Kyle Roderick '99, last year's recipient of the Ranny Cardozo Award for the most outstanding junior and recent appointee to the Trustee Steering Committee on Student Life Initiative, appeared confident of the role the Committee will play in shaping Dartmouth's future.
Roderick, who is unaffiliated and was directly appointed by the Trustees to the Committee, said compared to any previous college committee, "this Committee is going to have the biggest impact on campus life."
Agreeing that in principal the Trustee Initiative is positive, Roderick said students and alumni perceived it wrongly because of the manner in which the information was passed down.
"Objectively I can't see many people objecting to it," Roderick said, adding that he thinks College President James Wright has a real commitment to students and student-life on campus.
Roderick, who said he strongly felt an urge to express himself rather than remain apathetic after the announcement of the Initiative, said the Committee needs to study the Initiative closely to determine how to implement the Five Principles.
"Change isn't necessarily bad," Roderick said, "but it has to be well thought out."
Praising the much talked-about "sense of community at Dartmouth," Roderick said the Committee members must translate all the proposals submitted and opinion of the entire community into real changes on campus.
Roderick, a visible member on campus, has been highly involved in community service since freshman year. He participated in DarCorps and in the Star Mentoring Program, which tutors children with chronic illnesses.
Roderick, who missed a year of college because of a bone marrow operation and will graduate with the Class of 2000, has been involved in the 1999 Class Council since Freshman Fall. Even though he is graduating with the '00s, Roderick said, he was "still a '99 at heart."
Earlier on in his college career, Roderick was also involved in the Afro-American Society but drifted away due to time constraints.
Roderick said he was excited about his opportunity next year of working with Susan Wright, wife of President Wright. He will plan events with Mrs. Wright and students, hoping to increase interaction between her and the Dartmouth community at large.
Describing himself as "very much a people person," Roderick said, "the quality and uniqueness of people is Dartmouth's biggest asset."
Having attended a public school in a small town in Cape Cod Massachusetts, Roderick said "the small-country atmosphere of Dartmouth really attracted me."
Roderick said he also "admires and respects traditions" at the College, but felt "some things need change."
