SLC awaits dean decision

As the time draws near for a new dean of students to be appointed at Oberlin, Student Life Committee members are questioning the role the new dean will play in discussion of the various student issues the Committee handles.

Over Thursday breakfast at Stevenson Dining Hall, SLC members discussed waiting until the new dean of students is appointed before they begin examining a potentially controversial proposal submitted by junior Jane Glynn.

The proposal asks that the search and seizure policies in the College's rules and regulations handbook be modified for the purpose of "clarify[ing] procedures and giv[ing] needed guidelines to administrators and students seeking to understand their rights and responsibilities in this issue."

The proposal centers primarily around altering the wording of the Rules and Regulations handbook to ensure that contraband in a student's room can only be confiscated in certain specific circumstances, and used in College judicial proceedings in an equally limited way.

While the committee is slated to discuss it with Glynn next week, members expressed their concern over addressing such a complicated issue without a dean of students to give input.

"It's so complex, and there are so many layers to it, I think the new dean should have a say," associate registrar Ken Gilson said.

Junior Sarah Fineberg said she saw no reason for waiting to discuss the proposal. "Lots of decisions have been made this year without knowing who the new dean is...things have gone ahead; if we wait for a new dean to come in, we could end up tabling everything. The College has to move forward," she said.

SLC Chair Lorraine Manz, associate professor of voice, said, "It's a matter of perception about how far-reaching the issue of rules and regulations goes. I don't see anything wrong with discussing it, but a new dean should have some chance for dialogue."

Associate Dean of Students Deborah McNish, one of the final candidates for the position of dean, said that while rules and regulations issues concern everyone, the dean of students is ultimately responsible and therefore must take part in the discussion.

"The dean of students is the bottom line as far as this goes," McNish said. "For me the proposal is a community issue; the reason for the proposal, I think, is to decriminalize part of our judicial process and to increase the likelihood of students feeling that their private space is private, and I believe in that...This is a broad, broad topic. The discussion should not necessarily center around the dean, but he or she is the person who must carry out what we decide, so that person must be involved in our discussion."

Members decided to postpone discussing Glynn's proposal until a new dean is appointed.

Also at the meeting, members approved charters for the International Socialists, the Quakers, Unity and Oberlin College Labor Militant without much discussion. The charters will now be passed to the General Faculty for approval.

After some debate, committee members decided to wait until their meeting next week to approve the charter for the Oberlin Computer Recycling Program. While members were enthusiastic about OCRP as an organization dedicated to lending computers to students who cannot afford them, concerns were raised over the charter's failure to specify who is responsible for storing the computers and which students are eligible to borrow them.

"How is the need defined? Is it tied to financial aid?" Manz asked. She suggested that the definition of who is eligible for a computer be incorporated into the charter.

Associate Dean of Students Joe DiChristina wanted to know who ultimately will be responsible for the computers being lent to students - OCRP founders or College employees. "I guess I'm just looking for somebody to take responsibility for them," he said.

The Committee decided that DiChristina should pose these questions to OCRP members so SLC will be able to approve an updated charter next week.

"We'll table it until next week, but it sounds fantastic," Manz said.