R Taylor Grow
Here’s a fact: our administration has begun to enforce policies previously unheard of at The College of Wooster. I am speaking primarily of policies in relation to our party culture, specifically the Party Monitor Policy. While members of the community have spoken out about the Party Monitor Policy — both formally, through mediums such as the Voice and informally among friends — my concern is not about the policies and their inconveniences. Instead, my concern rests in the disrespect I feel directed towards us as students by the lack of transparency from our administration.
The Party Monitor Policy has been, and forever will be, a subject of satire. A garden of absurd questions and scenarios have blossomed across campus. More than once I have received a bouquet of “Will the party monitor detect the black X on the back of a first year’s hand and, with a falcon’s speed to match that eyesight, slap the Natural Light from his hand?” On more than one occasion, I have sheepishly offered an attractive gentleman my own bundle of “Will the party monitor notice the beginnings of a rumble in Luce Basement, and, with a superhuman strength, wrap one Mr. Fantastic arm around each member of the scuffle and telepathically contact Security and Protective Services?” And while these orchids and roses still sit in their metaphorical vases, as fragrant and vibrant as upon their first delivery, they are tired images and tired questions. Instead of asking for the merits of the party monitor, we should instead demand to know from our administration why he has been forcefully inserted into our cultural mythology.
Companies across America are switching from an insistence in policy to an insistence in culture. While I do not believe it is reasonable to expect our college to abandon policy, I do believe that we can learn from the exemplary practices in this corporate culture movement. HubSpot, a Boston-based company that works with inbound marketing, proclaims in its Culture Code as one of its core values, “We are radically transparent,” by which it means that the company “make[s] uncommon amounts of information available to everyone in the company” (over 700 employees). While HubSpot will not share information if (1) protecting the information is “legally required” or (2) if “it is not completely [the company’s] to share” (think the compensation of an individual worker), everything else is available. Absolutely reasonable, and, to no one’s surprise, a great contributor in creating a functional — and enviable — corporate culture.
I believe that the College and its officials can embrace this notion of transparency. I ask for an address to the college community justifying the Party Monitor Policy. I demand an explanation — the metrics behind the policy’s conception, the logic behind its specifics, everything that I am sure was communicated among the heads of the school, but not offered to the students at large — from the President or a Dean, in person, in McGaw.
Quite frankly, I am no longer speaking about policy; I am speaking about a culture of trust and respect. And I do not feel out of line if I suggest that, if we students do not receive one, we certainly shall not offer the administration the other.
Note: This was written prior to announcement of Party Policy Fireside chat on Sept. 18 and 19.