CONFIDENTIAL
Campus Center Room 204
Thursday, March 1, 2006 7:45pm
Members Present: Meg Ambrus, Jillian Flynn, Molly McCadden, Jan Arbaugh, Adrienne Lee,
Margaret MacRae, Ayesha Siddiqui, Michele Chapdelaine, Devin Burke, Rae-Anne Butera,
Mary Opler, Ali Woodruff, Aliza Leventhal, McKay LeBlanc, Shadavia Jones, Kamille King
I.
II.
III.
IV.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Call to Order – Meg
A. Meg called the meeting to order at 7:51pm
B. Lunch with the Board tomorrow at 12pm in Mary Maples Dunn!
Opening Activity – All
A. What is your favorite place on campus and why?
Minutes – Adrienne/ All
A. Motion to approve minutes from 2-22-07 passes 12-0-3
Constitutional Review – Meg/All
A. Class Cabinet bylaws
1. Motion to approve the bylaws and constitution passes 14-0-1
B. EnA
1. Should the chair have served on EnA before?
C. Judicial Board bylaws
1. Motion to approve the bylaws passes 14-0-1
D. Constitution
1. Motion to approve changes to the constitution with the exception of the
impeachment section passes 12-0-3
Essential Committee Updates – Meg/All
A. Quick thoughts on Pub?
1. Positive reaction
2. Fewer people attended on Saturday
3. Post on the Daily Jolt, tell people by word of mouth
4. Ambience could be more fun
5. Liked having a concurrent event (dance party)
6. Dean Mahoney and trustees Tracy Rubin ’72 (Vice-Chair of Student Affairs
Committee) and Nancy Schacht ’56 (Chair of Student Affairs Committee) were
enthusiastic about the pub’s vibe
B. Other updates
1. Ayesha – talk about the pub and the Board of Trustees in Sophian article
2. Kamille
a. Ask around campus about people’s backgrounds and put results on TV
b. “Proposal to Broaden the Diversity Paradigm at Smith College” (Mentha
Hynes-Wilson)
Board of Trustees Tips
A. General board perspective: Smith over the next 10-15 years
1. Thinking on a more global scale than we usually do
2. But other administrators will be there, who may take note of details
Special Guests: Amelia and Ka’Neda
A. Retreat in January
1. Discussed Strategic Planning: focused a lot on curricular changes
2. Student experience at Smith (they value feedback and comments)
3. Appreciated informality of last meeting in October and saw our concerns as
genuine
4. Tell them about changes that have occurred since
B. Strategic Plan and student involvement
1. Do you feel involved in its next steps?
2. Advising system
C. Current issues on campus
1. Campus climate – racial diversity, class, politics, sexuality, gender
2. Student and faculty relationships, advising
3. Why aren’t some people happy in their time here?
4. MASSPIRG fee was voted down
5. The Right View – dialogue has occurred between students, it’s a matter of talking
about it in the classrooms; inter-group dialogues and panels have been happening
a. Get more people involved in the process
b. Allow first-years more opportunities to have these kinds of discussions with
each other
D. What to communicate to the Board
1. Diversity
a. Types of diversity – race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, disability, size,
etc.
b. Inter-group dialogues to create awareness, and safe spaces to discuss these
topics on campus; successful faculty panel, controversy has died down; need
for resources to support these things (faculty training, etc.)
c. Intellectual diversity: promote other ways of thinking by funding more
events/speakers/conferences that would open up to the community things
outside of Smith; break up into smaller groups after inter-group dialogues
d. Class issues on campus – first-year advising, create resources to level the
playing field and encourage success at Smith; reaffirm how much students
benefit from socioeconomic diversity at Smith
e. First-year advising and pre-orientation groups: introduce students to issues on
campus they may not feel comfortable talking about
f. Marketing/image of the College – promote awareness and students’ wellbeing (safe spaces for students to talk after panels, allow students to respond
at faculty panels where a sense of hierarchy is present)
g. Pre-major advising should be strengthened: many students don’t feel
connected to their advisor, and could get lost their first year; need more
programs to encourage students and professors to work together, and improve
transition from pre-major to major advisor; support: advisee and advisor have
a supportive relationship; training of major advisors to help first-years
navigate their first year
h. Honor Board: students need to be better advised to take courses that they can
handle; better training for pre-major advisors to cater to students with
different plans, and better planning within departments; training for students
before they get to Smith?
i. Academic path vs. class background
j. First-year: inter-group dialogues during the first year after orientation
k. Expand first-year seminars to include the entire first-year class
IX.
l. False advertising? Less actual diversity than one thought, for example
2. Independent Study
a. Honors thesis – learned a lot, but would be better if there were more support
from fellow thesis writers
b. Special Studies – more emphasis on special studies and support for it, more
structure
c. STRIDE – a version for every student
d. Alternative Options – more “real world” experiences; more opportunities to
learn about the vocation you want to pursue; PRAXIS
e. Discussion of improvement – more encouragement to do special studies, and
taking the initiative to ask around
f. Discouraging double majors from pursue theses; however, could do something
interdisciplinary
g. Thesis: need to have a cemented relationship with a faculty member, because
proposal takes a long time to complete
h. Junior Year Experience – options to do special studies, which can lead to a
senior thesis; exciting things to do here at Smith during the junior year
i. Higher level seminars similar to FYSs
j. Independent study – positive experience overall, faculty became mentors
k. Centers for global studies, sustainability, work and life, leadership; location:
virtual space, Wright Hall, or Dewey
E. Questions?
1. Don’t want to be too anecdotal
2. Wireless internet: even in the common rooms would be huge
3. Board – hasn’t been discussing nutrition and health a lot
Motion to Adjourn
A. Meg motioned to adjourn at 10:21pm