Despite strong student support during the Winter term, only 20 people attended the newly created Social Life Committee's first panel event on social dynamics and spaces on Tuesday night in Collis Common Ground.
The committee was created last term after a petition signed by 800 students demanding the formation of a group to investigate the social dynamics at Dartmouth was brought to College President James Wright. The SLC hoped to beging discussions between the Committee and the student body on Tuesday night in order to begin solving the problems regarding alternative social spaces at Dartmouth. Members of the committee, however, were disappointed and surprised by the lack of attendance.
"It's fallen off people's radars," one committee member said.
The SLC had hoped to resolve these issues last term, but realized they could not determine by themselves what kind of changes in social life Dartmouth students want.
This term, the College will hire professionals to conduct a culture audit in an attempt to determine what changes students would like to see in campus social life.
Currently, the SLC is trying to determine how to form focus groups of six to eight students, that will be observed by the auditors. They aim to create groups representative of the entire student body, but that are comfortable enough around each other to be honest in group settings.
The Tuesday night meeting was intimate and casual due to the lack of attendance. Students voiced their concerns that randomly chosen focus groups would not accurately represent the student body. One SLC member suggested that the committee target students who do not necessarily want to be involved, but "maybe should be."
They also discussed what questions should be asked in the audit in order to determine what the social atmosphere is like at the College.
Questions that were generated included where students feel comfortable on campus, how students are using these spaces, and how to improve the availability of these spaces. Attendees also showed interest in determining how students' opinions are influenced by stigmas already present on campus, how students' opinions develop during their four years on campus and whether or not this can be changed.
Members of the SLC emphasized that they are open to suggestions.
"The focus is on getting input from the rest of the student body," one SLC member said.
Ideas for new social initiatives, like the addition of a coffee house on campus, a climbing wall in Collis or moonbounces were briefly discussed as possibilities.
