The event, which was billed as a listening session for Bolton rather than a talking session, covered topics from stress and mental health to alcohol and party spaces.
Mariah Joyce
Editor in Chief
During her visit to campus last weekend, President-elect Sarah Bolton held a fireside chat in the Lowry Pit.
Bolton said at the chat, which took place from 1-2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 7, that she was “mostly here to hear from everybody” and asked the students to tell her what was important for her to know about The College of Wooster.
Topics discussed at the chat included the ongoing Living Wage Campaign, the functionality of Campus Council, a perceived problem of student over-involvement, the pressure and buildup surrounding Independent Study (I.S.), the need for more diversity training and discussion of sexual assault in first-year orientation, the party and alcohol policies and communication among administrators and between the administration and the student body.
Katie Lucero ’18 led off the discussion by bringing up the Living Wage Campaign. Lucero said she became involved in the LWC through Professor Charles Kammer’s Just Work class, where students work alongside staff in custodial, grounds and dining services.
“I just wanted to let you know that [the Campaign] is really important to students,” Lucero said to Bolton. “It’s something we as students really care about.”
Later in the discussion, the LWC was brought up again when Damilola Onakomaiya ’16 asked Bolton what she was planning to do about it.
“My plan right now is listening,” said Bolton. “I need to do that before I formulate a plan to do anything about anything. I appreciate folks bringing it up and I understand that it’s a really serious commitment that students have.”
After Lucero spoke, Herbert Sizek ’17 brought up problems with the way that Campus Council (CC) functions. Sizek characterized CC as a “very odd institution.” Sizek said that while organizations like Student Government Association (SGA), Black Student Association (BSA) and Greek Life all have a presence in CC, the organization needs some direction.
Sunny Mitra ’16, moderator of the discussion, and as of press time, outgoing SGA president, added to Sizek’s point, saying that he had been part of CC his sophomore year and what he saw that year led him to become frustrated with the organization and join SGA instead.
“There’s 100 percent turnover in students every year, but the faculty and staff remain constant every three years, so there’s a power imbalance there,” said Mitra. He went on to suggest that student representatives be elected on two-year terms that are not overlapping to fix the problem of 100 percent turnover every year.
“When you start from square one again the next year, the problems don’t get solved,” said Mitra.
Emily Donato ’16 and Stephanie Marengere ’16 both spoke about problems of stress and mental health on Wooster’s campus. Donato brought up what she perceives as a culture of over-involvement which leads to students spreading themselves too thin for the sake of their résumés, and Marengere expressed concern about the way that I.S. is built up on campus.
When Bolton asked what might make for a more reflective, less anxiety-filled environment for students, Donato suggested hiring more counselors at the Wellness Center and actively encouraging students to make appointments with them.
Next, Evan White ’18 said that she was disappointed that diversity training wasn’t emphasized in first-year orientation and that she thought that was something that should be highlighted in the future.
Annette Hilton ’17, piggybacking on White’s comment, suggested some sort of event/training about consent and what constitutes sexual assault be incorporated into freshman orientation.
Finally, several students spoke about the alcohol policy, the party policy and how those policies have affected the campus climate.
Kaitlin Starr ’16 identified herself as a member of the senior committee and said that the party policy has made students not want to give Wooster their money.
Starr is also president of Delta Theta Psi, a sorority on campus, and said that the party and alcohol policies have put a lot of pressure on Greek groups.
“[Greeks] supply most of the parties, and we now don’t feel comfortable opening up those parties,” said Starr. “I think [the policies] have made a lot of problems and heightened sexual assault issues … people were happy and enjoyed themselves, and now people just sit around and complain about how they’re not happy here and they wish they were somewhere else.”
Starr said that one of the biggest problems is that since the UG is closed, there are no spaces approved for drinking that are actually large enough to hold all the members of her sorority, let alone any guests they might want to bring.
“There really is no place for some of these groups to go,” said Starr.
Marengere added to Starr’s point, saying that she had a unique perspective as a resident director on campus. Marengere said that at the beginning of this year, she and other members of residence life were told to “drop the hammer” on violations they saw around campus and document every violation they saw.
“As someone who had to be the person to drop the hammer, cawwmpus doesn’t really ever feel safe anymore,” said Marengere. “My social life is gone. It’s really unfair to everyone, for everyone who has to follow these policies that don’t really make sense.”
Bolton ended the chat by thanking students for their input, saying that one of the things she appreciated about Wooster was the sense of community and the way that students, faculty, staff and administration all worked to support each other.
Bolton plans to visit campus several more times throughout the semester and will start her term officially on July 1, 2016.