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BY MATT BLEIMAN

In print | January 31, 2008

Student Council has been working to form new committees to add to Swarthmore’s student government, including the Student Health Advisory Council and the Committee on

Institutionally Responsible Policies and Practices. In addition to these new committees, the recently created Sustainability Planning Committee has just begun to become active in the community.

According to Peter Gardner ’08 and Sven Udekwu ’09, President and Vice-President of Student Council, respectively, the Committee on Institutionally Responsible Policies and Practices is in charge of taking student proposals and generating dialogue about them with the President or senior staff.

“There has been a lot of frustration in the past after students make proposals [for receiving money for activities] and faculty later ask for revisions. This committee will help streamline the process,” Gardner said. He believes that putting proposals through a committee will allow faculty to ask questions and give constructive criticism before all the effort is put into final proposals and they are submitted. Udekwu added that, “It is a way for students to get input immediately instead of having to wait.”

The Student Health Advisory Council will be used as a way to open dialogue between students and Worth Health Center. Regarding the new health committee, Udekwu said, “The new one with [Director of Health Services Beth Kotarski] is literally just being started now and is still taking applications.”

“The health committee will be giving input on how to improve health services and reach out to the student body,” Gardner said. “Beth will get input provided from the committee. I think Beth is fantastic and eager to get student input and to actively get the student body’s opinions.”

Student Council’s Appointments Web site describes the Student Health Advisory Council as “a liaison between the college health services and the student body. Its main goal is to provide effective communication between the director/staff and the students in an effort to facilitate open and meaningful dialogue.” According to the Reserved Students Digest, applications are due 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1. Applications and instructions on how to apply can be found on the Web site.

Members of the Student Health Advisory Council will meet two times per semester with the director of health services, provide help for a health fair and be in communication with the director for various campus health issues. They are expected to commit to about six hours per semester and extra time for correspondence with the director.

Nate Erskine ‘10, Student Council’s Appointments Chair, explained the spring semester appointments, saying, “Right now we have a special appointments process because students are abroad, decide not to return, et cetera, so there are vacancies on committees.” He said the new health committee is a special case because it needs to be completely filled with six to eight people. “We are trying to assemble a diverse group of students to really help Beth give student feedback to Worth,” Erskine said. “The goal is to get a greater student voice at Worth.”

Erskine also described the difficulties involved with appointments. “One of the troubles we have with student appointments is to generate the publicity. We send e-mails through different groups but also hope people check the Web site,” he said. Erskine said the application processes are usually very straightforward and not a huge time commitment.

The Sustainability Planning Committee, which was formed last November, has now begun its work. “It is just getting started. They are beginning to assess what could be done and are starting to put together reports now,” Udekwu said. The committee now has a full ten-person membership – three students, three faculty and four staff.

The committee had its first official meeting on Monday. According to professor of engineering Carr Everbach, co-chair of the committee, the first meeting went very well despite initial troubles scheduling a time when all the members could meet.

“We talked about the structure by which recommendations could be implemented and how we might have accountability,” Everbach said. Some accountability measures the committee discussed include an external review committee to see if benchmarks are being met, an internal committee within the college, a staff position to ensure recommendations are good and are being implemented well or possibly a hybrid of the aforementioned ideas.

The initial discussions remained on the topic of the process with which the committee will work. “Before we get to recommendations we want to make sure our envisioning of the process will be entertained by administrators, to know that we will not make recommendations that will be dead on arrival,” Everbach said. “Recommendations will not be a surprise and will be pre-vetted so they are feasible. That does not mean they will not be expensive or bold but they will be possible.”

The hope of the Sustainability Planning Committee is to make recommendations and hand them up through higher committees with the hope that they add their input. The new committees all hope to get a foot in the door this semester and begin to help the community in ways not previously considered.

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