Student Life Committee Minutes
April 19, 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 April 5, 2001 were approved.
The business for the meeting was to cap the year's work by approving the text for the final report
and to make recommendations for charges for the 2001-2002 committee.
Communication charge. Heather Douglas and Carrie Washburn presented a report that both
summarizes the actions taken by the SLC to survey students regarding "examination of student
access to, and organization of, information regarding campus life," and offers three broad
recommendations and five specific recommendations. Committee members made some
suggestions to improve the clarity of the report, resulting in paring down the general
recommendations to two and expanding one of the specific recommendations. Heather Douglas
will make the changes and send the report to the Chair, Jim Jasinski, for inclusion in the
committee's year-end report to the Faculty Senate. Jasinski will send the various
recommendations to appropriate departments and offices with a cover memo. The report is
attached to these Minutes.
Integrity Code charge. Jim Jasinski presented a summary of the committee's work regarding
internal inconsistencies, potential ambiguity, and fundamental fairness of implementation. The
summary was adopted with a few editorial changes.
Jim Jasinski reported that he, in consultation with Kris Bartanen, decided not to go forward to the
Student Senate with the suggestion to add parenthetical language in Standard Five ( C ) directing
students to the implementation section. He explained that the committee's work on the
implementation section of the Code accomplished the task of clarifying student choice for
adjudication.
The wording recommendations from the SLC delineating the types of sanctions (Level I and II) in
the Code proper will go to the Student Senate the week of April 23.
Charges for 2001-2001. The committee reaffirmed the ideas for 2001-2002 charges discussed
briefly at the April 5 meeting: off-campus jurisdiction issues, consultation on the Student's Bill of
Rights, examination of neighbor (town/gown) issues to seek possible courses of action to improve
community relations.
The final conversation revealed that Goeff Proehl and Heather Douglas will both be on leave next
year. Jim Jasinski has completed year three on the committee. Everyone wished Diane Kelley
well as the continuing faculty member on the committee. The meeting ended with a grand round
of mutual thank-you's.
Respectfully submitted,
Carrie Washburn
The SLC approached its charge to conduct an "examination of student access to, and
organization of, information regarding campus life" by conducting and analyzing the results from
three student surveys.
1. Freshmen were surveyed through their advisors. Students were asked where they would go
for certain types of information.
2. Resident Assistants. These upper-division students were asked to reflect on the types of
questions they were asked by Freshmen and to comment on what sorts of questions
were the most difficult to handle.
3. Upper-division students. These questionnaires included some of the questions from the
freshman survey instrument as well as some scenario-based questions. They went to
students living in the Greek Houses, in campus houses, and in University Hall (an upper
division student hall).
The Committee concluded that Puget Sound is an information-rich environment. The challenge is
to ensure students have ready access to accurate information in a variety of places and
in an organized way that makes clear where to look for different kinds of information.
Recommendations.
(These recommendations have been forwarded to the offices noted in parenthesis).
There are two broad recommendations regarding information on campus:
1. Web/Paper Redundancy
Because at least half of students do not use the Web comfortably (according to our
surveys), it seems clear that for now important information should be provided in both
Web and paper formats. This seems particularly wise with respect to policy issues,
where a paper copy has the formality that an electronic copy does not. (Division of
Student Affairs, Academic and Career Advising, Registrar's Office, Athletics Department)
2. Expansion of information in the Logger
Turn the Logger into a campus life guide. The following information will need to be
added: Information on student groups, ASUPS, athletic teams and activities. While the
FAQ format is helpful, the general campus resources for student life (e.g. health services,
student employment, etc.) should be listed in broad categories with the main functions of
each service and the key contact. Having two different presentations for the information
will be helpful to students with different approaches to information. If necessary, the
calendar format can be rethought to gain the needed pages. The Logger should also
have a clear subtitle on its cover reflecting its function, such as “A Guide to Student Life.”
(Division of Student Affairs)
There are also five more focussed recommendations:
1. Give new students a list of ASUPS–sponsored clubs and organizations.
This list should also be included in the Logger. (ASUPS, Student Development)
2. Make advisors and orientation leaders more aware of the different functions of the Bulletin
(the curriculum guide) and the Logger (the campus policies and student life guide) prior to
Orientation, so that they can inform their students about the importance of both.
(Academic and Career Advising, Student Development)
3. Print voicemail instructions in the campus phonebook. Designate in some fashion in the lists
of department staff which name is the secretary/receptionist and which is the department
head. (Human Resources, Mail and Telephone Services)
4. As a short term goal, post all (paper and email) mailings to students on the web. Also list ad
hoc and newly-forming students groups. As a long term goal, develop a web page for
individualized portals. (Division of Student Affairs)
5. Institute refresher floor meetings for freshmen at beginning of Spring term at which policies
and resources are reviewed and where students share their experiences in Fall term with
finding what out they wanted to know. (Department of Student Development)