On Tuesday, March 22, Community Council began its meeting with a presentation by Tim Spears, vice president for academic development and professor of American studies. Spears came to propose a potential pilot project to revise the College’spet policy, specifically in regard to dogs.
Under the College’s current bylaws,faculty and staff are not allowed to keepdogs on campus. However, responding to community input, the administration has recently discussed allowing faculty andstaff to bring their dogs to campus duringbusiness hours, provided that they register the dogs and receive permission from their supervisors.
“There are any number of positive reasons to be around dogs,” Spears said. “In bringing a dog to campus, we, in a funny way, humanize people ... If I bring my dog to campus, and you see me with my dog, you come to understand me as a facultymember or administrator in a different sortof way.”
Several council members expressedconcern that College custodial staff wouldbe left with increased cleanup duties. Spears acknowledged the legitimacy of these concerns, but cited similar programs at institutions such as Amherst College, where faculty members are required to be completely responsible for their own pets.
The Council did not take a vote, as the intent behind Spears’s visit was simply to gauge the Council’s feelings on the matter.
Later in the meeting, the Council completed its discussion from the previous week on its list of possible solutions to student stress. The document was compiled by Emma Bliska ’18, and would be sent by the Council to the working group on stress established by President of the College Laurie L. Patton. After several amendments, including changing the proposal from an “endorsement” to a “formal recommendation,” the Council voted unanimously to approve the document.
During the next meeting on Tuesday, April 5, the Council welcomed Roberto Lint-Sagarena, associate professor of American studies and director of the Anderson Freeman Resource Center, who gave an update on the work of the Alliance for an Inclusive Middlebury.
Lint-Sagarena primarily discussed the Alliance’s upcoming website, which will include “a picture of who’s at Middlebury and how long they’re at Middlebury.” This information, Lint-Sagarena shared, is “themost difficult” aspect of the website.
Lint-Sagarena presented data to the Council showing the College’s retention rates for black students, overall students of color and all students. According to the data, six-year graduation rates for black students have generally increased over the past several years, rising from 69 percent during the 2005 cohort to 100 percent in 2009.
Other students of color maintained a relatively steady six-year graduation rate,finishing most recently at 94 percent.The rate for all students, meanwhile, was generally slightly higher, although the2009 figure of 94 percent was identical tothat of students of color.
“This data has been mysterious for a very long time,” said Lint-Sagarena. “Sowe’re hoping to have this be the first step intransparency, so we can see where we are, where we’ve been, where we might be going and address any issues that might have negative consequences.”
Afterwards, Associate Dean of Students for Residential and Student Life Doug Adams gave a presentation on the biennial review of academic and special interest houses conducted by Residential Life.
According to Adams, the committeeapproved 14 of the 17 houses this year withno stipulations. The remaining houses were given various stipulations regardinginsufficient membership or possiblechanges to the house mission.
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