re:

A professor at the college blames changes in students’ attitudes (from learning to making money). Why is that when enrollment goes down, colleges blame external forces allegedly outside of their control, like changes in student attitudes or gas prices? But when enrollment goes up, they take all the credit, citing great professors and a great learning environment? Maybe enrollment went down at this college not because of the students, but because of outdated teaching and learning strategies employed by professors? Students still want to learn and be challenged intellectually, as many thriving, small, private liberal arts institutions prove. Take some responsibility.

PS, at 7:30 am EDT on August 18, 2008

Zuker has no guts.

Hopefully the truth will come out, but there is a significant lack of leadership at Lambuth at the Presidential level and this is going to destroy this institution for at least a few years.

Rats do no flee a well sailing ship and for Lambuth to lose so many or its top senior leadership over such a short time is very telling.

I know Lambuth and what has been going on very well, and Fred Zuker is the one needing to go.

Any President who admits his board is micromanging is failing....and President’s job is to shield his staff from the board.

It is obvious that the wheels are coming off at this great institution and Zuker is at the wheel.

I would recommend no one contribute to Lambuth as long as Zuker is President....the house needs to be cleaned and it should have started with Fred.

Fuzzy, Horse excrement, at 3:30 pm EDT on August 18, 2008

LU has a lot of potential, but lacks the support they need...

I recently transferred from LU. LU has a lot of potential to be a great school. The faculty there are extremely brilliant and inspirational, and they deserve so much more than what they receive from their meager pay and the lousy support that they receive from the president. The president has focused more on cosmetic changes in the school (ie, re-painting buildings, buying new furniture), and not hiring more faculty to make the academic departments stronger and thus more appealing to students. I’m transferring to a state school because this state school offers more variety of classes (and concentrations for my major) which I think will prepare me for grad school in the long-run. I’ve learned through my former private university how to think critically, but I really craved more variety. Having up to four classes with the same professor (during ONE semester) can only go so far. Now that they are cutting pay raises, how and when do they plan to get the faculty that they desperately need? I mean, if they finally get up to 1,000 students, how can they REALLY have the capacity?! I’m just glad that I got the most out of what I could and got out of there!

jkly256, at 5:00 am EDT on August 19, 2008

times and trends

I am also an LU graduate and since then have been an employee of university as well as other institutions in the admissions feild. Enrollment is ALWAYS the name of the game. Students pay the bills. End of story. No matter what institution is being considered, regardless of any number of factors, the bottom line is recruitment and retention. Lambuth was great to me and for me. However, like any other small, private institution there are multiple obstacles to overcome in regard to funding. (let us not overlook that there are a fair share of public entities who must also deal with these challenges) To comment on the post about the “cosmetic updates"- these are quick fixes to campus that are appealing to visiting students, and it must be said have caused a VAST improvement to the aesthetic appeal of the university grounds. This is not without value. I don’t think that this was a frivoulous expenditure, more of a “do-what- we-can-with-what-we-have” attitude. To be quite honest, I read this article with a heavy heart and with more than a twinge of guilt. I am nervous that in 10 years I won’t be able to request copies of my transcript because LU will have to close her doors. WHAT WEIGHT DOES MY EDUCATION HOLD IF THE INSTITUTION IS NO LONGER IN EXISTANCE? This leads to the guilt... I have, as an alumnus, only contributed maybe a total of 100 dollars back to Lambuth. If funding is the root of LU’s problems, who can I blame but myself?

LU ‘03, at 6:10 pm EDT on August 22, 2008