Informal town hall event brings student’s questions some answers
President Olian spent around 40 minutes talking to students and answering their questions.
Joel Vanner|February 21, 2019
By Joel Vanner
Follow @joelvanner
President Judy Olian hosted an informal town hall event in the lower dining hall Thursday afternoon to address recent information about the $1 million renovations planned for her home.
Watch Q30 Television's live broadcast below and see the Tweets below for notable quotes and discussion highlights.
President Olian opens the informal town hall overviewing the strategic plan, which was announced a few weeks ago.
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"The strategic plan requires a lot of investments. Those investments are going to come from our endowment, how we manage our financial resources, philanthropy ... and we need to engage in some reallocation decisions."
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Olian states that the first reallocation decision was WQUN, the university AM radio station.
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"We want to repurpose that studio for more current broadcasts..." Olian says about the WQUN studio. She highlights podcasting.
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The second reallocation decision was the Ireland's Great Hunger Museum. Olian states that it's "never going to go away," just that the museum will need to become financially self-sufficient.
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The first bid for the Spruce Bank Road property, the presidents house, was in 1990, unsuccessful. "It is the most obvious space for the university to expand academic buildings, residence life, any other structures the university might need."
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A deal was finally reached for the property in April 2018, before Olian's arrival.
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"The timing is fortuitous ... this is a long term interest of the university." Olian speaking about the timing of the property purchase.
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"That's where the president is going to live and be expected to conduct the work of the unviersity."
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"There are going to be more changes that are happening because of the strategic plan," says Olian. She opens the floor to questions from students.
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The first question from the students in attendance comes from Grant, a sophomore. He asks about the land and the potential for dorms, academic buildings and the timing. Olian states the need for a master facilities plan first.
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A student asks for a "numerical rundown" of the finances that have happened in the last few days. "We have volunteered to the SGA that our CFO will provide them with a full rundown of the university budget," Olian says.
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A student asks if Olian can give them an estimate on the amount of money that the university is spending on renovations to the property and to the offices. "We don't have those numbers yet," Olian said. Olian says some will be paid for philanthropically.
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"We're hoping that over this summer we are able to upgrade and at least install air conditioning in some of the buildings (residence halls). We can't throw people out of residence halls during the year."
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"We expect to have donor events, student events, parent events of 200 people." Olian states you can't do that in a regular kitchen which is why this renovation is happening.
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"The house decision was made by the board, not by me. And I might have had different preferences on that," said Olian.
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"I would be a little understanding of the extreme conditions that exist here with all of the ice on the trees ... and all that we had was a two hour problem because they were working in zero degree weather..." Olian says addressing the issue of power outages.
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A student asks about the reported expenses by Olian at UCLA. "I raised 450 million dollars during my 12 and a half years there," Olian states her travel was 100% approved by the university.
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"You need to invest to raise money. This is an investment in raising money."
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"You don't want us to slide back when you leave, because Quinnipiac is forever on your resume."
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A student in the crowd commends Olian on her transparency. "Thank you."
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"I'm here for the long haul and I want to make this university the best, the most renown, the best forward looking and the best future looking."
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"Every time we make decisions like this, I will be out here."
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"We spent quite a bit of time last night, at 11 o'clock last night ... trying to find a spot where we could maximize attendance..." Olian responds to a comment about the choice to hold this in the dining hall and the time of day.
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