Student Life Committee Minutes
January 25, 2001
Present: M. Babin, K. Bartanen, H. Douglas, J. Jasinski, D. Kelley, G. Proehl, C. Washburn.
The meeting was called to order at 8:05. The Minutes of November 30, 2001 were approved.
Announcements:
Diane Kelley will not be able to serve on the ASUPS Integrity Code Task Force. Bartanen
reported that Barbara Holme (Education) had also been appointed.
The business for the day was to receive the reports from each committee member summarizing
the student surveys conducted at the end of Fall term regarding communication on campus. The
goal was to look for patterns and possibly craft recommendations regarding training and
materials.
Jasinski reported first on the Resident Assistant surveys. The most frequently asked question of
RAs concerns mail service. Babin responded that because the RAs are responsible for collecting
and distributing mail, students are always hounding them about mail. Washburn pointed out that
this system will disappear next Fall with the renovation in the basement of Wheelock to provide a
mailbox for every student.
Many questions fielded by RAs seem to be hall-specific, including questions about heat, TVs and
VCRs, showers, vacuum cleaners, maintenance issues (including odor). Students also ask RAs
about voicemail and ResNet.
Suggestion:
Douglas raised the possibility that at least the voicemail instructions could be printed in the phone
book.
To the survey question about the "most difficult types of questions," RAs report roommate
relations questions are the hardest. Questions about other relationships, self-esteem questions,
academic questions (what classes to take, whether to leave school altogether or transfer, etc) are
also difficult for RAs to manage.
Jasinski asked Bartanen and Babin (who is an RA) what training was done to assist RAs to
handle the difficult questions. Training sessions for RAs take place prior to and continue
throughout the academic year. These sessions include role playing as well as discussions about
situations that have come up. There is a residence staff member as well as a senior staff
member on call at all times, so RAs always have someone to call when they encounter difficult
questions or situations.
The Committee turned next to the freshman surveys. It seems that first year students do not use
the Web much as a source for information about University policies; they use it slightly more for
information about student activities. The students also use a variety of print sources as well as
asking teachers or other students for information. No clear pattern seemed to emerge thus far
from the Freshmen surveys.
The issue that arises is whether we can arrange the information students should have access to
so that they can reliably look in particular sources for certain types of information, e.g. The
Bulletin for academic information; the Logger for policies, etc. There does not seem to be a
consistent place to look for information on student groups and activities. One idea is to
recommend that a list of ASUPS–sponsored clubs and organizations be given to new students.
Another idea would be to have a web page where ad hoc and newly-forming groups could be
listed.
The Committee concluded that UPS is indeed an information-rich environment and the challenge
is to ensure students have ready access to information in a variety of places. Probably during
Orientation and for the first few weeks of Fall term, first-year students experience informationoverload. Jasinski suggested that a floor meeting at the beginning of second term be devoted to
the subject of information sources. Part of the purpose would be a refresher as well as for
students to share their experiences in Fall term with finding what out they wanted to know.
Bartanen added that a new source for information may be forthcoming (in a few years): a
personalized web page for each students using a portal system. The committee was intrigued,
and Jasinski promised we would discuss this further at a later meeting.
Jasinski suggested and the committee agreed that we would continue this topic at our next
meeting (Feb. 8) and invite H. Dougharty and J. Hoppe to the SLC meeting on Feb. 22 to discuss
the revisions to the implementation section of the Integrity Code.
Respectfully submitted,
Carrie Washburn