of the Strategic Plan)
C. If they raised $175 million from Othmer and $100 Million in
the capital campaign, and have a $130 Million Endowment Fund, why is there
only a $75 Million fundraising campaign. Paul Soros is a Board Member. How
many billion did he make last year? The Alumni Association used to
volunteer for shifts to call classmates to raise money for Poor Poly. They
now use a paid solicitor that doesn't know anything about Poly, its staff,
or the Alumni. Who wants to donate a lot of money to that type of call?
How much money have Poly staff brought in to Poly coffers from grants,
research, and industry? Hasn't anyone read the Alumni Directory? There are
lots of guys that are key players at major companies? Who is twisting their
Poly rings for the big donations?
D. You can find the Balance Sheet of the University in the IRS
990 Public Filing of Poly. It's not part of the Strategic Plan. Why does
the Strategic Plan fail to address the resolution of the financial crisis if
there indeed is one?
E. How do we retire the $85 million bond debt if it is
strangling the University?
F. Why are we implementing expense controls that negatively
affect facility maintenance and resources (see the first item on Weaknesses
on page 3 of the Strategic Plan)? Who wants to attend a University that is
falling apart because the management doesn't want to fix it up?
G. The student application rate is admittedly too low. Why do
they just focus on the immediate area? Poly attracted students from all
over the world when I went there full time in 1968-1973. Did we hire an
Admissions Department that only knows how to solicit candidates locally?
What did we build the dorms for? On my last tour of the Campus with
Professor Bertoni they were housing Brooklyn Law School Students. What
about the fraternities on the campus? Why can't they raise money from their
Alumni who went to Polytech? They certainly got us to shell out the cash to
pledge them and pay dues.
H. Why are we a Tier III School? Why is the Polytechnic
Strategic Plan goal to be a Tier II School and not a Tier I School by 2010?
I. What about research? That's what keeps Tier I Schools
alive and brings in the bucks from Government and Industry. All the top
schools raise millions in Engineering R & D. Why did Poly raise only $9.7
Million (refer to the attachment to the phone mailing)?
We need a Town Hall Meeting with the Chairman, President, and Board Members
to answer the tough questions about our alma mater's survival. The merger
is a cheap way out with no tangible payment for a large amount of assets.
Mark Schlam, BSEE '72, MSEE '73
Robert Kettles
I was there for my undergraduate degree in Brooklyn from 1992 to
1996. The buildings were falling apart, there was no dorm (I had to
stay over at Long Island University), there was little in the way of
campus life, the school had no money (I seem to recall $6 million in
endowment, but I could be wrong), and there was a general malaise all
around. What really surprised me was that fellow students and faculty
members were shocked by the great distance that I had come from to
attend Poly: Connecticut.
After a period of culture shock, I came to appreciate my new home.
This was not like the party schools with immaculate campuses that
friends of mine from high school attended. This was the legendary
"school of hard knocks". This is where I would learn to fail (quite
the shock for me as an honor student back in high school), struggle,
overcome, and finally succeed. I am forever grateful for this
lesson. I feel that it's a lesson that Poly is in danger of not
learning this lesson itself.
Back during my undergraduate time, I was among an active group of
students who sought to contribute back to Poly. We resurrected the
student council, worked on alumni pledge drives, and even painted the
dilapidated interior of Rogers Hall on "Poly Paint Day". I recall
meetings where we discussed the future of Poly and what path should it
take: continue to be a "commuter school" or try to attract a wider
(regional, national, international) audience. The outcome of those
meetings were the ideas that Poly should leverage its location in
Brooklyn as an asset (as opposed to running away to Long Island),
build a dormitory to help attract students from outside New York City,
and encourage a vibrant student community.
Fast forward to more recent times and we find a new dorm building in
Brooklyn, new student facilities (including basketball courts,
cafeteria, and student center), some new/renovated classrooms (yes,
there are still plenty of old ones), and some money in the bank ($130
million from what I see in the previous posts). When I tour the
current campus, I'm very proud (and just a little bit jealous) of the
progress that Poly has made.
It's why it's so frustrating to see the possibility of Poly selling
out to NYU. After all the hard work and struggling, it just seems
like a cop out. I understand the drive to be Tier 1, but how about
having a plan to get there independently? Has there ever been any
thought put into a partnership with NYU instead? I keep reading how
great the NYU/Poly combination would be with regard to biomedical
engineering, so how about working on a joint program and see where
that goes first? I'm a bit skeptical of NYU given their history with
their past engineering experience.
-Rob Kettles
BS CompE '96, MS ISE '05