Editorial At the Expense of Student-Faculty Lunches and SGA Elections

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At the Expense of Student-Faculty Lunches



An administrative memo last month requested that professors limit luncheons with students in the dining hall to one per week. The e-mail, distributed to all faculty and staff by Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson and Dean of the Faculty Alison Byerly, cited escalating costs as the impetus to their action.

Each time a faculty member swipes to enter a dining hall, the cost is deducted from an account maintained by the Dean of Student Affairs Office. Last year, the budget was considerably overspent.

The financial concerns are real. But they should not trump student-faculty interaction, which stands as one of Middlebury College's core educational values. Some of the most important student-faculty contact occurs beyond the classroom in more casual, informal settings. The dining halls offer a convenient venue for this interaction.

The Geography Department Student Advisory Committee is right to challenge the administration in an attempt to preserve its strong tradition of student-faculty luncheons. The Committee, however, will have to accept a compromise that takes into account both financial reality and the importance of the luncheons. The Dean of Student Affairs does not have a blank check.

To reign in expenses, we propose that the Dean of Student Affairs Office allocate a budget to each department for student-faculty luncheons. The budget - which would be calculated according to the number of majors in each department-would be administered by the departmental coordinators. This would both enable the geography professors to continue lunching with students - perhaps on a slightly more limited basis - and encourage other departments to take advantage of the opportunity.

Departmental budgets for luncheons would set a benchmark for how often professors should dine with students.

If departments exhaust their budgets, so be it. If others fail to spend their allocation, it would be funneled back into the Dean of Student Affairs' account and credited toward the next year's luncheon budgets. This arrangement would ensure equity and accountability among the departments.



SGA Elections - But Where Are the Candidates?



Student Government Association (SGA) elections conclude today, at least for the positions that have candidates. Of 15 open slots, only three are contested. Seven have only one candidate. The remaining five are empty ballots. The sparse candidate pool doesn't leave much of a choice at the polls, which deprives campaign season of its usual energy. Without competition there's little incentive to voice platforms, meet constituents and ask for votes. Without candidates at all, there's no election. The SGA, in fact, will have re-open the polls once it recruits candidates for those five positions.

It's sad commentary on the state of student engagement at the College. Admission statistics show a substantial number of accepted students participated in student government in high school. They should seize this opportunity to bring their experience to bear on student government politics here.