Turnout Small at Student Meeting

Turnout Small at Student Meeting

Mary Washington College, Student Meetings

This Bullet article discusses the desire for more "open student body" meetings, according to a student survey. One such meeting took place on February 13, 1979, although out of a total student number of over 2,300, only 30 students attended. The main area of discussion regarded a previous meeting with MWC President Prince B. Woodward. Discussion dwelt mainly on the types of questions students asked of Woodward and opinions of his responses to those questions. There was no consensus among the students. The article goes on to describe other topics of discussion and points of contention.

Mello, Michael

Mello, Michael. "Turnout Small at Student Meeting." The Bullet (VA), February 2, 1979.

HIST 298, University of Mary Washington

1979-02-22

The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source.

2 JPEGs

300 dpi

English

Fredericksburg, VA

Ninety-three percent of those students responding to a recent S.A. Senate survey indicated that they feel that there is a need for more open student body meetings. One such meeting was held on Tuesday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. Out of a total student population of 2360, approximately 30 attended. 

The meeting took place immediately after MWC President Prince B. Woodward addressed the Student Senate. Many people at the open student body meeting expressed the opinion that the content of some questions asked of Woodward at the earlier meeting were pretty and that their presentation was immature. Others disagreed, arguing that the issues presented to Woodward were important to the MWC academic community. Still others asserted that the issues themselves were important, but that the students were not following the "proper channels" in dealing with them. For example, it was suggested that the absence of washers and dryers in Tyler and of locks on the bedroom doors of Marye were not matters to be raised in a forum with the President of the college.

The open student body meeting began with a short address by Patrick Everett, S.A. Academic Affairs Chairman. Everett stated that plans were being made to convert ACL Lounge A into an all-night study room. The room is scheduled to open Wednesday on a probationary basis.

Following this, S.A. Vice President Steve Schlimgen opened the floor for questions about his performance in office. It was at this point that the debate concerning the quality of the questions asked of Woodward at the Senate meeting began. One student said that "Woodward gave us one hour and we blew it; we wasted it with petty gripes rather than centering on the big problems that face MWC."

Another student, taking exception, argued that these "petty problems" were really the tangible things that directly affect the quality of like at MWC. She felt that the meeting with Woodward had been productive. "Our goal tonight was to open lines of communication between the President and the students. We have made him aware of our problems and he listened."

The question then became: How did Woodward respond to the student views presented to him? Some felt that his attitude was condescending and evasive, that he interacted with the audience at the meeting as a father does when explaining things to a small child. Others felt the opposite: that the President had been open and honest, explaining what he could and promising to look into that which he could not explain offhand.

Despite Schlimgen's attempts to give the meeting some semblance of coherence, heated discussion continued between members of the audience. A matter raised at a recent Senate meeting was brought up: a student left MWC under what some believe to be suspicious circumstances. One member of the audience argued that the entire question is a private matter between the former students and the college administration. The point was then made that the ex-student herself had requested an investigation of the circumstances surrounding her departure; hence, it was a matter within S.A.'s jurisdiction. Student Association President Laura Buchanan advised the audience that she and Campus Judicial Chairman Jane Daniels had already contacted all parties involved (including the former student), that their investigation was complete and that there were no irregularities in the student's departure from MWC. At least one member of the audience remained unsatisfied, however, and suggested that the investigation should continue.

Three issues were raised toward the end of the meeting. First Schlimgen announced that Dean Clement had refused to join President Woodward in addressing the Senate because of the treatment she received the last time she met the S.A. Senate. Schlimgen added that he feels Clement is the recipient of much "unjustified grief--it's her job to enforce the rules set up by the B.O.V."

Second, Judicial Chairman Jane Daniels reported that the present system of monetary fines for judicial offenses in ineffective and that more cases would come to trial in the future.

Finally, S.A. President Laura Buchanan revealed that Greg Sokolowski, President of the Day Student Association, recently told her that the Day Student Association is ineffective and should be abolished. She also noted that several commuter students had complained about the job Sokolowski is doing as President. One member of the audience suggested that the interests of the commuter students could be better served by removing Sokolowski as president than by abolishing the entire Day Student Association.

Newspaper

Carretto, Suzannah

Williams, Megan