As last Friday's convocation was about to begin, students in the balcony unfurled a poster that said, "Let's Bring Back Need Blind!" The theme of that week's convocation was "Breaking Barriers, Creating Connections: The Campaign for Carleton," a formal announcement of a special fundraising campaign that Carleton is going on to fund a variety of new initiatives. The only other convocation all term that has rivalled this one for attendance was the May 11 talk by Steven Levitt. But why the poster?
On May 14 the Admissions and Financial Aid Committee announced to the College Council that it would be making changes to its admissions policy. Carleton had been partially need-blind for about ten years, but it is now moving to a need-sensitive system.
After Andrew Navratil '07 heard the announcement at the College Council meeting, he organized an information meeting for students concerned about the changes in the policy the following Wednesday night. About 100 students came, and they discussed concerns that the new policies may reduce the diversity at Carleton. There are fewer nonwhite and first-generation students in the classes of '10 and '11 than earlier classes. The goal of the meeting was to determine a course of action for the Friday convocation, when Carleton's Board of Trustees would be on campus and would be able to see firsthand demonstrations of student concern.
The poster in the chapel balcony was just one of the actions the students decided on. Volunteers stood at the entrances to the Chapel on Friday morning and handed out information sheets about the changes in the financial aid policy. They also wore plaid armbands to show their concern. That day the Carletonian had a special three-page-long editorial section, full of articles calling for a return to need-blind admission.
After the convocation, students held a "positive rally" to show student support for making financial aid a high priority of the upcoming fundraising campaign. They carried signs with slogans such as "I wouldn't be here without financial aid" and "Keep Carleton diverse."
Oden's speech at the "Breaking Barriers, Creating Connections" convocation had a positive tone towards financial aid. When he outlined the three goals of what he says will be "Carleton's most ambitious campaign ever," he listed financial aid as the first goal. At present, Carleton's financial aid budget is only about 25% endowed. One of the goals of the fundraising campaign will be to make it fully endowed, which will increase the security of the financial aid budget for the future. The other goals of the fundraising campaign will be to add 15 tenure-track faculty and improve Carleton programs such as adding Arabic classes and building a new arts center. These improvements, he says, will ensure that Carleton provides "the best liberal-arts education in America."
Navratil is optimistic about the effect of the rally and the convocation speech. "I think people got the message very clearly that students care about bringing back need-blind admissions." He hopes the trustees will seriously consider making financial aid the number one priority of the capital campaign.
For students who want to know more about important issues in the Carleton community, Navratil recommends "Attending senate meetings and reading Carletonian articles is the best way to find out what's happened on college committees."
