Liebowitz opens door to students

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

As college administrators across the country work to increase their visibility among students, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz has added more open office hours to the eight or nine student lunches held each semester. Liebowitz and his staff say the meetings, which may soon include other senior administrators, provide the College with more unfiltered feedback from students than it would otherwise receive.

"I like to hear things directly whenever possible," Liebowitz said. "I have found students to be remarkably frank in letting me know what is on their minds - what they oppose, and what they would like to see the College do."

The face-to-face meetings come after other strategies for gathering input, including several sparsely-attended "town hall" meetings last year, proved unappealing to students. In particular, open panel discussions with College and town officials last January failed to attract significant crowds.

In contrast, students who have met with Liebowitz this semester said they left with an improved sense of access to the College's administration.

"He seemed to genuinely value the opinion of the students," said Celey Schumer '09. "He was fairly candid, which was nice."

Kristen Ward '08 agreed, explaining that the opportunity to meet with Liebowitz personally changed her opinion of his attitude toward student input.

"I did not have the impression that President Liebowitz cared that much about student opinions and concerns before the lunch," said Kristen Ward '08. "Now, I believe he definitely cares about student voices."

Participants say that while Liebowitz has most commonly sought input on two issues - the role of the Commons on campus and the College's changing social scene - he has proven receptive on other topics as well. In particular, as Vice President for Communications Mike McKenna confirmed, issues like campus safety raised at the lunch meetings have made their way onto the agenda at weekly meetings of the senior administration as a result of student input.

"[Liebowitz] took notes, asked us to send follow-up emails and engaged us in brief discussions of our ideas," said Ward. "He shared his opinions and explained how they sometimes differed from the general administrative position on certain issues."

Some students said they were surprised to learn that even the president must deal with the College's bureaucracy.

"The most striking thing was that he had to deal with red-tape as well," she said. "Most students forget that. I came away feeling like I took my opinions to someone with power who really heard what I had to say, even if nothing can be done immediately, or ever."

Liebowitz said he has welcomed the opportunity both to learn about students' concerns at the College and to provide a glimpse into the administrative decision-making process on key issues.

"I hope greater accessibility demystifies who the College president is, how things get done at the College and what went into any decision a student feels was wrong or not clearly articulated," he said. "I hope they have found me to be open and willing to consider their views and to take their opinions seriously."

In addition to giving students access to Liebowitz, the meetings also give the Professor of Geography a renewed access to students. Though Liebowitz still officially holds his title in the Geography Department, his schedule as president has prevented him from teaching any classes - much to his disappointment.

"There is nothing more energizing than meeting with students, especially when one used to meet regularly with them as a faculty member," Liebowitz said. "As president, the opportunities for such interaction are much more challenging."

While the College has opted for this more personal route in gathering student input, a number of colleges and universities have set up administrative blogs to give their presidents an online presence.

As The New York Times first reported this month, high-ranking officials at nearly a dozen universities nationwide have begun posting online in an effort to address concerns that students may post on their own Web pages. While administrators here at the College said they found the idea of starting a blog appealing, they had to weigh other concerns as well.

"One challenge with blogs is that there is a trade-off between authenticity or transparency, and a loss of control," said McKenna. "Once a mistake is out on the Web, it can be very hard to correct, with consequences damaging to the reputations of individuals and the institution. It also can take an awful lot of time maintaining an up-to-date and therefore useful conversation or dialogue."