Spring Break
What Brody's left behind
Issue date: 3/27/08
During his 12-year tenure, President Brody has overseen immense growth in the University's endowment, improved undergraduate education, worked to enhance student life and significantly increased security on campus and in the neighborhood.
All of his efforts have dramatically elevated Hopkins's stature nationally and internationally. He was the first Hopkins president in over 20 years to live on Homewood campus and arguably the most accessible president this university has seen. Several issues, however, have been neglected and these should be made priorities by Brody's successor.
First of all, Brody, the rest of the administration and the Board of Trustees should move towards full divestment from companies that do business with the Sudanese government. Hopkins must take a definitive stand when its money could potentially be fueling a government that is committing genocide upon its own people. For this reason it is unacceptable for Brody to skirt questions about Sudan divestment and call it a "non-issue." Hopkins must follow in the footsteps of the dozens of universities that have already divested - it is regrettable that Hopkins has not already done so.
In a related issue, the University must have more transparency regarding its endowment. Students, their families, alumni, faculty, staff and donors - as well as anyone interested in attending Hopkins - all deserve to know how the University's money is being allocated and invested. Most of our "peer" universities have taken it upon themselves to increase the transparency of their endowments. Hopkins would be more accountable for their decisions with increased transparency, which would foster a stronger relationship between the University and all those connected with it.
Furthermore, despite Brody's efforts to increase financial aid, he has not done enough to curb the University's skyrocketing tuition, room and board prices. Middle-class students have been hit hard by Hopkins's rising costs, as they often do not qualify for financial aid, yet scrape by to pay full tuition. The University has not done enough to address their needs. Tuition cannot continue to increase faster than the rate of inflation; if Hopkins must allocate more of its endowment toward keeping tuition down, then so be it. Brody has indeed been a prolific fundraiser, but he must now set the stage for his successor to focus on building endowment funds that can be used to make the Hopkins education more affordable. This should be the overarching goal of the next long-term fundraising campaign, because too many students are incurring astronomical debts that will take decades to pay off.
All of his efforts have dramatically elevated Hopkins's stature nationally and internationally. He was the first Hopkins president in over 20 years to live on Homewood campus and arguably the most accessible president this university has seen. Several issues, however, have been neglected and these should be made priorities by Brody's successor.
First of all, Brody, the rest of the administration and the Board of Trustees should move towards full divestment from companies that do business with the Sudanese government. Hopkins must take a definitive stand when its money could potentially be fueling a government that is committing genocide upon its own people. For this reason it is unacceptable for Brody to skirt questions about Sudan divestment and call it a "non-issue." Hopkins must follow in the footsteps of the dozens of universities that have already divested - it is regrettable that Hopkins has not already done so.
In a related issue, the University must have more transparency regarding its endowment. Students, their families, alumni, faculty, staff and donors - as well as anyone interested in attending Hopkins - all deserve to know how the University's money is being allocated and invested. Most of our "peer" universities have taken it upon themselves to increase the transparency of their endowments. Hopkins would be more accountable for their decisions with increased transparency, which would foster a stronger relationship between the University and all those connected with it.
Furthermore, despite Brody's efforts to increase financial aid, he has not done enough to curb the University's skyrocketing tuition, room and board prices. Middle-class students have been hit hard by Hopkins's rising costs, as they often do not qualify for financial aid, yet scrape by to pay full tuition. The University has not done enough to address their needs. Tuition cannot continue to increase faster than the rate of inflation; if Hopkins must allocate more of its endowment toward keeping tuition down, then so be it. Brody has indeed been a prolific fundraiser, but he must now set the stage for his successor to focus on building endowment funds that can be used to make the Hopkins education more affordable. This should be the overarching goal of the next long-term fundraising campaign, because too many students are incurring astronomical debts that will take decades to pay off.
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