Official slow to enact Commission proposals

Despite almost daily discussion about the Commission on Strengthening the Community last year, the new administration has barely mentioned the committee's recommendations since assuming their positions. Last April, the Commission released its final report after months of discussion, debate and research. The report included recommendations on housing, Greek life and relations between faculty, students and staff. And Commission members have expressed concern that their work may have been in vain. "It's really disillusioning that so many good people could put so much good time into something only to have our recommendations ignored and our plans scuttled," said College junior Mike Nadel, who served on the Commission's communications committee. "Last year, we accomplished a lot and I would hate to see that go out the window." But administrators say they are paying attention to the report, citing the University Council's Committee on Pluralism as the organization in charge of implementing many of the recommendations. Other recommendations fall under the jurisdiction of the Offices of the President, Provost, the Executive Vice President and other administrative departments. "There certainly is not inattention to moving the Commission's agenda forward," University President Judith Rodin said. "A lot of things are in process," Executive Assistant to the Provost Linda Koons said. "Not much has been actually accomplished but everything is in progress." But Sociology Professor Samuel Klausner, a Commission member, said he is still "awaiting action." "I haven't gotten any feedback as to what the status is," he said. Originally, Council's agenda for Wednesday's meeting included a report by the Committee on Pluralism. But due to time constraints, the report has been postponed to Council's next meeting, in January. "There's not enough time for it," said Council moderator and Political Science Professor Will Harris. "We thought we would trivialize it if we squeezed it in with everything else." Harris noted that Council's meeting, which always runs exactly two hours, will include lengthy addresses by Rodin and Chodorow. Nadel said he is concerned that "the committee wasn't really doing anything." He added that no progress has been made on recommendations including the delay of Greek rush to second semester freshman year, housing changes, increasing interaction between faculty and students, and improving the quality of life for University staff. But former Interim President Claire Fagin said she felt, unlike Nadel, that the Greek rush recommendation would be officially implemented next year. And she said the housing issue is "very, very integral." Koons said the assigned housing recommendations are "on hold while we consider the undergraduate education plans." Rodin admitted that the administration has been slow in moving on some of the recommendations, such as the coffee house on Locust Walk and the use of the former Theta Xi fraternity house. "There were many things that we felt could have moved more quickly but have not," Rodin said. "But things are moving." She added that recommendations that fall under the Office of Human Resources have been slowed by the change in leadership in the department. Nadel also said many recommendations had time limits for implementation. "They should implement the recommendations immediately that were supposed to be immediate," Nadel said. "And they should take steps to make sure that the recommendations that were supposed to be implemented in one year will be -- that means April." Rodin said she is "tracking by date all of the recommendations." But she added that she was concerned about recommendations with target dates in general. "I think it's very important to set goals but when you set dates with the absence of data, it's setting oneself up for failure," Rodin said.

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