Sam Duffley, Jasmine Florentine, Jeremy Flores, Daniel McLaughlin, and David Sheets recently met with Dean Chris Colombo to bring up the concerns of the Campaign for Students that led to the Lobby 7 protest on October 17, 2008. Also present were Noah Jessop to represent the UA and Vinayak Ranade as an intermediary for all groups involved.
The CFS representatives brought up many issues to Dean Colombo, including the administration’s apparent disregard for student body opinions (for example, the numerous recommendations from the UA), the mishandling of Green Hall evictions, financial aid issues, Star Simpson, and the recent W1 delays. Through our discussion, we tried to emphasize two important themes: the administration has seriously flawed methods of communication (both interdepartmental and in notifying students of important decisions), and the administration is out of touch with the needs and attitudes of the student body.
Dean Colombo agreed with our communication stipulation, saying that he thinks many students don’t know how or why decisions are being made. He is new to MIT, so he cannot definitely comment on how the administration handled the cases prior to his recent arrival. Both he and Noah serve on the Taskforce for Student Engagement, and they both suggest that representatives from the CFS talk with the students on the council so that they can advocate for us.
The next Taskforce meeting is on November 19, and the CFS will put together our concerns so that the student reps. can express them to the others in the committee
