Pilarz to step down

[ChicosBailBonds]

I believe we had a thread here on the FFP.  He cut/redirected funding, scaled it back, was more selective.  Same with raising the the JUCO standards, beyond hoops.  Yet, private college for first generation kids is a huge family financial commitment...a FFP helps ensure success....two year at JC keeps down costs.  But, he wanted to get more selective while getting a MU grant is harder.

On alcohol, it wasn't the need for rules, it was the way they were enforced.  Some students are chiming in here...but I will let them explain.

Again, I am not agreeing or disagreeing with some of these, just explaining how sentiment builds.  Some of these are more minor to the news.

Thanks.  I assume the FFP changes were to try and help the overall university selectivity rating and improve graduation rates?  Just guessing...is this true?

[warriorchick]

 Yet, private college for first generation kids is a huge family financial commitment...a FFP helps ensure success.

Doctor, I believe you are confusing FFP with EOP.  It was always the perception that the FFP group contained a disproportionate number of kids who didn't require financial aid; hence the nickname Financially Fit Parents.

[Goose]

Watch it on the FFP talk. I was FFP and little Goose snuck into MU last year as FFP. To be honest I never understood the program, but glad it got me in and my son as well.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Oh hey, and I agree with this.  Controlled environments are 100 times better for the drinking issue.

I have to concur.

Zero tolerance in the dorms strikes me as way overboard.  I rarely recalled anyone getting way out of control in the dorms because no one wanted to get caught.

Wintertime was easier to bring beer in the dorm as you could stuff your winter jacket.  One guy had a real puffy jacket that we referred to as "Puff the Magic Jacket" since you cram more cans in it than a usual jacket.
I remember you had to do beer runs earlier in the week and earlier in the day since it was less conspicuous coming back from class with beer cans mixed in with books in the backpack.
Then there was the Schroeder Hall-pass-it-through-the-basement-window to a friend trick.  The cafeteria shielded the view from the dorm room windows.

Sounds like times have way changed since my dorm days of 87-88 & 88-89.

[Bo Ryan's Massage Therapist]

We would wrap a case of beer like a birthday present and tell the dorm front desk it was someone's birthday.

[warriorchick]

We would wrap a case of beer like a birthday present and tell the dorm front desk it was someone's birthday.

Cans, right?  jsglow jr. told us that bottles make too much noise when you are trying to get the empties out of your room.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Doctor, I believe you are confusing FFP with EOP.  It was always the perception that the FFP group contained a disproportionate number of kids who didn't require financial aid; hence the nickname Financially Fit Parents.

Lol...most likely true for kids on the bubble...but one of its original intents was to help with assimilation of first generation kids, and of course many others--"FFP" or not-- over the summer before their freshman year to adjust to MU.  EOP is on-going throughout the four years.  

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

Two bar-bars now, plus the Annex and Sobelman's, if you want to count them. A few oddball stragglers like JTO on the perimeter.

It's not hard to see why the bar culture collapsed around campus. Raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 wiped out probably 2/3rds of bar patrons. I graduated in 2007, so I don't know this from experience, exactly, but I would bet that the inability to drink in bars played a role in fewer people living on campus during summers, etc. So you have the added problem of students being gone three months during summer, plus one month for a winter break already. The customer base just collapsed. So now students are left with two actual bars, a good burger joint "bar," a university run fake bar, and that's about it.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

By the way, I love how Miss Katie's NEVER, EVER shows up in these bar discussions, despite the fact that it's just on 20th and Clybourn. Yes, they actually have a bar at night. I lived next door and only went there once. 6-8 townies plus an old lady bartender serving 10 ounce beers. Needless to say, I had one and left.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

ZFB once carried in an entire case of beer past the desk people using only normal clothes and a winter jacket.

[Coleman]

I remember my freshman year roommate sneaking in a case of beer in a Coca Cola box on move in day, with the help of his parents.

[MU86NC]

ZFB once carried in an entire case of beer past the desk people using only normal clothes and a winter jacket.

how about a duffel bag/1/4 keg though the turn stile...

[ChicosBailBonds]

Kegs usually came in with those blue wheeled carts into McCormick.  Or, the enterprising folks would use a rope and haul it up to their window.

[forgetful]

When I went to school you just made sure your groceries were bagged in brown paper bags.  Put the beer/liquor in there and carry it in just like regular groceries.

[314warrior]

Sounds like Pilarz might have made a better provost than president. 

When you require students to live in the dorm for two years, having a zero tolerance policy is overboard in my book.

[dgies9156]

Good lord have times changed!

When I was at Marquette, in the mid-1970s, you could hardly even go to class and not have a river of beer! No hard stuff, but a lot of beer floating around. Beer was the drink that made Marquette famous.

The challenge facing the university now is that 18 year olds are adults, but they're really not. When daughter dgies goes off to college next year, I believe she is on her own and has to make her own decisions -- good and bad. Part of what college is constitutes a chance to make adult decisions in an adult but forgiving environment. From what I read in here, the forgiving environment is gone.

The RAs were more floor arbitrators when I was there. Folks who smoked dope basically got told "don't be obvious." They didn't want wommen in our dorm or on our floor (McCormick and later Tower) after midnight or 1:00 a.m., but in Tower, they were even blind to that. I don't know that the 1970s were the standards by which we should manage youth for all time, but we did grow up pretty quickly. And our generation has done well by society's standards.

