Veitch’s Vision Focuses On Occidental’s Urban Location

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Author: Ryan Strong

President Veitch released a draft of the vision statement for the College on Sept. 16, enumerating Occidental’s goals while focusing on the College’s urban and global identity. On Sept. 20, he held an at-capacity meeting for students, professors, administrators and staff to comment on and offer suggestions for the statement.

The one-page statement, intended to convey the College’s plans and priorities for the foreseeable future, has critical implications.

“This isn’t just wallpaper,” President Veitch said at the meeting. “There are consequences to this process.”

The vision statement refocuses the College and commits to investing in the areas where it can be distinct – on both the urban and global stage. It links the two by commenting on the global nature of Los Angeles, while also renewing the College’s commitment to diversity. The document then moves on, resolving to continually “reinterpreting” and reinvigorating the liberal arts.

Once the vision statement is finalized and the committees and task forces involved in shaping it finish their work, discretionary money in the budget will begin to be appropriated based on the conclusions the integrated planning process produces. Veitch acknowledged that this means the College will have to say no to some good initiatives.

“Since everything needs to get done, nothing gets done,” Veitch said, arguing that the College needs to choose areas to focus on.

He also asserted that such tough decisions must be made delicately. “We need to make sure everyone feels enfranchised,” he said.

Veitch insisted that the tough decisions had to be made in order for the College to accomplish the goal he set for it, which he stated directly in the document’s first line.

“Simply put: Occidental College will be recognized as the best urban liberal arts college in the country,” Veitch wrote. Later in the document, he called the vision statement ambitious.

However, when President Veitch opened the floor for comments and questions regarding the statement at the meeting, one of the first issues was whether the goal set by Veitch was ambitious enough. One participant noted that there are only a few urban liberal arts colleges in the country that Occidental is competing with for that title. Another asked why “urban” can’t be taken out, to make the goal to be simply the best liberal arts college in the country.

Veitch responded candidly, stating that the College’s annual endowment of approximately 300 million dollars pales in comparison to the best liberal arts colleges, many of whom raise in excess of one billion. He argued that, with that limitation, the proposed goal would be unattainable and therefore not a valuable one to try to accomplish.

Another issue touched on by numerous participants was the “objectification” of Los Angeles. The vision statement refers to Los Angeles as an “open-air laboratory” and “object of study;” two phrases some thought could be improved upon to better characterize the relationship between Occidental and Los Angeles. One suggestion was to use the word “reciprocity.”

The one-page document does mention Los Angeles multiple times. Three of the first four sentences are devoted, exclusively, to reciting characteristics of L.A. and the surrounding area. A quantitative content analysis of the College’s vision statement revealed that there were five references to Occidental itself in the first two paragraphs. Those same two paragraphs contained eight references to the location of the College. Keywords used to conduct the analysis were, “Occidental, the College, campus and the institution, city, Los Angeles, urban and Southern California.”

The relationship between the College’s old mission statement and the new vision statement, specifically whether the new would supplant the old, was also at issue. One participant noted that the one main concept in the mission statement absent from the vision statement’s draft is “equity.”

President Veitch reaffirmed his commitment to equity and explained how the mission statement and the vision statement were distinct.

Finally, President Veitch shared his own concern with the integrated planning process to the meeting’s attendees.

Veitch worried that new programs or initiatives the College should pursue face uphill climbs as they compete with embedded programs and their respective constituencies. He said that such a dynamic, if it plays out, “locks us into inertia.”

“Everything we have now is embedded in our history,” Veitch said, noting that these programs have solid constituencies at the College. “What happens where there is no constituency?”

The College meeting is the beginning to the end of a comprehensive process of college review that is in its third year. Supported by a $700,000 Mellon Grant, the initiative has included three committees and at least 14 different task forces, with many groups carrying in excess of 10 members.

“There has been an extraordinary amount of effort put together,” Dean of the College and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jorge Gonalez said.

The committees and task forces have been documenting their progress on OxyPedia. Their work can be viewed by clicking the link that says “Integrated Planning Site.”

President Veitch concluded the meeting by sharing renderings of what a renovated Johnson Hall would look like. A $5 million donation has guaranteed that the renovation will closely follow the completion of Swan Hall. Johnson will become an international center, featuring a high-ceiling common area, a new and innovative Johnson 200 to host distinguished guest speakers and more. The identity of the donor has not yet been made public. 

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