Council addresses campus life report

In a mostly collegial and particularly philosophical discussion, University Council examined the recently released Faust Report yesterday, with most members giving the study high grades. At the urging of History Professor Drew Faust, whose committee produced the campus life report, yesterday's discussion centered on the study's examination of the "invisibility" of staff members on campus. Council members also focused on how to achieve the report's vision of a "plural" community. The report details a community in which individuals from different cultural backgrounds "maintain their separate identities, yet come together in a community enriched by both its members' differences and their similarities." The study, commissioned by the president two years ago, also takes a strong stand against fraternities, urging that their relocation be considered in the diversification of Locust Walk. At Faust's urging, Council members largely ignored fraternities in their discussions. In introducing the report, Faust said the study found that the campus population has changed dramatically in recent years but that "the University has not entirely caught up with these changes." Council members spent most of the time discussing the report's focus on A-3 staff members, praising the report for bringing up a rarely discussed issue. Faust set the tone of the discussion stating that the "level of incivility towards staff is beyond many of your imagination." Past Faculty Senate Chairperson Robert Davies agreed with Faust's assessment, saying that the staff's grievance process against faculty and students needs to be simplified and strengthened. Graduate and Professional Student Assembly representative Andrew Miller said staff contributions are generally not solicited or valued, adding that most appointments of staff members to University committees, including Council, have not been made yet. He said the head of A-3 staff government recently lost his job, leading many staff members to be afraid of speaking out on issues or grievances. On the issue of pluralism, all members who spoke praised the report's vision of campus, but some questioned whether it was realistic. Graduate student representative Michael Goldstein pointed to ethnic strife in Eastern Europe and other parts of the globe as well as race tensions in the U.S., arguing that nowhere has a society ever achieved true pluralism. President Sheldon Hackney agreed with Goldstein's point, suggesting that the U.S. has probably achieved pluralism better than any other country, but added that he hopes the University could set an example for others to follow. Although some members of the Council predicted a heated debate over the issue of diversifying Locust Walk -- especially with regard to fraternities -- the issue was only raised at the end of the meeting, primarily by observers who were not Council members. Two members of the Progressive Student Alliance chastized Hackney for his decision to forbid the consideration of removing Locust Walk fraternities, saying the stance is against the values set forth in the Faust Report. Hackney reiterated his stance and the reasons behind it, saying that the process would be too divisive and would ruin campus unity. Some Council members, incuding Finance Professor Emeritus Jean Crockett and Undergraduate Assembly representative Daniel Singer, pressed Hackney to turn the Castle into a multi-cultural living and learning center, but the president said he would wait until the Walk committee makes a recommendation on the building before he makes a decision. Hackney said early this semester that the Castle house would be filled by January, but Morrisson said in October that it is not likely to be occupied next semester. In other business, the president said he will have racial harassment policies of other universities published in the Almanac in order to facilitate further discussion over the University's policy, which is currently under revision. Hackney added that he will sponsor a forum on the policy on December 3 for all members of the University community to discuss the issue.

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