Community Council Holds First Meeting, Gears Up for New Semester

Author: Ben Salkowe

In its first meeting of the year, Community Council set an agenda that will tackle student concerns in the commons system and continue discussion of social life issues.

Dean of Student Affairs and Faculty Co-chair of the Community Council Ann Hanson opened the meeting with a review of issues remaining from last year's agenda and progress that has been made over the summer.

When Hanson and Student Co-Chair of the Community Council Erin Sullivan '04.5 invited members to make suggestions for the 2003-2004 agenda, the discussion immediately turned to the commons.

"What direction are the commons going in?" Derek Mahoney '04 asked. With the Atwater Commons enhancements progressing, Andrea LaRocca '05 noted, "Housing is unequal within the commons." She suggested changing the boundaries of certain commons. Also suggested was putting room draw online. Sullivan recognized the need for a thorough discussion on commons issues, confirming she was "very interested in room draw."

In fact, when campaigning for her position last spring, Sullivan told The Middlebury Campus that she did plan to redistribute certain dorms to account for inequities in the commons.

She noted that there are "temporary inequities in student housing," and as part of her campaign, Sullivan promised to balance those inequities and make room draw a more fair process.

Following the Community Council's first meeting, Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of American Literature and Civilization Tim Spears commented that the current commons' "boundaries" were not likely to change significantly.

He noted that the dorms and buildings within each commons have been carefully chosen to create "neighborhoods."

More likely will be changes to room draw, which must be made by the end of Winter Term in order for it to take effect this year. "We are not going to create equitable housing overnight," Spears said. "I think we need a plan for a new room draw that serves the most people in a fair manner."

Since Hanson will be working on a project for the Provost's Office from mid-January to the end of the term, Spears will co-chair the Community Council in her absence.

As the Community Council begins discussions on the system and looks at room draw, Spears will likely serve to bring the Council's concerns and suggestions to several "commons' issues" committees being assembled by the College's provost.

It is hoped that Community Council and the Student Government Association will interact with these committees in developing a strategy for the commons system. "I am open-minded and waiting to hear what the recommendations are," Hanson commented.

In addition to approaching the commons system, several issues remain to be resolved from last year's work on Middlebury social life.

Hoping to complete work on the citation policy, Hanson said that last spring "the Community Council agreed that we would ask the commons deans, over the summer, to work on it and come up with some recommendations. A group of us did that over the summer and we are now ready to take our suggestions to the Council."

A subcommittee on TIPS training also drafted a proposal over the summer to encourage more registered campus parties and will present this proposal to the Council later in the year.

Sullivan expressed a particular interest in concluding discussions on the College's sexual assault policy.

"This is an issue which has been on the table quite a while," she commented. In response to suggestions for an anonymous sexual assault hotline, the College attorney has suggested a Council-sponsored, all-campus forum on the logistics of such a system.

Finally, the Zeta Theta Phi (ZOO) social house, placed on probation last spring after failing to meet prior stipulations from the Council, is expected to submit a petition to be removed from probation. This will be among the Council's first issues at its next meeting, along with the continuing discussion of the sexual assault policy.