Berklee Town Meeting, September 15, 2004

Meeting Minutes, as taken by Margaret Downey and Laura Kulba, Office of the President

Below are the minutes from the discussion segments of the Berklee Town Meeting that took place on September 15, 2004. What follows are the comments, questions and answers, etc. from the audience after each scenario was read.

Scenario 1: A Premier Private College

Would no growth mean a decrease in innovation from students and faculty?

We have a lot of faculty with incredible credentials.

In this scenario faculty could still have an open door with their students.

This scenario is not the Berklee that I know, my own department has been growing with some great faculty. We have had some growth in our curriculum, which comes with continued growth in student enrollment.

I think the opposite is true: stopping growth will increase creativity, and enable us to teach the best and brightest.

The Berklee fitness center was applauded.

I don't think size dictates innovation. We need money behind the infrastructure, and we will need bodies to support it. No growth could equal no innovation.

Students don't know what they want to do when they first arrive at Berklee, and if the process is made so selective, that will prevent many talented students from coming here, who sometimes don't get to shine until later semesters.

Will the student body continue to be diverse and become even moreso if growth is stopped? And the faculty?

I'm not convinced that the best and brightest is the way to go. Many middle class students are locked out of private schools.

Scenario 2: Reaching for Excellence

I look forward to seeing online and classroom not exclusive of each other.

Berklee has internships, which is good. Music Education students have student teaching, which is good. What about the Song Writing majors who would find internships valuable?

This scenario appeals to me because of the study abroad; and I would like to see every student be required to take an internship.

We can not lose the intimacy of education and the informality and nurturing in the process.

The goal of Berklee is advancing careers in music.

We need to train students better before they arrive with basic theory and skills. Selectivity from that point of view is necessary.

Students need advisors, as it is easy to get lost at Berklee.

Berklee City Music should be included in this scenario.

Advising is essential for the Professional Music Department. The entrepreneurial track is popular because students are great players and want to go straight into the music business. Three faculty are not enough to do all the advising for this department.

I encourage my students to meet all of their teachers to talk not just about their own projects, but something above and beyond the Counseling Center. Mentoring.

Scenario 3: The Next Big Thing

This sounds like rock stars versus artists.

Rock stars can be artists.

I'm troubled by the loaded words. How are we measuring the best and the brightest? Small could equal a factory, while large does not mean that integrity can't be maintained.

Expand independent studies.

Growth helps new students. We need more orientation to Berklee. We need to become more unified as students. We need more of a common ground, whether Berklee remains small or big.

I am happy with the size and the vibe of Berklee. We should do more with what we currently have now.

We need to look at how Admissions picks the students. We need to look at the issue of auditions for all students. Many prospective students gain entry with skills that they don't actually have.

Scenario 4: Reinventing the College

This scenario is obviously the most radical. I think deluting Berklee with many campuses is wrong. Perhaps study abroad is a better idea than this one. I think being here "at Berklee" in Boston is what motivates students, and that feeling is important to maintain.

I think whomever wrote these scenarios wants you to pick #2. Why show so many negatives? These scenarios are somewhat obvious.

We have building space concerns as well as staffing concerns now at the present time. We are already bursting at the seams.

There is much negative to the first, third, and fourth scenarios, rather than the second one. "Lacking substance" doesn't have to correlate; we can still have quality.

Can we consolidate what we already have? We need to maintain the sacred relationship between the student and the teacher. The large class size is getting to be too much.

In order to grow: walk before you run. I don't have an advisor, and that leaves me to run in circles. And the half-hour private lessons are not enough. Can't we put our own house in order?

I hear all the time how hard it is to navigate through Berklee as a student. How do we grow and would growth help or hinder us with these problems? I would like campuses in Nashville, LA, and New York City. But we are currently ham-strung by space. Current faculty don't have offices.

General Comments

If you are a staff member of Berklee, you don't have much say here.

This sounds like quality versus quantity, but we can improve and grow regardless of how many students or campuses we have.

Perhaps the lack of advising/mentoring as a student is because we are "nothing like a conservatory" as the phrase goes.

How do you maintain quality with large growth? Imagine 10,000 students. How would we accomplish what we can't accomplish now?

What about our diversity goals?

If we have different campuses, why would anyone want to shell out money and come to Boston?

We are important role models as an institution, and our alumni should be good global citizens as well as good musicians.

We are geographically limited right now. If we have satellite campuses, they would increase diversity.

Keep a hold on what we havae now that is working. I would like to see more accessibility to scholarships for all applicants.

Some students come here with low skills, but with determination and hard work, they turn out to be some of Berklee's best students and musicians.

Our communication must be much better about this process. Everyone in the college should be involved. Having this type of open meeting is odd here, and should be more frequent.