Attendees at Marlboro College’s Town Meeting—a weekly forum of the Marlboro campus and the surrounding townspeople—discussed the transition for students coming to Emerson, faculty proposals, and a revision to the Vermont college’s Title IX policies, according to minutes of the meeting provided to The Beacon.
Marlboro students transferring to Emerson will be subject to the college’s tuition increase next year, according to Marlboro Dean of Students Patrick Connelly.
“Emerson has voted a 3.5 percent increase on their tuition, the term sheet says that all Marlboro students will be subject to that increase,” he said, according to the minutes.
The Beacon previously reported that Marlboro students would pay the same tuition they originally paid at Marlboro.
Connelly said that Marlboro is working with Emerson to cover the Beautiful Minds Scholars—a group of Marlboro students receiving partial or full-tuition scholarships at the college. He also said that the Vermont college is working with Emerson to have financial aid packages applied to room and board, which will increase by $5,555 for Marlboro students.
In an email to The Beacon, Associate Vice President of Communications and Marketing Sofiya Cabalquinto said the tuition increase has not been finalized yet.
“The 2020-2021 tuition, room and board rates will be reviewed, discussed, and ordinarily voted on at the February Board meeting,” she wrote.
Amy Beecher, faculty representative to the Marlboro Board of Trustees, said Emerson has received reports from the Marlboro faculty working groups.
“[The working group] has sent ideas to Emerson, Emerson is mulling over our first draft of that…faculty are in the process of working out what they’re going to teach…in visual art lack of facilities has changed to facilities,” she said, according to the minutes.
Beecher mentioned in the Marlboro Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday that Emerson is looking to rent studio space for incoming visual art faculty.
Dean of Faculty at Marlboro Richard Glejzer said that Marlboro would be granting students the opportunity to earn eight extra credits, as Emerson requires eight more credits for graduating students than Marlboro.
“Technically when we do this it’s for future students, but any current students can petition the registrar to count those credits, [and] they will be put in for the semester you complete that requirement,” he said, according to the minutes.
Connelly also again proposed changes to Title IX policies at Marlboro, something he initially suggested weeks ago to Selectboard.
“Over my time here and after discussion with a number of students, it has become clear that our current Title IX policies and procedures fall short,” he said, according to the minutes. “They can be harmful to participants, including complainants, respondents, students, faculty, and staff who are charged with making difficult and at times impossible decisions that they are often not trained to make.”
Connelly proposed changes to Title IX procedures, splitting the role of Title IX investigator and coordinator into two separate positions, moving away from community hearings for resolutions, and providing a clearer pathway for students who make Title IX reports. If accepted, these changes would apply solely for this spring semester.
At a Selectboard meeting on Jan. 30, Connelly said the proposed changes came after looking at Emerson’s policies.
“Talking with our attorney, we came to the conclusion that believe it or not Emerson’s policies stand head and shoulders above ours, [in regards to] level of detail, methodology, how clearly the process is laid out,” he said, according to the minutes. “In a word document, our entire policies and procedures are five pages. Emerson’s are roughly thirty. Which shows you the difference in the level of detail… their process is laid out step by step by step, very thoughtful, very clear, including dealing with most if not all possibilities, conflicts of interest, retribution, retaliation, things that currently our policy lacks.”
