Hamilton College Student Assembly
Executive Report of President Stephen Okin and Vice-President Will Bauder
December 2008
Introduction:
At the end of each term, it is customary for the President and Vice-President of the Student Assembly to write an Executive Report that highlights some of the Assembly’s accomplishments over the past year and advocates future College and Assembly projects and policy changes. As such, this report cites the Assembly’s most important accomplishments over the past two semesters and offers recommendations for future goals. To cement the progress made in the past year, each resolution and letter the Assembly approved is included at the end of the report.
Highlighted Accomplishments:
For years the Student Assembly lacked a coherent, up-to-date website. Last semester the Assembly launched a new website that has since been updated and revised to further promote transparency and ease of use.
Technology, in all its various forms, has become central to student life at Hamilton. As such, the Assembly was encountering numerous technology-related issues each semester, but lacked an appropriate method for dealing with them. To address this issue, Will and I created an experimental Technology Committee, which has been an outstanding success.
As requested by the Assembly, the College permanently extended the deadline for declaring a course Credit/No Credit from the seventh class day of the semester to the fourth Friday in the fall semester and the third Friday in the spring semester. This effectively gives students three full weeks to decide whether to take a course Credit/No Credit. This change is in line with the College’s goal of promoting breadth in course selection by enabling students to take courses they would normally avoid for fear of a negative impact on their GPA.
One of our most significant accomplishments has been to alter the way Student Assembly functions in order to improve communication, trust, and legitimacy. To build trust and teamwork, the Assembly participated in a low-ropes course exercise at the beginning of the semester. To improve communication, each Assembly member has been provided with an Assembly roster and a placard with his/her name, position, and class year on it. Additionally, the written agenda has been revamped to convey more information and facilitate better record keeping. To further our legitimacy, the Assembly has gotten its own house in order through the above reforms and reached out to its constituents through online polling.
Work Remaining:
Over the past couple of years, it has become apparent that Student Assembly’s election procedures are inadequate. Too few candidates run for positions, apathy amongst the student body is high, and complacency remains the default position. To address these problems, we had the Election Committee brainstorm ways to improve the process. Some of the ideas they came up with include: two days for voting, placing slips in students mailboxes on election day reminding them to vote, and publishing an election pamphlet (potentially with The Spectator) with in-depth write ups of each candidate. What remains to be done is codifying these suggestions into the Constitution and Bylaws and then actually implementing them.
Another year has passed, and McEwen is still not open for continental brunches on the weekends. Opening McEwen for brunch on the weekend would make weekends – particularly winter weekends – far more pleasant for students living on the Kirkland side of campus. The Assembly continues to work with the College towards this goal, but realizes that recent financial constraints severely limit the likelihood of success. Nevertheless, continuing to flesh out a workable plan would serve the Assembly and student body well in the coming years once the College does have the money to devote to such a large project.
Beginning last semester, the College installed a new proximity card access system for residence halls and a swipe-card system for laundry facilities. This system has been a smashing success, and the Assembly applauds the College’s work. We believe, however, that the College should extend cash swipe-card service to the Little Pub and stores down the hill. These services would greatly improve student life and further integrate the College with the town of Clinton. We realize the College is currently looking into these possibilities and strongly urge their implementation.
A focal point of our administration has been to increase the number of emergency Blue Lights on campus. Many locations on campus could use a Blue Light, and given the recent issues with student safety this semester, the need couldn’t be greater. In addition to providing a greater safety network, an increased Blue Light system would serve as a visible testament to the College’s concern about student safety – an issue that is frequently raised by tour groups. Furthermore, we believe the College should investigate the possibility of placing peep holes in the doors of every student’s room. This is a simple but effective way to increase safety on campus, and would be enthusiastically welcomed by the student body.
Closely related to the issue of student safety is the state of lighting on campus. Specifically, the Bundy Crosswalk has been a problem for years. While we realize the College does not own the road and therefore is severely limited in what it can do, we believe a simple solution exists: place reflector poles on both sides of the crosswalk. Not only would this notify drivers that a crosswalk exists, but it would do so at relatively little cost. In addition to resolving the Bundy Crosswalk issue, we believe a simple online system to report broken lights should be implemented. Too often, important lights remain out for months, leaving certain areas of the campus dark and hard to navigate. We believe an online system whereby students can report the number of the broken light to Physical Plant would be easy to set up, convenient to use, and well received by the student body.
Finally, it has always been our belief that the American Flag should be lit at night. When the College lights the Chapel and the Alexander Hamilton statue at night, but not the American Flag, it is expressing its values on the most fundamental level. We believe the College should light the flag to honor what it stands for and to honor all those who have fought to defend it (many whom were Hamilton alumni). Physical Plant has developed a plan, where for $10,000 the flag can be lit at night with minimal pollution (both light and emissions). With little recurring cost, we believe this is a sound plan and should be adopted as soon as possible by the College.
