During a Board of Trustees meeting set to be held during the upcoming Winter Carnival weekend, Trustees plan to discuss various financial issues, including possible hikes in tuition fees and ways to fund the construction of new facilities.
The Board will also meet with the Student Affairs Group -- a representative body comprised of various undergraduate and graduate students -- to discuss gender and intergroup relations on campus.
Trustee Chair Susan Dentzer said that, due to the economic downturn, the Board has "new realities to take into account" when they evaluate the College's financial plan for this year.
Thus, the Board will examine options for financing the construction of the proposed North Maynard St. residential center and the proposed life sciences building.
While she said that the Board will adopt tuition and room and board formulas for next year, Dentzer declined to speculate on how the Board might change these formulas.
She added that the Board will also meet at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to listen to a presentation about plans to expand hospital facilities.
The Board will discuss plans to expand the hospital's Rubin Building and its facilities for ambulatory treatment, she said, noting that during its meeting last fall, the Board agreed to expand DHMC's Cancer Center.
Dentzer also noted that the outcome of the Board's discussion with the Student Affairs Group should be of special interest to students.
Molly Stutzman, a member of the Student Affairs Group and student body president, noted that the format for this Student Affairs Group meeting with the Trustees differs substantially from the format followed in years past.
A standing committee of Trustees, the Committee on Student Affairs, would listen to presentations by a small number of students each year, Stutzman said.
"It was like a dog and pony show," she said, "and, while there was a feeling among Trustees that this was good, there was too little interaction with students."
A productive discussion meeting with two Trustees during a Student Assembly summit last year convinced these members of the board that Student Affairs Group meetings could be more effective, according to Stutzman.
Stutzman said that the group settled on gender and intergroup relations as a topic because such problems seem to dominate so much of campus debate.
"I had to do a project which involved my looking through back issues of The D in Rauner," she said, "and I found that these same issues emerged again and again."
Stutzman hopes to discuss the difficulties with the Board of reacting to incidents like the swastika incident earlier this term or the release of "The Zetemouth" last spring.
James Larimore, Dean of the College and an advisor to the Student Affairs Group, said that he hoped to discuss whether "progress has been made or ground has been lost" on such issues.
Stutzman was enthusiastic about the change of format.
"I hope to have an honest and productive dialogue," she said.
