Binghamton University is set to enter a new era with the appointment of its next president, Anne D’Alleva, an art historian and current provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Connecticut.

As the University prepares for this transition, we look to the future with cautious optimism, hoping that D’Alleva’s background in the humanities will bring new ideas to a STEM-dominated campus.

In recent years, our campus has faced significant challenges, with the administration sometimes meeting students’ needs and other times falling short. Under D’Alleva’s leadership, we hope the next administration learns from past shortcomings and fosters meaningful change in the open communication between the administration and students.

One notable issue with our current administration has been a lack of transparency, suggesting that the University has become comfortable with being reactive rather than proactive. For instance, last spring, the federal government passed significant legislation affecting the status of student visas, which resulted in at least five BU student visas being temporarily revoked. While our administration addressed the issue, it gave a delayed response to the news compared to other universities that promptly took initiative to inform their students and provide support (1).

By delaying its response to this issue, we believe the administration likely — though unintentionally — deepened a cycle of uncertainty surrounding students’ safety, educational access and funding.

Based on D’Alleva’s work at the University of Connecticut, we are optimistic that she will bring a new perspective to this issue of transparency. Amid significant budget cuts, D’Alleva addressed concerned students with a detailed statement regarding specifications on where cuts were to be made, the reasoning behind those decisions and clarification on misinformation and confusing terms.

D’Alleva also joined other UConn administrators in stressing the importance of directing funding questions to those capable of providing transparent, informed answers, saying, “The deans, department heads, and faculty have been great partners in what is sometimes a difficult effort to undertake. We need to ask the questions; the answers come from our faculty.”

At the same time, we remain concerned about initiatives under D’Alleva’s leadership that resulted in the elimination of seven low-enrollment programs, with 70 more under review as of Aug. 12

Many students and faculty were not satisfied with her justification for these cuts, which she characterized as “good academic housekeeping.” Chris Vials, president of the UConn American Association of University Professors, argued that instead of cutting departments, administrators should reduce their payroll, which is their largest expense

John Richardson, UConn’s department head of art and art history, also expressed frustration with cuts to his department. Since he was told that a position for a visiting professor of photography would not be replaced, Richardson feared the number of photography and video faculty and classes would fall in the coming year, taking a toll on students enrolled in the program.

While we understand that D’Alleva was not solely responsible for these cuts and that she would have a different role here at the University, we would hate to see a similar situation arise on our own campus if she supported or encouraged similar cuts to be made.

Still, during her time at UConn, D’Alleva showed a commitment to student well-being. Notably, she created the position of vice provost for student success, leading an initiative that helped reduce food insecurity on campus. D’Alleva also reaffirmed UConn’s support for international students during last year’s threats to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, encouraging those facing uncertainty to turn to the Dean of Students Office for guidance

We also admire her support of faculty in the face of similar threats. In a University Senate meeting on March 3, she assured them, “We are not going to ask anybody to stop teaching or to change what they are teaching.” This stands in stark contrast to our own university’s ongoing struggles with faculty censorship, most notably the case of Ana Maria Candela, who faced severe criticism for her progressive teaching style that ultimately led to her resignation.

Encouragingly, Binghamton’s Faculty Senate has since passed resolutions protecting faculty and students against censorship. Based on D’Alleva’s record at UConn, we hope she will reinforce and expand these protections as president.

Running a university is no easy feat, and despite challenges, we are grateful for the work President Harvey Stenger has done for Binghamton University. We look forward to seeing D’Alleva step into Stenger’s role and lead Binghamton into a new chapter — one that we hope will both uphold positive traditions and support student-backed reform.

The staff editorial solely represents the majority view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings.