Central Committee Update Fall 2002

The Central Committee mainly worked to coordinate the activities of all the committees. The details of that can be found on the report of the individual committee. We also had a series meeting with Dean of Student and the President Leon Botstein.

The main agenda item that dominated those meetings was “Why certain professors were not given tenure and that the students felt that their opinions were ignored”.  The administrators explained that they consider things such as student input in the form of SOTC form and EPC report, the enrollment of students in the courses offered, the diversity of courses that are offered, and the academic excellence and scholarship of the professor outside Bard. Leon Botstein informed us that almost 100% professors evaluated for tenure get good recommendations from faculty and Students. Sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish between an excellent professor and a good professor, so he has to take a tough decision based on all the given criteria. Both Leon and administrators assured the central committee that the student inputs are taken very seriously for tenure decisions and there have been instances where a faculty was given not tenure because of student input. From now on the Dean Dominy would sit with the EPC chair to explain the faculty Tenure decisions as soon as they are made so that there is no misunderstanding between students and the administration. On the same note the student government officials felt they are not part of the decision making process because they are only informed about a decision only after they are made and not before. At that point nothing can be done about that decision. The Deans assured us they would make every effort to inform the student body about the future plans of the college.

We expressed concern at the state of the career service office at the beginning of the semester. The administration has already hired two people to replace the out going director of Career Development. We made sure that administrators take student input before finalizing the design of the “New” Old Gym. In the same note we also emphasized that student input should also be taken before final designs of the “New Science Building” is approved.

Student life Committee update Fall 2002

This semester, the Student Life Committee (SLC) at Bard College completed the following projects:

1. Outdoor benches in Village Dorm area- with help from B&G.

2. Partially restored shuttle schedule- with help from DOSO and Transportation Office

3. Conducted SLC surveys over three-day period to all students.

4. Assisted with the development and grand opening of the Green Onion Grocer located in Kline Dining Hall.

5. Facilitation and community liaison (including advertisements) for the Old Gym/New Old Gym meetings with the students, administration and architects.

6. Health Kits- with the help of Jim Brudvig (project presently overlooked by Senior Class)

7. Worked on Security/Student relations including an article in Free Press.

8. Worked on concerns about washing facilities in dorms (finalization pending)

In the spring semester 2003, the SLC hopes to complete:

1. Cell phone campaign encouraging students to use cell phones in certain areas on campus.

2. Addressing the issue of student shuttle passengers especially students who frequent Tivoli and general respect for the cleanliness of the shuttle- article and advertisements.

3. General posters and informative packet about the resources of the SLC and how community members may contact SLC.

Educational Policies Committee Update Fall 2002

The Educational Policies Committee (EPC) was very busy last semester. Below are some of the things we accomplished.

1. Evaluations were submitted to the Dean’s office for tenure candidates as well as the faculty members who were up for review. All evaluations were based on oral testimony, written testimony and the SOTC forms filled out by students at the end of each course.

2. A newsletter was produced updating the Bard populations on the academic changes occurring in each division.

3. A written appeal was made to the Board of Trustees for the review of the tenure denial of Professor John Brockoff. John Brockoff will not be granted tenure.

4. The files of two professors, whose contracts were not renewed, were reviewed. The information was distributed to the community via the newsletter.

5. A proposal was submitted to the Faculty Senate to change the procedure of submitting testimony about professors. Presently, professors are able to view all testimony pertaining to them while also knowing the identity of the authors because all testimony requires a signature. The EPC is trying to have signatures removed from testimony before a professor can view it. We think that this will allow students to accurately critique their professors without fear of revealing their identities. We are currently awaiting a response from the Faculty Senate.

6. Changes were made to the constitution giving students the power to petition the EPC to investigate incidents of tenure denial and refusal of rehire.

This semester, we plan to be just as active. We will be conducting evaluations, producing a newsletter and meeting with faculty to discuss the removal of signatures from all testimony. We are dedicated to keeping the student body informed about educational issues and ensuring that input of students is considered in decisions pertaining to our education.

Student Judiciary Board Update Fall 2002

The Student Judiciary Board (SJB), made up of members of the Bard community, is charged by the Student Association Constitution to "enforce, protect, and preserve ... the rights of all Bard students."  In practice, the SJB considers cases of student misconduct referred by other students or administrative offices such as DOSO or Res Life.  Any student may bring a case against another student to the SJB. 

SJB can be reached at sjbnews@bard.edu.  To initiate a case, or for any other questions or for more information, contact the Chair at me573@bard.edu. 

This semester, the SJB has had more cases than usual.  Dave Shein, Acting Dean of Students, had experience on SJB as the staff representative for the past three years, so this semester he has been very supportive of the SJB's power.  He has referred the most cases to SJB of any Dean in recent history. 

According to the Student Association Constitution, the SJB must make its decisions "publicly available".  Since the Bard community is so small and close-knit, many cases are easily recognizable even with identifying details removed.  Thus in an effort to make the cases more anonymous, the SJB publicizes all the semester's cases together at the end of each semester.  Below, cases from Fall 2002 are listed with their corresponding sanctions imposed by the SJB.  All violations were committed by students. 

Violation	Sanction(s)
Harassment and public disturbance by a club	Prior administrative approval of all future club events, public statement acknowledging that other campus organizations were not involved in the event, six hours of community service for each member involved.
Firing a BB gun on campus	Written investigation, including interviews with senior administrators, on why guns are banned at Bard.
Possession of a BB gun near a residence hall	Resource manual for use during PC training or L&T orientation on the dangers of gun possession on Bard campus.
Vandalism in a residence hall	Evaluation by Counseling Services, four hours of community service, resource manual for use during L&T orientation on adjustment to communal living, social probation.  (This student's prior disciplinary record was taken into consideration in issuing these sanctions.)
Harassment and intimidation of an administrator	Evaluation by Counseling Services, written apology, social probation.

Planning Committee Update Fall 2002

Last semester the Planning Committee met with Jim Brudvig, Ken
Copper Alan  Josey and the heads of the Audio Co-Op and Sound
crew to try and find a way to  keep the equipment safe. One of
the ideas was to tighten up the access list and the
possibility of key entry on the door along with security
access. Planning Committee continued distributing funds from
the Emergency fund throughout the semester.