My biggest fear with today's environment and the university being big brother, traffic cop, morals enforcer and beer basher is that people have to learn to grow up. Having an institution replace Mom and Dad is inhibiting the growth that should come on campus. I don't think Marquette, or most colleges for that matter quite get that point yet.

[Lennys Tap]

I have to concur.

Zero tolerance in the dorms strikes me as way overboard. 

Zero tolerance? At Alcatraz or Attica sure, but in a college dorm? If that's his idea of creative leadership in the 21st century, I'm glad Fr Pilarz is moving on.

[ChicosBailBonds]

My biggest fear with today's environment and the university being big brother, traffic cop, morals enforcer and beer basher is that people have to learn to grow up. Having an institution replace Mom and Dad is inhibiting the growth that should come on campus. I don't think Marquette, or most colleges for that matter quite get that point yet.

Measuring risk, ultimately.  I'm sure they get the point, but legally they need to protect their hide as well.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

By the way, I love how Miss Katie's NEVER, EVER shows up in these bar discussions, despite the fact that it's just on 20th and Clybourn. Yes, they actually have a bar at night. I lived next door and only went there once. 6-8 townies plus an old lady bartender serving 10 ounce beers. Needless to say, I had one and left.

Miss Katie's has lost it's fastball. At one time it was a decent place to have a few and play that table top shuffleboard game. I think Dukiet may have even had team meals there, but I may be mistaken. Last time I was there, maybe 2011, it just seemed dank.

[GGGG]

Two bar-bars now, plus the Annex and Sobelman's, if you want to count them. A few oddball stragglers like JTO on the perimeter.

It's not hard to see why the bar culture collapsed around campus. Raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 wiped out probably 2/3rds of bar patrons. I graduated in 2007, so I don't know this from experience, exactly, but I would bet that the inability to drink in bars played a role in fewer people living on campus during summers, etc. So you have the added problem of students being gone three months during summer, plus one month for a winter break already. The customer base just collapsed. So now students are left with two actual bars, a good burger joint "bar," a university run fake bar, and that's about it.

I was in school right when that change was made.  My recollection is that most of the bars survived the age change, but most closed within 5-10 years later.  Perhaps you are correct.

BTW, I used to sneak weekend beer into the dorm as early as Thursday morning.  No one checked backpacks at 10:00 AM on Thursday.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I'm not exactly sure, but in the late 90's, I think it might have been "zero tolerance" as well.

We were just smart enough to get away with it, and the RAs were pretty cool about it if it wasn't egregious/unsafe. We kept it in our rooms, out of sight. Also, we weren't a very destructive group (some guys are), so our behavior was never that bad.

Now, certainly the staff might be instructed to enforce the rules differently now, and that might be the problem.

The key word I keep coming back to is "safety". Kids need to make mistakes, and do dumb stuff. That is fine. However, when they begin to be unsafe, or destructive, that's when MU has to step in.

Now, this is easy to type, and hard to know how to enforce.

[GGGG]

Watch it on the FFP talk. I was FFP and little Goose snuck into MU last year as FFP. To be honest I never understood the program, but glad it got me in and my son as well.

The question I have is did they just get rid of the FFP program and replace it with nothing similar?  Or did they simply re-image the program into something else.

This is what annoys me about the "elite" talk.  It really takes you away from what you have been as a University.  Now that *can* be a good thing.  But the question I have is...why do you want to do that?  To chase ratings?  (Dumb reason.)  Or is it more about seeing that the more marginal students are likely going to chose a public alternative because of price reasons, and therefore you have to be more competitive with the higher level students to meet headcount?  (Better reason)

[Aughnanure]

I remember RAs busting down doors on Friday nights because they "heard a can open."

RAs were always the worst and it always seemed Marquette had the strictest system when sharing stories with HS friends at different colleges.

[ATL MU Warrior]

I remember RAs busting down doors on Friday nights because they "heard a can open."

RAs were always the worst and it always seemed Marquette had the strictest system when sharing stories with HS friends at different colleges.

We had an entirely different RA experience.  Mine would rarely stumble out of his room (which was the most disgusting mess of a room I have ever seen BTW) and when he did, he would tell us to "keep it down and don't be stupid" and then stumble back, never to be heard from again.  This was '89-'90 & '90-91...think I had the same guy for both years.

[ceh]

I think this is spot on.  I forgot the B school needed a new dean too.  Big opportunity to take a swing for the fences with some "real world" hires.  Dean Bishop of the Engineering school is relatively new and very pro-real world based on my interactions.  Hire a new president, provost, and B school dean who are on the same page and you have a great way to shift how you do things.  The timing makes sense too with the Marquette mission statement activities that have been taking place.

In fact, the more I think about this the less I think conspiracy.  I had heard that some candidates had come in for the provost position.  Perhaps Pilarz didn't "interview" well in those interviews.  I've definitely had interviews where I've been watching coworkers as much as the interviewee and perhaps some of the folks realized that Pilarz was just not going to jump on the same vision.  The mission statement stuff came out of the BOT as well.  I think the BOT finally had enough evidence to take action and now is as good a time as any to start with a clean slate.

This is really interesting if true.  I have heard from insiders that FP was a rock star fundraiser at Scranton, which was one big reason he was considered for the MU job.