An Aviation School Without an Aviation Program

Cross posted at Blog of Inanity.

Daniel Webster College announced suddenly today that their Flight Operations program is no longer going to be offered to incoming students, although current Flight Ops majors will be able to finish the program through the school. I have had most of the day to mull this over and the initial shock of the announcement has largely subsided, so it's time to look at this rationally as much as possible. First and foremost, however, is that this does not directly impact me nor any of my ATC classmates.

In regards to the decision itself there isn't much to say, it's a purely financial decision and in truth it is probably a long time coming. Before ITT bought Daniel Webster the college was reportedly some 25 million in debt; I don't care how you cut it, that's a whole lot of debt. I don't have access to the financial sheets, but I'd bet a good portion of that comes from the flight ops portion of the school. Learning to fly is expensive, both for the students and for the schools. It's no secret that DWC charges almost three times the rates of standard, non-degree based flight schools, but they also have a significant amount more expenses. Clearly DWC was ill-advised financially to be continuing the program, no matter what tradition might dictate.

The core downside with dropping flight ops, though, is the impact that it has on the other aviation programs, like ATC, and the perception of the school in general. Daniel Webster is primarily known as an aviation school and now they don't have an aviation program, so what is their selling point? They also have a business program and are developing nursing and education programs, but what separates them from the hundreds of cookie-cutter schools out there that offer these programs... and at a significantly lower price? The other part of this is that the other aviation programs thrive off of the people who drop out of flight ops (for a variety of legitimate reasons), and that source is now gone. I don't know how many people this covers, but I do know that a good portion of the current 315 class (of which I am part) are former flight ops. While I wasn't a member of Daniel Webster's flight ops the reason I decided to follow ATC was because I was introduced to it as a pilot, and that's a common theme among many ATC students (though not all... some of my classmates have never been in a plane smaller than a 737).

The other factor here is that even though all current students will be provided with the resources they need to graduate from Daniel Webster, how many of the Freshmen and Sophomores will want to? Furthermore how many of the instructors will want to stick around? I'm sure they'll do their best, but no one wants to remain on a sinking ship any longer than they have to. The simple feeling of betrayal which was clearly prevalent in this morning's town hall meeting will drive students away even if the other factors weren't in play. It's bad press for the school on the whole.

The last piece of this puzzle comes with the incoming flight ops majors in the Fall... or rather the lack of them. Although an olive branch was extended to the current flight ops majors at DWC, those who enrolled in the Spring to join DWC in the Fall are SOL. They will be or have been informed by letter of the removal of the flight ops program, and given the option to transfer to another department (three guesses as to how many will take them up on the offer). I wouldn't be surprised if we lost a lot of inbound students who aren't flight ops majors simply because it sounds like such a sketchy move.

However, at the end of the day the number crunches factored in all these things and still said that they were losing more money on the flight ops program than it was worth. No matter how much it may suck for flight ops majors DWC had to make the call, and they did. The students may bitch, moan and kvetch about how ITT is screwing up DWC, but it was DWC that made the call in this case. There may have been pressure from the ITT executives to some degree, true, but the blame should not fall at their feet. There have been rumors about the flight program being canceled since at least May 2009, well before ITT bought out the school.

DWC was in debt long before ITT came along and this would have happened sooner or later. ITT may be the "bad guys" here (though they aren't), but it was DWC's poor financial planning that got everyone in this situation to begin with. I know some students have said that the would have preferred to see DWC be financially ruined (which it already was) than to lose the flight ops program, but that's largely a knee-jerk reaction. Schools, like everything else, have to adapt to survive. Will DWC remain the school that attracted us all to it in the first place? No, it won't, and that is a HUGE loss, far more than any financial spreadsheet can account for. But it is ultimately up to the students to determine what the atmosphere at DWC will be moving forward from this, no matter what ITT might want. ITT may be altering DWC in many strange ways over the next several months, but credit where credit is due: the fault for this cut lies at the feet of Daniel Webster College.

What really irks me, though, is how they informed all of us that they had made this call. Before 8 AM this morning no one had the slightest clue what was coming down the pike. A cryptic email was sent to all students informing them that classes from 10 AM to noon were canceled and that aviation students should report to the auditorium at 10 and all other students at 11. There was no hint at all what this would be about except that it probably involved the aviation school. Apparently the psychology majors also flipped out since a rumor went around saying their program was going to be cut, too. Many classes after the 10-12 time frame were canceled simply because of the emotional stress of the whole ordeal.

The people who should have had answers for us didn't, the people who should have let us know things were happening didn't, and no one did anything to temper the rumor mill. The greatest sin, in my mind, comes from Interim President Nadine Dowling. Generally speaking a president, even an interim one, needs to be able to communicate with their constituents in both positive and negative forums. President Dowling showed that she does not have that ability. Yes, she had the unenviable task of breaking very bad news to a crowd of people who turned very hostile on her, very fast. But, she handled the situation so incredibly poorly that what little respect I had for her evaporated.

President Dowling needed to be able to do two things to survive this town hall intact: give straight answers and take responsibility, if not for herself than at least for the board of directors she represents. While it's true that great leaders are excellent wordsmiths who can artfully evade any question they don't want to answer, they also know when it's time to come clean. Just as a general clue, when someone says repeatedly, "you aren't answering my question" and refuses to budge until you answer it, it's probably time to give them a straight answer. At the very least try a different evasion tactic if you must and don't try to use the exact same answer each time. Trust me: it's not going to work.

The other aspect, taking responsibility, was also not handled well at all. Once it became clear that the crowd was out for blood (did anyone really expect otherwise?) President Dowling threw the head of the aviation department, Professor Price, under the bus and left him for the lynch mob. By virtually all reports Professor Price did not in anyway deserve to be cast as the villain in this tale, and that's exactly what President Dowling attempted to do (and succeeded at to a certain degree). I consider that reckless and irresponsible. It's the President's job to protect those under him or her and to take the heat when it is warranted.

President Dowling may be an amazing administrator who can work miracles in back-office politics. Perhaps she can make budgets balance themselves with but a few short keystrokes. Or maybe she just has great blackmail material. I don't know. But what I do know is that she has no public presence to speak of (this was the first time most students, including myself, have even seen her) and she can't handle herself in an open forum by any stretch. We do know that she's in the front running for becoming the full President of Daniel Webster College, and it is that thought more than any other that really disturbs me.