Board of Trustees holds first meeting of academic year
Correction appendedAccording to Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees Heddy Ben-Atar '11, four issues that the Student Union is focusing on this year were presented to the Board of Trustees at last week's Board of Trustees meeting.
The issues included improving social life on campus, students' reactions to the admissions policy changes that are being implemented for the Class of 2015, the importance of renovating the Linsey pool and potential dining changes.
Ben-Atar said that it is important for students to have better social experiences on campus.
To address this, a social life committee is in the process of being formed, Student Union President Daniel Acheampong '11 said in an interview with the Justice. Though he stressed that the committee is still in development, Acheampong wrote in a follow-up e-mail to the Justice that the committee "will analyze the social atmosphere and find ways to improve it. This committee will provide the highest level of communication between campus/club leaders to consolidate resources and to administer parties and events."
Ben-Atar said that alcohol safety is a priority, but she also addressed potentially altering The Stein and Ollies' liquor license so that students would be able to consume alcohol on campus past midnight, since most bars in Waltham serve alcohol until 1 a.m. She also said she believes that there should be more party events on campus to alleviate the problem of widespread student intoxication that is often associated with Pachanga.
Pachanga is "really the only big party on campus where all students come together, and if there were more events like that, students might be safer about how they interact with alcohol," she said.
A second issue that Ben-Atar presented to the Board was student feedback about the admissions policy changes. Ben-Atar reported to the Board that students would like to see exactly how many students the changes will affect.
Another issue that was discussed was the Linsey pool. A short video about the importance of renovating the pool, which featured interviews with three students and a Gosman Sports and Convocation Center manager, was presented at the meeting.
Changes to campus dining, such as offering more food options, having more available seating and renovating the dining halls, were also discussed at the meeting, Ben-Atar said.
The Student Union will work on all of these issues with the administration throughout the year until the Board of Trustees meets again in March, Ben-Atar said.
The Board of Trustees also approved promotions for Profs. David Engerman (HIST), Kathryn Graddy (ECON), Caren Irr (ENG) and Arthur Holmburg (THA), according to an e-mail to the Justice from Provost Marty Krauss. In addition, Prof. Zvonimir Dogic (PHYS) was promoted to associate professor with tenure, and President-Elect Frederick Lawrence was appointed as a full tenured professor in the Politics department, according to the e-mail.
-Harry Shipps contributed reporting.
Correction: The headline of this article incorrectly stated the number of times the Board of Trustees meets per academic year. The Board meets three times a year, not twice.
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