Dean of Advisory Board 2/17/11

Today we discussed the protests at the union and the potential new Badger Partnership. The board addressed its questions and concerns to the Dean and Associate Deans of Students. There was a realization that not many students are well informed of this  policy/initiative. The most common misnomer is that UW-Madison wants to become a private institution–THIS IS NOT TRUE! Rather, the UW  Madison is seeking a new plan of collective authority of sovereign immunity, which would give us our own governing board in place of Board of Regent which currently overseeing ALL of the UW system schools. However, UW-Madison intends to maintain connections to the UW system while providing flexible options to our institution. For more information, visit the Badger Partnership website which is available here: http://newbadgerpartnership.wisc.edu/. This information has also been addressed in the Chancellor’s emails to the student body and a forum for students will be held in early March to discuss the effects of the new proposed budget. The date will be posted as soon as it is known. For a detailed list of the questions discussed at this meeting or any additional questions, please respond to the blog and we will try to respond as soon as possible.

Dean of Students Advisory Board, Nov 9 2010

The Dean of Students Advisory Board met on Tuesday, November 9th 2010.  We were asked to bring along other students to participate in a discussion about advising on campus.  Dean Berquam was not in attendance, as she was at a conference.

The conversation about advising lasted for about an hour and focused on students’ experiences with advisers on campus. It was lead by Don Woolston, formerly of the College of Engineering, who has been asked by the University to look into advising on campus. Many students expressed frustration with the processes that they must go through to figure out how to graduate from the University on time.  Specific issues included the problems students face when their advisers have difficulty helping them with more than one major, working between colleges, and the atmosphere that students face in their advising meetings.

Following the discussion of advising, Associate Dean Kevin Helmkamp led the group in a discussion about the University’s image to persons both inside and outside the campus community.  Students talked about why they chose to go to the UW, their experience as students on other campuses (in the case of transfer students) and the conceptions that people hold about the University of Wisconsin.

ODOS Advisory Board

The Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS) Advisory Board met on Tuesday October 14, 2010.

The board discussed a wide range of topics from Academic Integrity to Bullying this past Tuesday.

Yolanda Garza discussed her ideas on formulating a cross-college standard of academic integrity or even at least having departments clearly state what academic integrity means to them. Students discussed the wide range and difference of opinion on academic integrity depending on what department or college the transgression was enacted.  Cleaning up the legal code and making a readable format for students was also discussed as well as the positive effects of academic integrity and how it affects our university as a whole.  Ideas were thrown about as professors believe students come to the university knowing what academic integrity is, which is not the case.  Online course that must be taken prior to starting to college, integrating with SOAR, and other ideas primarily for incoming first year students were discusses.  Having a refresher course or program was also discusses as juniors and seniors may need a primer as a reminder on academic integrity.

Kipp Cox discussed the absence protocol and how the Dean’s office should serve as a ‘last resort’ as the professor/instructor and host department are in place to discuss absences with a student.  Many professors make this clear through syllabi’s however a minority may not.

Bob Ray discussed the withdrawal/early intervention project, as currently the university does not have any data on how students leave, or what causes them to leave the university.  Many ideas were thrown about on standardizing processes before a student leaves, more contact with an advisor, or a call to see why the student left the university, etc..

Sarah Van Orman discussed the recent suicides that have gained national attention and how the university has clearly approached the issue and reminded students of the support areas on campus as well as encouraging students to take action if worried about a friend or roommate.

Along with this discussion a discussion about defining bullying on campus was had, along with a passionate and eye opening discussion on bullying and civility on and off campus.

Alcohol policy was also discussed in which individual, institutional and community strategies were debated.  Having alcohol screening as well as connecting to the student campus via talks such as given during welcome week about alcohol effects the brain etc…

ODOS Advisory Board Meeting 9/14/2010

The Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS) Advisory Board met on Tuesday September 14, 2010.  The topics focused mainly on the new projects and procedures for the upcoming year of the Division of Student Life, the new title for the Office of the Dean of Students. This name was suggested and voted on by students and faculty as a representative name of the actions of the office.

