On April 13, Executive Director of Food Services and Operations Dan Detora attended Community Council in order to discuss council member Anna Jacobsen ’16’s proposal to substitute community service work for fines and fees when students violate student life policies.
As the former Director of Dining Services at Union College, Detora shared details about a similar program to Jacobsen’s proposal at Union in which the Dean of Students would contact his office about a student who had violated a policy. That student would then work in dining services, performing tasks such as washing dishes, wiping down tables and catering.
“The program worked fairly well…it made [the students] appreciate what we do in the dining halls,” said Detora.
In the program, students typically had two weeks to fulfill their service. They did have problems with students failing to show up, which resulted in a fine or an increase in the service time. Council members worried if the College implemented a similar program, it would interfere with the regular staff or place a burden on the deans who may be responsible for ensuring students complete their service.
“[The program] did not interfere with regular staff hours…if anything, they got extra help,” said Detora in reference to Union College’s program.
According to Detora, students performed tasks that were not “out in the open” where other students could see them. Some council members were uncomfortable with making a student’s infraction public by putting them in the open; however, other members thought that by not putting students in the open, students may not be discouraged from repeating the violation.
“We are either in or out…if we are going to go for it we don’t necessarily have to think about students only in the ‘backgrounds,’” said Community Council Co-Chair, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott.
The council passed the proposal, recommending to the administration that students who violate certain codes, such as fire safety violations, are subject to community service instead of fines.
On April 20, Community Council continued its conversation about security cameras with Associate Dean of the College and Director of Public Safety Lisa Burchard. Council member and Telecom Manager and Technology Support Specialist Solon Coburn pointed out that “for every college that has cameras—basically every college but ours—they have very specific guidelines.”
Coburn said the College would not implement cameras without guidelines specifying who could view footage and in what circumstances. Burchard said the cameras would be used “to deter crime and to help with the investigation in order to determine who did it.”
Cameras would be placed outside dining hall entrances where most thefts have been occurring. Jacobsen questioned the use of security cameras, wondering if the simpler solution would be to get rid of the backpacks that line up outside of the College’s dining halls.
“I have always been opposed to security cameras, granted I have never had my thesis material stolen…there should definitely be a forum to discuss it,” said Council member Durga Jayaraman ’16.
On April 21, Student Co-Chair of Community Council Ben Bogin ’15 sent an email to the College community announcing that a forum will be held this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in MBH 220 to discuss surveillance cameras. According to the email, there have been a total of 21 stolen backpacks worth approximately $12,000, 19 of which were stolen outside of dining halls during this calendar year.
