The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies

Johnston,

Since my last post much has changed.  The Dean of Students took a leave of absence, and during a public meeting regarding who would fill her shoes, many words were spoken to the effect that She (the Dean) was the only person who listened to the students or worked on their behalf.  All of this said in front of the Dean and VP of our campus, who by having a more complex role does not spend as much time with the students, so she is not as well known, and what she does for the campus is also not as well understood.

These events emphasize one of my concerns that I was hoping to address with Inquiry.  That there is not enough communication between the administration/faculty and students.  Our Dean heard that and she is now sending her weekley e-mail to the student body, but I am convinced that more needs to be done.  I think that the lack of effective communication is what is at the root of preventing our campus from developing from a group of people to a community.  The students feel like they themselves have no power to negotiate change within the various groups on campus.  They can only lodge complaints and wait for administration to address them.  Clearly this is the antithesis of Johnston, and I think equally the antithesis of any definition of a community. 

A large reason why these lines of communication do not exist is because Stony Brook Southampton does not have a student government.  I'm still in the process of understanding the details myself and their implications,(and our website is a nightmare to navigate so I can't find anything that would help me clarify the issues right now) but as far as I currently understand, our board of finances is supposed to be be our student government, despite the fact that it has no regular interaction with administrators/faculty/staff.  This is because the role of the undergraduate student government (USG) on West Campus functions mostly to designate money, with some event organizing, and as a connection between the students and admin/faculty, but because West is 24,000 undergrad, obviously the latter most function is least able to be achieved. 

Also, our campus is designated as a sub-committe of USG, so all of our decision making powers reside with West, and any changes we want to make have to be approved by them.  It's clear to me that this is an unrealistic expectation of how the power relationships between the two campus have been designated to run. Essecially, we do not have the ability to make our own policies, despite our different mission, student body, and issues.  I've said this before, but sustainability is about finding the right solution to the individual problem, instead of applying a one-size-fits-all approach.  By considering our campus in this manner, SB is acting against the mission they designated our campus is devoted to follow. 

In order to have our own student government, we would have to have a greater degree of autonomy, and according to West, a larger number of students and more money, because there is some law on the books requiring a lawer, but this is part of the USG that I don't quite understand.  Despite these obstacles, I envision a student government for Southampton by the end of the Spring 2010 semester.  Since we already have a board of finances, I don't think that the student government should have the oblication of distrubiting money.  Rather, I am convinced that what the campus needs is a group that can act on the student's behalf without heavy administrative oversight.  Instead of saying to the Dean, we don't like the food in the FSA, change it.  A student, or groups of students, could bring a proposal to the student goverment requesting negotiations regarding food service to be implemented according to the students complaints.  And their representatives could then engage in those negotiatons, and arrive at a solution that addresses the student's needs.  I expect only at the end of the process will there be any administrative input (approval). 

I think that this will give the students the voice that they need.  In addition, the greater autonomy that is required in order to have this student government could help our campus in other areas. For example, we are supposed to have a united Faculty - no departments.  But our faculty are still subservient to the departments at West, which means, and this is what happened this past go around, that the Biology department can decide not to offer classes that our campus needs due to its own politics.  I don't understand how this consitutes an independant faculty, and I know that the faculty are not pleased with that, and other current arragements. 

Inquiry, then, next semester, is dedicating itself towards publishing 4 issues, the first in the first week, witht the theme of Community, and how organizing as students to have a student government will enhance our community.  What follows are student meetings, a declaration/petition, a faculty involvment meeting, a meeting with our campus's Dean, another edition of Inquiry, and then a meeting with the Dean of West.  This is the outline for the first five weeks of class, afterwards it will be hard to tell what will happen.  But what is critical is that the movement for a student government and the autonomy that it requires, remain a student lead and driven movement.  Thankfully, the interim Dean of Students understand and supports these ideas, and I look forward to continued support from the faculty, but not a takeover of our goals by them.  We do have a concrete goal for this semester, but in the process we hope to build community around vocal activism.

Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

-Inquiry