TO: Board of Trustees
FROM: Student Assembly
Molly Stutzman ’02, Student Body President-Elect
Michael Newton ’04, Student Body Vice-President-Elect
DATE: June 4, 2001
RE: Annual Report
Once again, another academic year at Dartmouth has flown by. The last four terms have been an extremely productive time for the Student Assembly, and we look forward to the next four. Thank you for soliciting student feedback through our annual report. We appreciate every opportunity to interact with you and look forward to meeting with you in the upcoming year. Please feel free to contact either of us with any questions.
Unlike past annual reports that highlight major accomplishments of the past year in one half of the report and then detail the major goals for the next year in the other half, this report will take a more unified perspective. We hope to emphasize that although each year the Assembly is under new leadership, it continually builds upon the strengths of past Assemblies. Each section will highlight a project or effort from this past year and address how we plan to follow up in the coming year.
Student Assembly 2000 – 2002:
The Year in Review and a Prospectus for the New Year
Academic Affairs and The Academic Direction of the College
This year Assembly President Jorge Miranda ’01 and Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Perry ’03 conducted an in-depth study of the Academic Direction of the College with the assistance of the Academic Affairs Committee and the Administration/Faculty Relations Committee. Together, they interviewed approximately 30 faculty members representing a broad range of departments and positions at the College including tenured faculty, junior faculty, adjunct, and visiting. In addition to faculty interviews, the Assembly surveyed 800 students (200 from each class) via BlitzMail in order to assess their views on teaching and research at Dartmouth as well as their opinions on the overall academic direction of the College.
The impetus for this report came from the widespread changes Dartmouth has experienced in its recent past. While the Dartmouth Community has focused on the social aspects of campus life, the academic direction needs to be scrutinized, debated, and evaluated just as closely. Dartmouth’s unique position as a small, liberal arts college with superior teaching as well as superior research and research opportunities is a delicate balance. Miranda and Perry sought to report on Dartmouth’s current academic state and how it effects student and faculty experiences.
The report’s results were concerning; its findings sparked campus debate that could be seen in The Daily Dartmouth’s Op-Ed pages. The report concluded that teaching and research do not always go hand in hand with respect to the undergraduate educational experience that Dartmouth touts. While there is immense value in research in all fields, many professors and students were concerned that Dartmouth is moving in a direction where good teaching is not valued in the way that successful and preeminent research on the part of faculty is. Although after the release of the report we heard from some students that research for them was central to their educational experience, some faculty interviewees admitted that the benefits derived by undergraduates from hands-on participation were sometimes sacrificed for the overall success of the research.
The report included recommendations to put a greater emphasis on teaching and faculty-student interaction. The most important recommendations included these ideas:
- Research including undergraduates as much as possible
- The creation of a center for teaching and learning
- Greater institutional support and rewards for teaching excellence, curricular development, and student academic mentoring and advising
- Student evaluations and input formalized more effectively into the tenure process
- An improved and universal course and professor evaluation system
- Greater benefits and job permanence for non-tenure track faculty
- More student-faculty common space
Teaching and Research are not by definition mutually exclusive. The notion of teaching and research working in perfect harmony is too simplistic, however, and must be continuously examined. Academics are at the heart of the "Dartmouth Experience" and the Student Assembly is dedicated to pursuing an understanding of, as well as dialogue regarding, Dartmouth’s future academic direction. For a copy of the full report, please go to www.dartmouth.edu/~assembly/report.
Other related academic issues that the Academic Affairs committee has pursued are the online course and professor guide (www.dartmouth.edu/~assembly/pcguide) as well as rewards to professors and departments for an excellence and commitment to teaching and a two $500 events to promote student-faculty interaction.
Next Year
This year was only the beginning of the dialogue surrounding the Academic Direction of the College. We hope to continue the discussion into the upcoming year with forums and conversations including students, faculty members, and administrators. We also hope to bring the report and its recommendations to the Faculty meeting in the fall and to meet with the new Dean of Faculty and Provost to see what recommendations are feasible.
