Student Life Committee Final Report 04-05
The student life committee represents the
faculty on
University Council. University
Council
is an advisory committee made up of 4 students, 4 faculty, and 4
administrators. The general purpose of the committee is "to
study and make
recommendations concerning nonacademic aspects of student life:
extracurricular
activities, student health and welfare services, food services,
dormitories,
undergraduate conduct and life style" (Faculty handbook, 9th
ed.).
Chair: Jen Klug (5), Biology
Committee membership: Paul Caster (6), Accounting; Shannon Harding (5), Psychology; Nelson Lopez (5), Modern Languages and Literature
Numbers in parentheses indicate number of meetings attended by each member
Dates of meetings: The committee met 6 times as part of University Council (Oct. 20, 2004; Nov. 10, 2004; Dec. 1, 2004; Feb. 15, 2005; March 22, 2005; April 26, 2005). In addition, we occasionally met briefly as the Student Life committee (just the faculty) after the University Council meetings.
Principal Topics:
Academic Honesty
One purpose of this discussion was for each sector to inform the other sectors of efforts underway to increase the culture of academic honesty and integrity on campus. Students were interested to know what the various faculty committees were doing. We brainstormed ways to decrease academic dishonesty and communicated to various groups our ideas. The student sector is very concerned about this issue and recognizes that much of the effort must come from students if they are to change the culture.
Alcohol education
The student sector raised this issue. They are concerned that too much of the alcohol education is geared towards underclassmen and want to increase education for upperclassmen. Jeanne Di Muzio came to our 3/22/05 meeting and gave a presentation on ongoing educational efforts. The faculty were impressed by the variety of educational methods used by the Office of Wellness and Prevention.
Ongoing updates from Student Senate
The
student senate had a full year and the council was updated on
their activities
at each meeting. Highlights
include:
rewriting the senate constitution, conducting a student survey
on
campus operations, and initiating an online evaluation system
for faculty
(FUSE). The
University Council had
concerns regarding FUSE and made a formal recommendation (see
below). We hope to
have a copy of the report
from the student survey will be available on the Faculty
Secretary's website in
the near future. Next
year, the
senate plans to tackle academic advising, particularly for
students studying
abroad and would like to work with the administration on holding
a Diversity
Forum.
List of Decisions taken by the committee:
University council is an advisory committee. Most of our actions consist of one sector bouncing ideas off of the other sectors. The students on the council are heavily involved in student senate and often ask for faculty or administration advice on issues.
During the 04-05 school year, we made the following formal recommendations.
1. The University Council recommends that the AVP and the VP of Student Services support and encourage the FUSA Student Senate and the FDEC to collaborate and discuss the current status of the faculty evaluation process which is made available to students online by the Student Senate. It is suggested that the key issues of critical mass in terms of number of students participating and the window of opportunity available for students to participate in any evaluation be reviewed and discussed. (recommended 10/20/04)
2. The University Council recommends that the AVP initiate the process that the undergraduate student honor code be signed by all undergraduates at the beginning of each academic semester by all undergraduates. (recommended 12/01/04)
3. The University Council recommends that the AVP request that all faculty on all final exams display the honor code pledge. (recommended 12/01/04)
4. The University Council recommends to the chair of the recycling committee that this committee return to active committee status (recommended 12/01/04).
Anticipated effect of decisions:
The purpose of the first recommendation was to ensure that all appropriate groups (particularly the FDEC) were involved in the process. It is our understanding that the Student Senate has been asking the FDEC for advice as they implement this website. The second two recommendations were meant as reminders to the faculty that the honor code can be a powerful tool to make students think about their actions before they cheat. It is our understanding that AVP Grossman has forwarded our recommendations on Academic Council for discussion. The recycling committee has started to meet again and had two major events this spring (a sneaker recycling campaign and a demonstration of how much uneaten food is collected from student trays at the dining halls).
Unfinished business:
The
discussions on academic honesty and alcohol education are
ongoing. The
faculty on the Student Life
Committee also remain concerned about low participation in the
Fairfield FUSE
program and will continue to be involved in this process.
Future agenda items:
At our last meeting on April 26, 2005, the council discussed agenda items for next year.
1. Discussion on the cancellation of the Marriage Equality Forum. In the past, there was an appeals board comprised of faculty, students, and administrators which considered controversial events. University Council plans to discuss the feasibility of reinstating such a board and other issues related to how events are planned/cancelled.
2. Academic advising. All sectors of University Council feel that there are ways that academic advising could be improved.
3. Student priorities. It was brought to the Council's attention by a member of the faculty sector that there is increasing use of online poker/casino sites. This practice, along with the ongoing problem of alcohol overuse, leads to skipped classes and poor academic performance
Note: The faculty suggest that meetings of University Council be scheduled such that the Dean of Students (an important member of the committee) can attend.