The Student Response Task Force has set 12 p.m. on February 25 as the deadline for accepting responses to the steering committee recommendations and will spend the rest of the term encouraging students to share their input.
Hoping to draft its own report for the Board of Trustees before the end of Winter term, the Task Force has created a BlitzMail account, sent a flier to student Hinman Boxes and invited students to meet with members from 9:30 to 10 a.m. on Thursday mornings to solicit responses. In addition, Task Force members have also been holding office hours at night at the Big Green Bean.
The Task Forces' renewed effort to encourage student input comes in the wake of increasing apathy towards the recommendations -- an indication of which is the dwindling number of participants at the fireside chats.
Although unsure of the actual reason for the recent drop in student interest, Dean of the College James Larimore said the tapering off in numbers after the initial high level of interest is "somewhat normal." Although the numbers have gone down, the quality of discourse has not diminished, he added.
Task Force members speculated a resurgence of student input as the deadline approaches.
"This might be a midterm lull in participation," Larimore said. "The numbers should come back up as the deadline gets nearer."
Committee members also expressed the need to make a strong concerted effort to encourage student voice.
"It all depends on how hard the Task Force works to make itself visible and convinces students that responding is worthwhile," President of the Student Assembly and Co-chair of the Task Force, Dean Krishna '01 said.
Larimore said he will be meeting with the Coed Fraternity and Sorority Council, individual Greek houses, minority organizations and residential clusters to provide insight into the work of the committee.
"Students may be looking for opportunities closer to home," Larimore said.
The Task Force has also organized weekly dinners at houses of faculty and administration members, where 10 randomly chosen students are invited. Special Assistant to the Dean of the College, Mary Liscinsky said these small group discussions have been "really good," adding the dinners would continue for the rest of the term.
The Task Force members explained the structure of their report, saying they will not be filtering the input and simply passing it along to the Trustees.
"Our report will be descriptive similar to Dean Nelson's Task Force Report," Krishna said. "We won't be making independent recommendations."