Communications
The Assembly has become increasingly "modern" in the way it communicates with the campus. This year we have developed a press release communications plan with The Daily Dartmouth to better inform them of our weekly plans and projects. We have also developed some new techniques to ensure that all students are contacted by an Assembly member they know regarding Assembly matters, and have put comment boxes up around campus to receive student feedback. We’ve also created a new Alumni Liaison position to keep alumni informed about issues regarding Student Assembly and the campus.
Next Year
Effective communications can be difficult on a campus with information-overload, and we plan to institute some new changes to our communications plan next year. We hope these changes will better inform the campus about what the Assembly is doing and help tap into student sentiment to better serve the student body. Next year we plan to advertise in residence halls more effectively with posters and bulletins, and will send Assembly members into undergraduate advisor groups to talk to students about how to get involved or how the Assembly can better serve them. Additionally, we’re looking forward to interacting and helping to develop the new Cluster Councils. In addition, we plan to bring back the Assembly campus newsletter and to revamp our website to make it a more inviting and informative resource. We also plan on meeting more frequently with leadership of The Dartmouth and other student organizations.
A common theme we’ve heard throughout this year is that students do not know how to get involved, that they don’t know they have a role in the decision-making process of the College or don’t know who they can talk to. The Assembly has this information and can do a better job of informing students of how they can empower themselves. It is important that students know they have a resource in the Student Assembly; that our purpose is to serve them and empower them at Dartmouth. We hope to improve communication with the Dartmouth Community and make Student Assembly the organization that students increasingly look to when addressing various campus issues and concerns.
The State of Student Involvement
November, Jorge Miranda wrote a Presidential Report entitled, "The State of Student Involvement." In this report he outlined the ways in which students have influence in the College’s decision-making process and discussed possible methods by which these avenues could be expanded. His report can be found at www.dartmouth.edu/~assembly/sic.
The report sparked campus dialogue and precipitated a series of "Student Involvement Summits" in the spring, focusing on four main areas of student involvement in the College: with the administration, in faculty matters, in college committees, and with the Board of Trustees. During the summits a group of Assembly members met with various administrators, faculty and members of the Board to discuss the report and its recommendations for greater student involvement.
Next Year
In all, the "State of Student Involvement" Report and the Student Involvement Summits were an initial stepping stone. The important groundwork was laid this year, and student involvement in decision-making will be a high priority for next year’s Assembly.
Next Year we want to continue using mechanisms already available (e.g. college committees, fireside chats) as well as continue the discussion on other areas where students can have more input (e.g. the tenure process, department steering committees, smaller termly summits with administrators in the future). Our Administration/Faculty relations committee will do a more thorough job of keeping in touch with College Committees chairs and the students we place on them to ensure that students are coming to meetings and that the Assembly has an idea of what issues the committees are discussing.
Student Life
The Student Life committee was busy this year with a variety of projects in areas all over campus.
- Baker/Berry Library Student Feedback Campaign
- When students first came back to Dartmouth this past fall many felt that Berry Library had a sterile atmosphere and "just didn’t feel like Dartmouth." The Student Life Committee surveyed the campus to gather feedback on ways that Berry could be improved and made more accessible to students. We received over 500 responses, wrote a report with recommendations for improvements, and met with library and computing administrators throughout the year to give recommendations. Many of the changes, such as more tables and chairs in Novack, more computers deployed around the library, and student artwork displayed on the walls, have or will be implemented as library construction continues.
- DDS and Dining Options
- When Westside closed this fall the Assembly heard from many student athletes who said that the lack of an all-you-can-eat dining option was having negative effects on their health, happiness and athletic performance. We held two forums to air their concerns and ideas and met with Dean Larimore and Director of DDS Tucker Rossiter to discuss ways in which student athletes could be better served. DDS now has larger containers of milk and "double dinners" at a discounted price, and is looking at other ways in which athletes’ needs can be better met.
