Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson sent an email to undergraduate students yesterday detailing future initiatives to ground the College in "respect, inclusion and intellectual engagement." Johnson said she will work with Palaeopitus Senior Society to provide Google Moderator technology to increase "candid" communication, and termly Deans' Forums, which will include partnerships with student organizations, will begin May 9. Johnson highlighted a focus on mental health, seen in a recent Inter-Community Council survey and the hiring of two counselors and one psychiatrist in Counseling Services, who will join the College in fall 2012, the email said. The College will adopt the Committee on Standards' Sexual Assault Review recommendations and has hired an additional Sexual Assault Awareness Program coordinator, as well as an external expert to advise administrators on how to reduce sexual assault on campus. "Enhanced" dining, expanded social spaces in the Class of 1953 Commons and Collis Student Center and a new advising center are among initiatives that show progress in addressing other campus problems, Johnson said.
A report issued by the American Association of Community Colleges highlighted a lack of employment preparation from two-year institutions and issued seven recommendations on how to provide an additional five million students with degrees by 2020, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Community colleges must collaborate with high schools and baccalaureate institutions to achieve this goal, according to the report, designed by a 38-member committee of college presidents, policy experts and non-profit groups. In the future, community colleges must focus on providing resources offered by four-year institutions, such as orientation for first-year students and a "student success" course to help with career and academic planning, the report said.
A panel of sports administrators, researchers and athletes said that progress in being made toward inclusion and acceptance of gay students in college athletics, Inside Higher Ed reported Monday. Panelists including former Big Green lacrosse player Andrew Goldstein '05, the country's first openly gay athlete to be drafted onto a professional sports team spoke at Saturday's annual University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill College Sport Research Institute Conference. Goldstein, who came out to his team after his sophomore season, advised coaches and managers to take initiative to help players accept their own sexuality, Inside Higher Ed reported. Eric Anderson, a University of Winchester sociologist, said athletes will be able to participate without fear of discrimination in 20 years, citing research that demonstrate increasing inclusivity, Inside Higher Ed reported. Athletic administrators, panelists said, must phase out discriminatory practices in initial meetings and halftime pep talks.
