The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Long-range planning critics miss the mark

While much that was contained in the article "Long-range planning not fit for universities" was interesting and informative I have to disagree with not only the title of the article but comments by some of the experts quoted in the article.

Long-range planning is not only good for all organizations, including universities, but is essential. Long-range planning defines a set of goals, it provides guideposts by which the organization moves in a consistent direction. No rational individual thinks of such goals as being carved in stone-a long term plan such as Southern at 150 is a living document which can be adapted to meet changing circumstances.

Richard Vedder seems to confuse long-range planning with the specific goals set in the plan - it is not long-range planning that is bad but sometimes the choice of goals built into these plans and the procedures used to implement them.

Similarly I think Stanley Fish takes a too negative view of long-range planning perhaps because of his frustration with the short-term responses he has had to deal with. Short-term planning by itself and by its nature can lead to wild swings in organizational behavior depending on the political and economic circumstances of the moment.

However, a combination of short term planning taking into account current conditions with long-term planning can allow one to continue to move towards one's goals by changing emphasis to meet current constraints.

Lack of planning leads to a purely reactive approach which leaves the organization completely at the mercy of outside forces like straw in the wind. A combination of long-term and short-term planning allows the organization to understand what it wants to be and allows it to adapt to the ever-changing political and economic circumstances.

I would also contest Stanley Fish's suggestion that there are only two universities which have successfully implemented long-range plans for improvement. He need look no further than Washington University in St Louis for another example.

James Tyrrell
associate dean, College of Science

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