First, a new panel has being created to begin in Fall of 2010: the Chancellor’s Panel of Student Leaders. This panel will be served on by students chosen from the School/College Dean’s Office, housing, the Wisconsin Union, and ASM Shared governance as well as Chancellor Martin. The 20 -25 students will not represent their groups but will provide a link with multiple perspectives between students and Chancellor Martin. The panel will meet three times per semester.

Also discussed were the WUD Fireside Chats. These chats will be based in current, student chosen topics and will take place at the Union where representatives of the University will also be present to help facilitate and participate in discussions.  The chats will be held from 6:30-8:00PM once every month. The Director of the Union and the Dean of Students will alternate being present every month, and Chancellor Martin may also be present. All students are welcome to attend these chats as promoted through the Wisconsin Union Directorate. If interested the schedule for this year is Oct. 28th, Nov. 4th, Feb. 3rd, March 10th, and April 7th.

The Division of Student Life Initiatives has also worked on creating the University’s first alcohol philosophy, to allow the UW-Madison to have a written stance on alcohol abuse. The recent rise in binge drinking by students of all ages and the percentage of students who drop out due to alcohol related issues were partially the spark for this decision to create a philosophy. The board was asked for their opinions and recommendations on how to discourage widespread campus binge drinking. The UW reputation as a “Party School” was discussed as encouraging this behavior. Also mentioned were the general drinking culture of Wisconsin, and introduction to the collegiate lifestyle. It was recommended to work on, especially, alternatives for freshman, widespread knowledge of the drop out rate due to drinking, and possibly education within the broader community area about drinking. Suggestions are welcome.

An additional solution became a tie to the next two topics of conversation; the idea of asking students “What will their legacy be?” and also what they want the reputation of their University to be.

This flowed into the idea of Academic Integrity; of how to really educated students on the definitions of plagiarizing and how to avoid it. The UW has its definition of Academic Integrity as outlined in UWS Chapter 14. It was recommended through multiple voices on the board that not only the Com–A and introductory classes go over, in depth, the definition and consequences (with real life examples, in the professional field as well) of academic dishonesty, but also that perhaps all students be required to review the information before beginning classes at the UW. In addition, the idea was put out that students should be asked and encouraged to be accountable for their actions, as part of their UW legacy.  That the idea of legacy would encourage students to achieve the high standards that the UW will hold them to. While this idea was more abstract, it highlighted that the need for the UW to define what it wants to see of its students and ask that the students live up to this.

As well as academic integrity, this idea of Expectations was applied to the actions of students and specific cheers at UW Madison football games- specifically the profanity of the inter-section “Eat S***/ F*** You” chant. E-mails of season ticket holders protesting the chants and t-shirts were shown to the board members. These e-mails demanded that the UW take some action. It was also brought up that members of industry complain to the administration that if these are the actions of UW Madison students, they are not interested in recruiting UW students to be employees. The board spoke of suggestions to stop this chanting tradition. They recommended appealing to the students by discussing the image that this produces of the UW and students professionally by e-mails and also a short movie at the beginning of the football game. The idea of taking away Jump Around at games where this chant is preformed was also discussed.

This concluded with the first draft of “Student Values” which the Division of Student Life is working on creating to define what it wants to see in UW-Madison students. The idea of the definitions is to define goals for UW students and to put the idea of their legacy and college experience into perspective and allow them to consider this early on. The values include ideas of working hard as UW scholars, demonstrating respect and academic integrity, and reflecting the Wisconsin Idea. The ideas are still in draft form, and suggestions are always welcome.

Finally, the board meeting ended with a reminder that the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates is in its 3rd round. Information can be found on the webpage. Also, this year’s Go Big Read campaign has kicked off with the book for this year:  “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. Campus can expect a public presentation by the author herself on October 25th.

The next meeting will take place October 12th. Any suggestions are welcome before then!