The Student Life Committee (SLC) met Monday to discuss committee restructuring that members hope to enforce in the near future.
A key proposal submitted by the ad hoc SLC Charter, Purpose and Membership subcommittee focuses on downsizing SLC, eliminating nine of its current 18 members. This would ensure that students, faculty members and ex-officio non-voters would each have three representatives, and would restore "the balance of power between faculty and students," according to OSCA Organizational Senator senior Devin Theriot-Orr, chair of the subcommittee. The possible addition of one member of the Administrative and Professional Staff to the SLC has also been suggested.
"The SLC is currently a dysfunctional committee - the charter is too vague and the legislated size is far too large," Theriot-Orr said.
"I'm delighted to see that the size of the committee is proposed to be a more manageable number, and that there will be a balance between faculty and students," said SLC Chair Gloria White, associate dean of Student Academic Services.
"The committee was designed to take care of far too many things before; everything that had to do with student life had to go through SLC," Senator junior Andreas Pape said. "There was always this vague feeling that SLC wasn't getting to everything."
The subcommittee was formed with the intent of remedying these problems. Members include Judicial Coordinator William Stackman, Student Union Assistant Director Tina Zwegat, Theater and Dance Chair Jane Armitage, Senator freshman Nathaniel Stankard, Pape, sophomore Nicole Johnston and Theriot-Orr.
A mission statement drafted by the subcommittee stated that its goals were "To examine the current structure of SLC with regards to membership size, connections with other committees, relationship with the student body, oversight of Student Senate proposals and/or other areas of concern."
Now in the process of both reviewing the methods of past SLCs and examining current issues, members of the subcommittee will work to formulate several boards to help regulate student life issues and lighten SLC's responsibilities to a manageable level. Possibilities include the establishment of a Student Union Board and a Health Plan Board.
"The new, improved SLC will serve as a networker among these boards. It will be sort of a catch-all for things that might otherwise fall through the cracks," Pape said.
In addition to founding these boards, the committee will address such concerns as the recent difficulties SLC has experienced in recruiting faculty members to make the group a more even mixture of staff and students.
According to Armitage, faculty may be reluctant to become involved with SLC because in previous years "people put in a huge time commitment and nothing ever really changed."
The subcommittee will also examine the current charter's policy prohibiting the three ex-officio committee members, the Dean of Student Life and her choice of two Associate Deans of Student Life, from voting in SLC decisions.
"I think that one of the questions this committee should address is whether it is still reasonable that the ex-official members should have a voice but not a vote," White said, adding that her goal is to see subcommittee members restore "stability and continuity" to the SLC.
Subcommittee members hope to continue making recommendations regarding size, communication and legislated power within the SLC, which they will formally submit May 20 at the General Faculty's (GF) last meeting of the year.
While the GF has the final say in all of the matters passed through the SLC, members of the SLC hope that their plans for reorganization will be approved with little modification.
"The proposed changes will, I hope, create a more functional sounding board for community concerns about issues of student life at Oberlin," Theriot-Orr said.
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