Wheaton College — Local services in Norton

As a recent grad, I would really like to say that I am proud of where I went to school and that I had the positive experience that was promised to me as a prospective student. But all of the positivity to be found on this campus-- which is held by the students, faculty, and student-facing staff (not their three-degrees-removed management)-- is clearly the lowest priority at this institution. This has been exemplified through recent senseless layoffs. With no warning to the current students (many of whom depend on their professors for major completion, advising, and course offerings) and inadequate notice for the faculty and staff (many of whom depend on the college for housing and tenure), the current Administration at this college has gone ahead with terminating numerous faculty employment without regard to the impact on campus climate and course offerings.

All of this of course is being done in the name of a very passive culprit: "financial troubles." But the firing of professors-- who at this school earn $82k on average if male and $77k if female-- is a misguided, if not malicious, "solution." According to the Chronicle of Higher Ed, professors at Wheaton have not seen a raise in many years and were in fact paid more on average in 2012 than they are today. Management has seen a different financial reality, with an average yearly salary of $132k that has increased each year that I have been a student. According to ProPublica, the office of President at Wheaton has seen an approximately $100k increase from 2022-2023 alone, receiving a salary of $499k in 2023. These pay raises were not necessary if Wheaton were truly in such a fragile position that they would have to reduce such "privileges" as student club budgets, printers in the library, and professors.

Students are paying more (dear prospective students: when your tuition goes up, your scholarship won't go up with it) while receiving less from this school, as professors who offer unique coursework are being terminated without replacement. Since I'm not an invisible bureaucrat making six figures in a management position, it's unlikely Wheaton cares what I have to say, but here's my two cents anyway: why not fix the pipe that is...

All four years of my high school I did a summer program at wheaton. Wheaton has a small library with a computer room to the side. All four years that I was there the computer room had the most foul stench that Ive ever smelled. I was told that it was there for years, and that various experts had been called in but none could figure out the source of the odor. Im not sure if it still smells, since that was 15 years ago, but apparently the smell had been around for YEARS before and after I was there. I still think about that smell. How strong it was. How it seemed to FILL your lungs and nostrils. How heavy it was, not like regular air — it was dense. The first time I walked into that room, everyone was staring at me and laughing — I had no idea why. They were waiting to see my reaction. No one warned me. As I wondered why the staff was snickering and laughing I took a breath. Just a normal breath, not particularly deep. I felt like I was punched in the face, as the smell of 1000 rotting corpses filled my nose and lungs. My brain realized what was happening but it was too late. My eyes watered, and I unconsciously dry heaved as the staff pointed and laughed.

Til this day I wonder if I was smelling an undiscovered corpse. Im sure that's...

Mold in the residential walls inspired a campus-wide gaslighting campaign instead of actual repairs, food on offer is not substantive enough to justify the cost (and becomes more limited as meal plan costs increase), gyms are puny, transfer credits are not respected and student jobs on campus are fickle. Classes and deals offered to you when you agree to enroll will NOT continue to be available through all your four years. "Student-run campus" = admin kicks most of what you take for granted on a campus onto the plates of RAs...