On February twenty-fifth, Goucher’s president Kent Devereaux spoke to faculty who filled the interior auditorium of the Athenaeum, the building that holds the college’s library. Professors fill the seats in front of the stage, as well as the many chairs that had been added to the giant steps going up to the Athenaeum’s entrance. President Devereaux spoke to a frustrated crowd about hiring freezes, a freeze on raising salaries, and cuts to the school’s diversity and Title IX compliance efforts.
Last Friday, President Devereaux spoke to a quiet crowd of 15 students.
The president met with students in the Athenaeum where he presented tentative plans for the college’s three-year strategic plan, which will be finalized in November. One topic that dominated the town hall was artificial intelligence. Regarding the topic, Devereaux stated that “the genie’s out of the bottle, so what do we do about that?”
Devereaux defended an embrace of A.I., citing that the college had recorded high traffic to A.I. chatbot websites on school wifi, which indicated an embrace by the student body. This is contrary to the results that the student committee on AI policy presented to the board of trustees this year, which was rejected according to Devereaux.
He also brought up personal anecdotes of using A.I. to seek advice before meeting with lawyers for the college, or for help writing proposals for grants, saying that A.I. services save time in these circumstances.
The conclusion of this embrace by the college is a planned introduction for a Goucher-exclusive A.I. website that administrators could use to aid in administrative responsibilities, and that students and faculty could use in the classroom, notably without sending data back to an AI company. This site has been used in a test program for administrators, which has apparently been successful. Devereaux added that “There are a variety of things administration(sic.) is using it for.”
The three-year plan focuses on survival, with plans to address the college’s under-attendence. President Devereaux remarked that the school was currently “Too many things to too many people”, and said that the college would need to specialize to attract attendance.The plan includes a This would include a collaboration with Whiting-Turner, where the college would offer a degree in Construction Management, with a pathway for graduates to work at Whiting-Turner. When students asked why the school wasn’t putting money into its struggling departments, notably Peace Studies, the president defended their sundowning with the low number of students in the major, saying that students were “voting with their feet”.
The three year plan includes plans to update student accommodations in the college, including grants for the college to refresh furniture around the campus and for all indoor lights to be replaced with energy-efficient LEDs. Notably, this will not include updating or repairing the outdoor lights on pathways and in parking lots. The college also plans to make the campus more compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, with efforts such as installing an elevator in the Kraushaar Auditorium.
When students asked if the college was concerned with mold in the dorms, or if it had any plans to mitigate the mold or its health risks, the president denied that there was “errant” mold in dorm buildings, but added that plans to improve roofing on campus would prevent mold.
When students brought up that the 3-year plan did not include any money allocated for the Title IX office, the president disregarded concerns that the office was lacking in support or efficacy, and reassured students that associate provost Moreno-López was capable in handling the college’s title nine office. This is after deputy title nine coordinator Kirsten Bell stopped working for the college over the summer, leaving Moreno-López the only on-campus personnel handling title-nine compliance, save for the newly announced on top of her responsibilities in undergraduate academics, save for Dr. Brian Robinson, who was announced as the new title IX coordinator on October 8th.
President Devereaux remarked regarding the three-year-plan generally, “We’re not virtue signaling. We’ve got to go places.” The president will be speaking to students again in the Hyman forum, this Thursday at 2:45 PM. The new 3-year plan is set to be announced on November twelfth.
By Olivia Barnes ’26
Featured image: flyer found in Goucher’s Library captured by Katherine (Kate) Wisneskey ’28
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