The proposed honor referendum, diversity within the student body and faculty and living wage for University employees were among the many topics brought up last night at the second annual Commission on the University’s Present.
Student Council’s Academic Affairs Committee hosted the Commission, which was held in the Rotunda Dome Room. In attendance were an array of University administrators who answered and responded to questions and concerns from both students and student leaders.
The first and most discussed topic of the night dealt with single sanction reform. Students asked the panelists’ opinions on the issue, but none of the non-student panel members expressly stated their positions on the issue and said students, in the tradition of self-governance, should determine its fate.
“I would just [suggest] that you think long and hard about ... what you ask for,” Board of Visitors member Syd Dorsey said. “We’ll stand behind whatever it is that you decide.”
University Provost Arthur Garson expressed similar sentiments.
“What is so important is that it is student owned and operated,” he said. “You own it and you run it.”
While the moderators first held a round of pre-submitted questions, they also opened the panel to student questions from the audience.
First-year Engineering student Seth Kaye brought up concerns about the discontinuation of student jobs in the Information Technology and Communication office, and student leaders from the Queer Student Alliance raised concerns about diversifying faculty.
“It’s not just about recruitment, it is about retainment,” Chief Financial Officer Leonard Sandridge said about the University’s efforts to diversify its faculty.
Second-year Engineering student Nikhil Panda said he thought that the Commission was a “truly fantastic event,” adding it was a good way to have students unite to voice their concern, citing remarks from Pat Lampkin, University vice president and chief student affairs officers, who was one of the panelists.
“I think [Lampkin] said it best when she answered the question that the best way of truly uniting students is to have students ‘look beyond themselves,’” Panda said. “I think that’s a very powerful message. To me, it’s not that students are selfish, it’s just that most don’t realize how reaching out to other groups could really better the community.”
Student Council President Matt Schrimper, the only student on the panel, commended the event’s organizers for allowing student body members outside of major organizations to voice their concerns.
“We get a lot of face time with these administrators on a weekly and monthly basis, but I think that it’s really important that they’ll be able to get some face time with [students] as well,” Schrimper said in his opening speech.
Fourth-year Public Policy student Xiao Wang said he “wasn’t expecting such tough questions” to be asked of the panel. While he expected the panel to be a bit more forthcoming with answers, he agreed that “it seemed like a good idea for students to voice their concerns.”
The turnout at last night’s event was between 75 to 80 students — a significant jump from last year, said fourth-year student Matt Fifer, vice chair of Student Council’s Academic Affairs Committee.
“I thought with this one, we got some really good insights from the panel that students haven’t heard before,” he said.
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