The new Student Response Task Force will meet for the first time tomorrow morning, to discuss their role in the upcoming months in gathering opinion on the controversial steering committee recommendations.
According to Co-chair of the Task Force and Student Assembly president Dean Krishna '01 the purpose of the meeting is for the members to meet one another, deliberate on their charge, establish the ground rules and set a vision for the feedback in future months.
"Something we all know we should be doing is encouraging student dialogue and role in the process," Krishna said, adding the Task Force members will primarily discuss how to fulfill this goal.Krishna said he has the idea of convening a "president's council," bringing all student organization presidents together in responding to the recommendations. Arguing that the presence of presidents would lend authority to the forum, Krishna plans on presenting this idea to the other members tomorrow.
He said the Task Force members will also discuss how to monitor the process -- ensure students are freely expressing their views -- and compile a report.
Stressing the need to devise a timeline, Krishna said the Task Force needs to figure out when it is going to stop accepting proposals and start writing the report.
Krishna said the Task Force will probably need to submit the Trustees their report at least a week before they come up to Hanover for the Trustee meeting on April 14.
Although the Task Force has not met as yet, members interviewed by The Dartmouth expressed their ideas about the forum.
Member of the Task Force Elizabeth Agosto '01 said the same groups of people are expressing their views again and again, which limits the student perspective the Trustees are getting.
Agosto expressed the need for "a lot more legwork" to motivate other students to share their input on the recommendations.
Although satisfied with some really thoughtful and constructive comments made by students, another Task Force member, Jonathan Sussman '02, said the momentum has died down recently and said he hopes to keep the people continuously engaged in the dialogue.