Conclusion
Over the past year we have seen the Student Assembly grow in considerable ways. The Assembly has accomplished numerous goals and, more significantly, improved the way it conducts business, debates issues, designates tasks, and accomplishes objectives. We have tried to inspire and guide these changes, and although we have left much undone, we feel we have left our successors a working, competent organization that will operate more effectively to improve student life at Hamilton. It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the Assembly and we look forward to seeing continued progress over our remaining years at Hamilton and beyond.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephen Okin, Student Assembly President
Will Bauder, Student Assembly Vice-President
Attachments:
1) Online Course Evaluation + Course Syllabi Resolutions w/ Cover Letter, March 3, 2008
2) Credit/No-Credit Resolution, March 3, 2008
3) Letter to University of North Carolina Student Government, March 10, 2008
4) McEwen Weekend Breakfast Resolution, April 7, 2008
5) 100% Renewable Energy Resolution, May 5, 2008
6) Spectator Resolution, October 6, 2008
7) Katharine Eckman Resolution, October 20, 2008
8) Composting Resolution, October 20, 2008
9) Cultural Education Center Resolution, November 10, 2008
To the Hamilton Community,
Over the past few semesters the faculty has begun to switch the end of term evaluation process from the antiquated, paper based system to an online evaluation form. For the college, the shift to online evaluations reduces the volume of work that is required to both prepare the evaluations and to compile the data when they are completed. Furthermore, this change will save the college thousands of sheets of paper each term. However, the trials so far have not been without incident. In particular, the percentage of students who complete online evaluations has been dramatically lower than that with the paper evaluations. The lower response rate is a concern because of the significance of teaching evaluations. Here at Hamilton, the evaluations are an integral part of the tenure granting process; without them it is difficult for the college to promote the faculty fairly. Furthermore, the evaluations are also useful for the faculty when they are adjusting or changing their courses for future semesters.
To address the lower response rate the Central Council of the Student Assembly has proposed the following resolutions. The first encourages students to take the time to thoughtfully and fairly critique their professors using the online form, and expresses support for the idea of a disincentive. The second expresses the hope of the Student Assembly that in exchange for a better response rate on online course evaluations, the faculty will provide students with greater resources to aid students in course selection.
Specifically, the second resolution asks the faculty to make all course syllabi available online in advance of the start of courses. The hope of the assembly is that by having all of a semester’s syllabi available before courses start, students will be able to make a more informed decision about the classes they could enroll in. The early availability of course materials is particularly important because of the short “shopping” period at the beginning each semester. With these materials, students will be better equipped to fairly consider the courses that are appropriate for them. A final benefit of having course syllabi available before the start of classes would be that faculty would not have to spend the entire first class period going over the course syllabi with students.
Ultimately, the Central Council of Student Assembly realizes that the faculty and students can help each other while simultaneously ensuring that Hamilton continues to be among the best colleges in the country.
-The Central Council of the Student Assembly
March 3rd 2008
Central Council of the Student Assembly
March 3, 20008
Supporting the move to online course evaluations
Resolution
Whereas, the college is making the move from paper in-class course evaluations to online course evaluations;
Whereas, the response rate for online course evaluations has been significantly lower than that for in-class evaluations;
Whereas, course evaluations are an important tool for faculty members when restructuring their courses;
Whereas, course evaluations are integral parts of the tenure process;
The Central Council of the Student Assembly resolves:
The students of Hamilton College should make a concerted effort, given how important course evaluations are to the faculty, to fill out all online course evaluations with which they are presented in a thoughtful and timely manner. The Central Council of the Student Assembly also supports the implementation of a sensible disincentive to help drive up the response rate.
Central Council of the Student Assembly
March 3, 2008
Calling for the faculty to place more course syllabi online
Resolution
Whereas, the Add/Drop deadline is the first Friday after classes start;
Whereas, the Credit/No Credit deadline is the second Tuesday after classes start;
Whereas, the current Add/Drop deadline often does not provide ample time to carefully deliberate before choosing to drop a class and add another;
Whereas, the current Credit/No Credit deadline often does not provide ample time to carefully deliberate before choosing to take a class credit/no credit;
Whereas, course syllabi allow students to see the specific nature of courses;
Whereas, few course syllabi are available before classes start;
Whereas, most students have complicated schedules and would benefit from advanced knowledge of course requirements and design;
Whereas, having access to course syllabi before the start of classes would help students make more informed choices regarding their course selection and help compensate for the short “shopping period;”
The Central Council of the Student Assembly resolves:
The faculty of Hamilton College, given how important course syllabi are to students, should make a concerted effort to place course syllabi online before the start of classes.
Central Council of the Student Assembly
March 3, 2008
Urging the College to extend the Credit/No-Credit deadline
Resolution
Whereas, the current deadline for choosing to take a course credit/no credit is 4:00pm on the second Tuesday after classes start;
Whereas, the current deadline does not provide ample time to carefully deliberate before choosing to exercise or not exercise the credit/no credit option;
Whereas, according to the College’s academic regulations, the College adopted the credit/no credit option “To encourage greater breadth in course election.”
Whereas, students will be more willing to vary their course selection if they have more time to decide whether to take a course credit/no credit;
Whereas, students will not overuse the credit/no credit option, as current regulations prevent first semester first-year students from exercising the option, prevent juniors and seniors from exercising the option for a course for a major or minor, prevent students from taking more than four courses credit/no credit at Hamilton, and prevent students from taking more than one course credit/no credit in any given semester;
The Central Council of the Student Assembly resolves:
The deadline for choosing to take a course credit/no credit should be moved from the second Tuesday after classes start at 4:00pm to the fourth Friday at 4:00pm after classes start for the first semester and the third Friday at 4:00pm after classes start for the second semester on the new academic calendar that goes into effect next year.
To the students of the University of North Carolina,
We were deeply saddened by the news of the tragic passing of your classmate Eve Carson and wish to offer our deepest condolences. Through reading Eve’s personal accomplishments and selfless deeds it is clear to us that she was not only a respected student leader, but a compassionate friend to many. Her commitment to service and dedication to others serve as a reminder of goals we all strive towards.