- Improvements to Kresge Gym
- In the winter Student Assembly allocated approximately 10 percent of its budget to purchase two new elliptical machines for Kresge gym. It also called upon the College to do what it could to improve the gym for current students. This spring Dean Larimore responded and increased the Office of Recreational Sport’s Budget by $8,000 per year in order to provide better equipment and longer hours in the gym. It will also assess the feasibility of expanded gym space this summer.
- Parking Fines
- In the fall Student Assembly called attention to parking fees and fines, a problem students have talked about for quite some time. We met with William Barr, Assistant Director of Administrative Services, Facilities Operations & Management throughout the year to discuss the current parking fees and fines structure and how it could be improved. This spring, Mr. Barr developed a new structure that fined students, faculty and staff more equitably; the change has been very positively received by students.
- Dartmouth-Plan Report
- Last year Student Assembly surveyed the undergraduate student body via BlitzMail in order to better understand students’ views on the Dartmouth-Plan. The survey targeted not only the D-Plan’s strengths and weaknesses but also the specific areas of Dartmouth life that were most affected. We received over 1,000 responses and worked extensively with John Pryor, Director of Undergraduate Evaluation & Research, Dean of the College Office, to analyze and understand our results.
- Our data was not conclusive in that students’ opinions were varied and often conflicting. Also, President Wright’s fall address to the faculty informed the community that the College’s first priority was building more beds and that the D-Plan was not going to change in the near future. We found, however, there were many smaller ways in which the discontinuity and feelings of displacement created by the D-Plan could be mitigated, and released a report with recommendations for smaller improvements. Some recommendations include more course offerings during sophomore summer, offering courses more frequently, and subsidizing departments to allow more FSP opportunities. Dean Larimore responded to our report and encouraged us to meet with key Deans and Directors about the recommendations we made. We look forward to following up with our recommendations next year.
Next Year
Next year we plan to follow up with some of this year’s projects, including the recommendations from our D-Plan report and improvements to Berry Library and Dining Services. We also plan to work with Dick’s House and Career Services to survey the student body to determine which services are helpful and what could be done differently. Other ideas include an assessment of student organizational space on campus as well as a task force looking at new ideas for social options and social space. We expect that other issues will come up throughout the year, as they always do.
Student Life Initiative
In some ways the campus has moved onto a "Post-SLI era"; as of next year only a fourth of the current student body will remember when the 5 Principles were first announced. While all students are familiar with the phrase "the SLI," many are unsure as to what it represents and view the dissolution of the Greek system as the SLI’s only ostensible goal. Other students, initially excited about the SLI’s potential, now feel that they have been let down, and that the promises of the SLI have proven empty. The challenge is to show students that they can be involved and that a lot of the recent changes on campus are related to the Student Life Initiative.
This year we placed students on a variety of SLI-implementation committees, from the Greek Life Steering Committee to the World Cultures Initiative (now renamed as the Committee for Institutional Diversity and Equity). We provided background information and research for some of the committees, including the WCI and the First Year housing committee. We also brought WCI and Extended Social Options committee members into our meetings to discuss different ways in which Dartmouth could be a more welcoming environment and new ideas for social options on campus.
Next Year
Next year we hope that some of the big plans set forth in the Student Life Initiative begin to progress. The student body is excited to move forward in thinking about the new athletic facility, the new dormitory, student center and dining facility north campus, and the Collis/Robinson/Thayer reconstruction, and we hope that plans with Centerbrook will begin soon, so that students can be involved in the discussion. We also plan to spark discussion on the recommendations from some of the SLI-implementation committees; the WCI and the Greek life committee but others as well. In the end, it’s important to keep in mind that students next year have not witnessed the beginning of many of the current initiatives and dialogues and reaching out will be a constant necessity.
