Cutting Ada Program?

[upsidown]

Smith is cutting the Ada Comstock Scholars program down drastically:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wfcr/ ... ID=1476357

The Smith Alum LinkedIn group is discussing it:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&g ... _ug_grppro
http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?vie ... &gid=83564

And someone has started a facebook group in support of the Ada Comstock program:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58445241306

Thoughts?

[SpringFlowers]

Thank you for posting the link. I have been thinking about this since misswheezie posted on Feb 5.

As an Ada Comstock Scholar, I am inclined to agree with the views of the current administration. When the Ada program was founded, in the 1970s, there were few options for non-traditional students. In today's colleges and universities, the average age of students is 27, not 20. My community college and my graduate institution (including the undergraduate population there) had students of all ages. There was no need for these students to be defined as any particular group. They were simply students.

Although I am always grateful for the opportunity the Ada Program gave me, I had mixed feelings at the time. Wouldn't it have been possible for me to simply be "a Smithie"? Why did I need to be "an Ada"?

I would have qualified (or not) for the same financial aid through the government. The only real difference is that Smith called me "full time" at 12 credits, a special dispensation to the often more challenging school-life balance that older students face, and an issue with Smith financial aid. There was no need for this at my community college or my graduate institution, because the real difference there is that ANY student can take as few classes a semester as they desire and as many years to complete their course work as they need. It's not really that Smith does anything special for Adas; its that Smith has strict requirements for traditionally-aged students that just aren't common.

I could have been admitted (or not) on my merits. Smith accepts transfer students of traditional age. All Adas are required to show coursework at a prior institution. We're just transfer students. The process is in place. Again, why the special distinction?

Finally, the Ada Office was a bone of contention for many Adas, and quite a few of us were in favor of it being closed and absorbed into the larger college, which happened while I was at Smith. As I said to Carol Christ, "I think the Ada Program should be a door; not a room. Once we're admitted, we should face the same challenges, and opportunities to learn from them, of negotiating the larger college's systems." I could tell she appreciated, and agreed with, my perspective. Finally, it was widely known that "the Ada Office isn't always your best resource". Just admit us and let us deal with Deans, FinAid, etc., like any other grown up. For heaven's sake, we ARE the grown ups!

In short, I don't think the Ada Program is necessary. I would be saddened and outraged, indeed, if Smith announced that they would no longer accept women over the age of 20, but closing the Ada Program isn't that. Let me be very clear, though, that I think Smith can continue to attract and educate women of all ages, just as they do women of all socio-economic, ethnic, national, religious, etc., backgrounds, without some special "program" to do it. In fact, I think it might be of benefit to non-traditionally-aged students to drop the adjectives and just let them be students.

Students of any age should be welcome to apply to Smith, they should be judged on their merits, and they should be offered financial aid in the same manner as any other student of need (or not), with all the can of worms that that clearly is. If the real issue, and I think it probably is, is that "Adas are expensive", well, Smith hasn't been need-blind in my knowledge of the institution, so that's not really different, either.

Perhaps the real issue should be that Smith should re-think it's policy of four-years-and-you're-out for ALL students. It's only TRUE difference in being an Ada, and it seems ridiculous, to me, to assume that the ease of finishing college in four years is dependent on one's age. Come on. There were 20-year-olds at Smith who faced far greater challenges than I did.