Task force students announced

Drew University President Bob Weisbuch e-mailed students last fall of his decision to form a committee of students to help build the idea of community on campus. That intention became reality lat week.

According to a recent campus-wide e-mail sent out by Weisbuch, the Presidential Task Force will be "composed of 12 undergraduates and supported by students from the Caspersen and Theological schools... Along with Dean of the College Jonathan Levin, Interim Dean of Campus Life and Student Affairs Ginny Samuel and faculty representative Professor Alan Candiotti, I asked the Student Government Association to name five students—one from each class and cabinet."

Weisbuch also stated in the campus wide e-mail. The SGA representatives of the Presidential Task force are Franklin Barbosa (’12), Samuel Bryson-Brockman (’11), David Robinson (’11) and Janelle Hoffman (’13). A senior class representative still needs to be named. In addition to the SGA members, seven students chosen by faculty and administrators are also a part of the task force. These students include Jonathan Amira (’10), Ankita Dey (’11), Yang Yang (’11), Mays Zubir (’11), Lloyd Robotham (’11), Ellen Taraschi (’12) and Patrick Dorsey (’13).

based committee into campus discussions. He said, "as we move forward, this will help us realize how to bring people together. I think it’s going to be a big challenge—we are going to have to think about it, talk about it and strategize about it… I realize that all students here at Drew love it, however, we all realize that something is missing. Hopefully this committee will help us figure out what that something is."

Both Weisbuch and Levin agreed that the committee and the decisions it makes need to be left primarily to the students. "I’ll show up later. I do have my own ideas, but I want them to be replaced by better ones, the students’ ones," Weisbuch said. "The students have to lead this effort, essentially undergrad students. Students don’t want to listen to the old people. They want to listen to each other."

Levin agreed with Weisbuch’s theory. "This is the building block to the further development of student relations and campus culture," he said. "The students [of the task force] are the strategic wing in telling us how to handle on-campus situations."

Five students from the task force came directly from the SGA. For the SGA portion, "the vice president of the SGA, Sam Bryson-Brockman, chose the SGA members of the task force. The SGA members of the task force were chosen based on their level of commitment to the SGA, as well as their valuable contributions to our student governing process," task force member Barbosa said.

As for the seven other members of the task force, "both myself and Dean Samuel solicited names by the faculty. We asked for students that were bright, engaged in campus activity and hold a good academic standing," Levin said. Samuel was not available for comment.

Levin stressed that the task force should help bring the campus together to create a campus culture. "As I do feel students here are engaged, they are engaged in pockets," Levin said. "Their social lives usually revolve around that group they are involved with, whether Acorn writers hang out together, or members of a team hang out together, social groups are determined by that activity."

He asked, "what does it take to get students involved and how do we create a campus culture, and communicate that culture?"

Student apathy is a nationwide problem that has been explored in many news sources. In an article published on TheNewMediaJournal.com in 2004 by Nancy Salvato, she wrote that "the most important factor [in successful education] is that students must be intrinsically motivated to do their best work and put forth the maximum effort to learn."

In an article published on DiversityWeb.com, Diana Alvarado discusses her concern that, "In recent years the media has reported distressing news about how today’s students are politically apathetic and civically disengaged."

Levin stressed that diversity was also important during the creation of the task force. "We tried to make the committee very diverse," he said.

Diversity was also an important issue for task force members themselves. Bryson-Brockmann said, "This committee allows for a more diverse aspect of the campus, pertaining to the needs of students, and what is necessary for them to succeed."

Barbosa explained that the main purpose of the task force is to survey the atmosphere here at Drew. According to Barbosa, "The administration values the opinions of all the members of the student body and the task force was created to do just that." He said, "The best way to find out what students think is through student-student relationships and then ultimately through student-administration relationships."

Bryson-Brockmann said, "The purpose of the task force is to allow administrators and other members of the Drew community a better understanding of what students want from the campus."

Robinson expressed his eagerness to represent student opinions as a part of the task force. "I feel that I will be a great addition to the task force… I am very involved on campus and I am able to put myself in others’ shoes, which is a key attribute that is needed from someone participating in a group like this on campus because it allows me to think and act with an open mind," he said.