Prominent members of Eastern’s administration met last week to discuss reasons why students leave the university.

Seven faculty members participated in the panel discussion. Stephen Laribee, accounting and finance professor; Frank Hohengarten, dean of enrollment management; Lida Wall, interim vice president for academic affairs; Jill Nilsen, interim vice president for external affairs; Kelly Miller, assistant director of student housing; Kimberlie Moock, director of orientation; and Doug Bock, speech communication professor were joined by Student Body President Katie Cox to discuss the problem.

What they came up with was that students left because either their majors were not offered or Charleston left something to be desired in their social life.

That’s great, but this is by no means new information. These are common enough complaints at Eastern, and a blue ribbon panel didn’t need to be convened to figure these things out.

The panel discussed the results of a survey that was sent to students who left the university. Only 29 percent of the surveys were returned, but the ones that were sent back showed students left for personal or family reasons or because they wanted to live closer to home.

Another popular response was that students believed there was not much to do in Charleston. While all that may be true, the panel failed to propose any remedies for the problem.

Discussion is always a good thing. But the downside of discussion is that it also can be useless unless it is taken further.

The problem with the panel discussion is that it seems as though the only matter being discussed is what the problems are. In order for the problem to be solved, solutions must be presented.

Sitting around and discussing the problem is all well and good, but before anything can be accomplished, someone has to come up with some answers.

With all of the experience, knowledge and practical know-how on the panel, much more could have, and should have, been done by brainstorming and bouncing ideas off one another in an effort to increase the retention rate, not talk about how low it is and why.

Retention has been an ongoing problem at Eastern, so holding panel discussions to raise awareness about the issue is not the answer. This is a matter that must be addressed with real solutions.