President Antoinette Iadarola announces retirement

JILLIAN SMITH JKS724@CABRINI EDU PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

MEGAN PELLEGRINO MRP727@CABRINI EDU COPY EDITOR

“I feel peaceful. I believe it is the right decision for the college right now,” President Antoinette Iadarola bitter sweetly said after formally announcing her retirement from Cabrini College.

Three hours prior to her retirement announcement, Iadarola sent out a campus wide e-mail stating that there would be an all-college meeting at 1:00p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7 in the Grace Hall Atrium. She encouraged all members of the Cabrini community to attend.

Faculty and students alike were baffled by the sudden email and questioned its objective.

“I was surprised,” Jennifer Burke, junior education major, said. “I thought it was about the robberies,” Bernadette Dolan, junior business marketing major, said in agreement with Burke.

“I am today formally announcing my retirement from Cabrini College, effective June 30, 2008, after what will be 16 privileged years of serving as your presi- f in her vibrantly day. dent,” Iadarola, who was a vision of power in her vibrantly red suit said in her speech on Friday. “Being president of Cabrini College has been the highlight of my career.” parture. Friends, the timing is right.”

Lenders base rates on school records

Iadarola planned this retirement around the completion of the 10,000 Hearts Campaign and the development of the new strategic plan set to finish in 2012.

“I believe it would be unfair of me to stay another year or two and then disrupt the campaign by my de- this retire-

Throughout Iadarola’s presidency Cabrini stepped up and accom- sylvania Consortium for Hire Education. Also, new buildings and facility renovations have dramatically altered the Cabrini experience for the best.

“Those who know me know it is difficult for me to walk away from a challenge,” Iadarola said. “And the challenges that together we have tackled over the years have truly turned, for me, into a labor love.”

Never to leave a challenge unfinished, Iadarola promises that her and the Board of Trustees have “begun the process of an orderly transition… and will soon report… on the creation of the presidential screening committee.”

“Preparing the campus for new leadership and a capital campaign will be my primary goal.”

However, Iadarola assures students that they “will not be left out and will have a chance to put their input [in] to this search.”

ASHLEY COOK AAC722@CABRINI EDU NEWS EDITOR

Large lenders are setting interest rates based on the colleges the students attend, rather than the borrower’s credit worthiness. The Senate Banking Committee and The House Committee of Education and Labor is further studying the student loan business.

plished the goal of “Do Something Extraordinary.” New partnerships have been established with Drexel University and the Southeastern Penn-

“It’s like a marriage. I came here, I fell in love with the faculty, the curriculum, the students and the trustees. It was a very welcoming community.”

Iadarola said after giving her speech and walking off the stage. “Family means a lot to me, and I think I experienced that here.”

Cabrini soars under Iadarola’s leadership

According to The Associated Press, Andrew M. Cuomo, attorney general of New York, said his office’s investigation of the $85 billion industry found that a “significant number” of lenders rank colleges and universities on the loan default rates of their students and set interest rates on private loans higher for schools with poor records.

“This is also similar to the way health insurance companies set rates,” Eric Malm, Asst. Professor, Business Administration, said. “Companies with employees that have lots of claims end up paying more for health insurance.”

Large lenders practice dividing colleges into groups based on how their alumni repaid federally subsidized loans. According to the NY Times, a letter written by Cuomo said students at colleges with default rates of 3 percent or less, were eligible for private loan interest rates of 8 percent to 9.25 percent. In his letter, he stated that schools with default rates of 3 percent to 5 percent, could obtain loans at interest rates of 9 percent to 12 percent. Colleges with default rates of 5 percent to 10 percent, students paid interest rates of 11 percent to 14 percent.

“The question is whether or not the use of colleges as a class of individual is fair or discriminatory,” John Heiberger, Assoc. Professor, Business Dept. said. “For example, it is now illegal to charge males more for auto insurance than women.”

According to the NY

Dr. Antoinette “Toni” Iadarola took on the challenge as Cabrini College’s sixth presi- dent on July 15, 1992, the birth date of St. Frances Cabrini, for whom the school was named.

“I did not know at the time it was her birthday but I have always considered this to be a good omen,”

Iadarola said in the announcement of her retirement on Friday.

Iadarola came to Cabrini with notable credentials. She was a former Fullbright Scholar, which gave her the opportunity to study at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. She graduated with a doctoral LENDERS, page 3 page 3