Trustees Seek Student Involvement

Trustees of the College met on campus this past weekend to discuss and vote on various issues of governance, experiential learning and student life, among other topics.

The board heard from several students during their time at the College.

Student Government Association (SGA) President Charlie Arnowitz ’13, Lauren Greer ’13 and Chris de la Cruz ’13 sat in on the meeting of the Student Affairs Committee.

Arnowitz gave a brief presentation to the trustees to outline the duties and goals of the SGA. After Arnowitz’s presentation, the committee was presented with the results of the alcohol survey conducted among nine of the 11 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools in March.

Dean of the College Shirley Collado serves as a liaison to the Student Affairs Committee. Collado explained that the trustees were encouraged by the actions of the Alcohol Task Force, a group that engaged in a year-long investigation of alcohol use on campus and its effects on the community and concluded their research with a list of recommendations, which were passed to the Office of the President for consideration last May.

“[The trustees] feel very good and very confident about the Task Force and were happy to see that some of the recommendations — like some of the positions and some of the [issues] around residential life — had been tackled,” said Collado.

Greer explained that the trustees and students reached the conclusion that the community needs to address the issue collectively.

“It came down to the agreement that we can use those statistics as a reminder that we need to improve behavior with regard to alcohol on campus, and take more ownership as a student body,” wrote Greer in an email. “They were very supportive in helping this effort.”

“The trustees were definitely interested in hearing how things played with the student body, particularly on the alcohol front,” added Arnowitz. “They were also strongly opinionated and hearing the range of reactions was interesting.”

De la Cruz hopes that students will continue to be a part of these conversations.

“I think the trustees really see how much they need student input in order to make any kind of informed decision on student affairs,” wrote de la Cruz in an email. “Fortunately, they have plans to create more dialogue with students outside of the meetings so they may all come in more informed about specific issues — I think student involvement really is something they lack yet something they are pushing to work on.”

De la Cruz described how the trustees directly addressed the students.

“Right at the end, the meeting was directed at the three students as they asked, ‘What kind of issues should we be talking about?’” added de la Cruz.
Student involvement was not limited to the Student Affairs Committee. For the first time, a member of the Socially Responsible Investment club (SRI), Ben

Chute ’13.5, sat in on the Investment Committee proceedings to offer an additional perspective on the investment of the endowment.

Board Chair Marna Whittington expressed enthusiasm for increased student involvement.

“If the students are interested in a particular form of interaction, I think they just need to request it,” said Whittington.

During a meeting of an ad-hoc committee on education in action, board members discussed the importance of students connecting their education with opportunities outside of the classroom. According to Whittington, the board members are committed to fundraising for an endowed fund in order to increase the opportunities available to students.

“It’s part of our vision for Middlebury; it’s part of our belief about the undergraduate education,” said Whittington. “One of the things that’s been very interesting to us is the students’ reception to it. We’ve had a lot of interest and demand … We’ve been pleasantly surprised and challenged by the number of students that are applying for small grants to do projects or are interested in internships.”

The board also voted to establish a new C.V. Starr-Middlebury School Abroad in India.

“It is great that we will be able to provide opportunities for our students to study in and learn about India,” wrote President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz in an email. “Students have been requesting this for more than a decade.”

The Buildings and Grounds Committee also received an update on fundraising for the Field House. The board approved construction of the Field House last fall.

“The Field House is a much-needed project,” wrote Liebowitz. “The temporary ‘Bubble’ has given us more years that it was intended to give us. The new facility will be used by the entire community.”

Before the weekend’s meetings, the trustees met on Thursday, Oct. 18 for a retreat that took place at the Jackson Property, 377 acres of land along Route 125 and Cider Mill Road that the College received from Trustee Emeritus Will Jackson ’51 in December 2011. The board spent the day discussing issues of governance, and took a mid-day break to enjoy the fall weather.

Whittington spoke positively of the retreat.

“We’re stepping back and looking at our own governance — making sure it’s tight and we have the policies and the processes we need to have, both to support the Middlebury of today [and] the Middlebury we think is coming in the future,” said Whittington.

“The reason we can have these conversations is we’re coming from a position of strength,” she added. “I would say if we could keep this level of collegiality, cooperation, hard work and commitment going between and among the Board of Trustees and the administration into the foreseeable future, it would clearly be a strategic advantage for us.”

Liebowitz echoed Whittington’s enthusiasm for the progress made.

“The trustee retreat was excellent,” wrote Liebowitz. “It allowed the board to work together to consider major issues on how to be responsible stewards of the College. The board looks forward to continue working on this issue throughout the year.”