A common theme that Dartmouth students today are familiar with is the idea that change takes a long time, and that, while it will happen eventually, will most likely not affect them. We hear this when talking about new residence halls, the new student center and athletic facility, and the reconstruction of the Collis/Robinson/Thayer area. While this makes sense, and we know that larger changes will take a long time to develop and implement, it is important to address the needs of current students today. We see ways in which current problems could be better before the complete overhaul occurs (for example, with the D-Plan, or with Kresge gym) and want to make student life today a priority.
Student Organizations
The Student Organizations Committee worked this year to promote interaction between various groups and students on campus.
- Leadership Retreat
- Student Assembly hosted a Leadership Retreat this winter to bring students from all over campus together to meet each other and discuss a variety of campus issues. Break-out sessions found students brainstorming various ways to address campus problems and/or needs. Feedback from this retreat was very positive, and one idea, "Class Combat," reached fruition over Green Key Weekend.
$1000 Campus Unifying Events
- Student Assembly sponsors a $1000 campus-unifying event every term, and each of the three events we sponsored this year, none of which could have happened without our support, were very successful. In the fall a large group of ’01s held a "Revelations Dinner," in which ’04s talked with seniors about their experiences at Dartmouth. "Green Key Games," or "Class Combat" (brainstormed at the Leadership Retreat), promoted intra-class pride and excitement as well as interaction between different campus groups. Each of the class councils, as well as Programming Board and other campus groups, sponsored activities out on the Green on the Saturday of Green Key. The event was a big success, and will hopefully be the beginning of a positive new Green Key tradition. Our final $1000 event was "Seoul Food," an event cosponsored between Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and KASA (Korean American Students at Dartmouth). The event featured live performances and traditionally African-American cultural food in a Korean style.
- Let’s Cut the $hit campus discussion
- This spring Student Assembly hosted a campus discussion on disagreement and what it means to be offensive. With opening remarks by Rabbi Boraz and Frank Morris Suza, a social justice advocate, writer and educator, the event drew approximately 300 students and community members. Many of the breakout discussion groups spoke well past the hour and a half time period originally allotted.
Next Year
Next year we plan to expand the Leadership Retreat so that it is offered twice; we also plan to program more campus discussions on topical issues as they arise. We also want to meet with the leadership of other student organizations and attend their meetings. This way the Assembly has a better understanding for the issues other groups face and is more visible as a resource for them. Finally, we plan to have termly "progress reports" in which we invite other student leaders in for feedback, criticism, and ideas. This will give us a better understanding for the issues facing their communities. We hope that with added communication and cooperation we will be more in touch with the student community as well as better able to communicate what we are doing.
Our role as Student Assembly is to be a forum that all students can use, an organization that can advocate on behalf of them, and we can do this best if students see the Assembly as a visible organization with the ability to advocate for them.
Student Services
Students look to the Student Assembly to provide many services around campus. This year we continued many pre-existing programs as well as expanded into new areas. Our Student Services committee was responsible for the following student services:
- Mugshots (the upperclassmen face book)
- Maintenance and expansion of blitz computers (32 new computers all over campus)
- Novack Cafˇ service (members worked two hours every night to keep Novack open until 2am)
- Two new elliptical machines for Kresge Gym
- Subsidized bus fares to New York and Boston at the beginning and the end of breaks
- DA$H in the vending machines
- Online PE registration
- A-Lot Shuttle
Next Year
Next year we plan to give the Student Services committee more flexibility and autonomy so that it can reach out to the campus and think of new services the Assembly can provide for the student body. This will allow students to benefit from services as much as possible but will also allow Student Assembly the ability the concentrate on larger student life issues.
Thank you for reading. This report outlines the overarching goals of next year and the themes that encompass them. We believe that in working together the Assembly will be able to play an important role in making the Dartmouth community stronger. Below is our summer contact information, please feel free to get in touch with us at anytime. We look forward to meeting with you. Have a wonderful summer.
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