Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) cut straight to business at its first meeting of the year on Wednesday, addressing the issue of academic advising left from last year's agenda, while also discussing current issues and outlining goals for the year.
Sam Dinning '09, this year's vice president of academic affairs, introduced the topic of pre-major academic advising during the meeting's discussion phase.
Advising has been a contentious issue for BSG throughout the past year and was left unresolved last May.
"The first goal for BSG will be discussing the issue in as many venues as possible in order to hear and compare experiences of students, faculty, and administrators," Dinning wrote in an e-mail to the Orient. "From here we will be able to diagnose certain problems and move forward in the best possible direction," he said.
During the meeting, Dinning stressed that rather than harping on the problems of the current advising system, students need to move beyond complaints and to begin searching for concrete, tenable solutions.
Dan Levis '10 felt that part of the problem is the lack of clear expectations for both students and professors. "The expectations for advisors should be set out very clearly," he said.
"Currently, all they get is a lot of colored paper," Dinning said, referring to the current system of advisor "training" professors must complete.
"There's a hard line to draw between being an advisor and being a counselor," Class of 2009 Representative Darren Fishell '09 stated, emphasizing how some professors feel uneasy about dealing with the non-academic aspects of advising.
"I feel no sympathy for those professors whatsoever," said Residential Life Representative Sam Kamin '08, adding that nurturing personal, non-academic relationships with students should be "part of the job description" for being a professor at a school like Bowdoin.
Support for professors came from Class of 2008 Representative Ben LeHay '08. LeHay shared the positive, personal interactions he has had with his professors.
"[Advising] doesn't have to be this boring, impersonal meeting sort of thing," LeHay stated. "Consider the good examples of advisors at Bowdoin, because there are many."
Drawing upon LeHay's point, Treasurer Nicole Willey '08 suggested that department funds be used for events outside the classroom in order to promote healthier, more personal student-professor relationships.
Shifting the focus to students, Community Service Council Representative Alison Spencer '08 noted "indifference on the side of the students" as far as advising.
"Advising should be a two-way street," she added.
While no concrete measures were taken during the meeting, Dinning said he felt that the discussion was helpful in getting BSG to start thinking about the topic again.
"BSG tonight showed how passionate many of its members are about the academic advising issue," Dinning told the Orient. "As far as effecting change based on tonight's talk, it is worth mentioning that this is just the first step of many."
While the advising discussion dominated the meeting, BSG also unanimously approved a pair of proposals outlined by Vice President of Facilities Mike Dooley '10. The first proposal requested $9,000 from BSG to support the Facilities Committee's weekend shuttle service to Freeport and Portland, while the second called for $200 towards the purchase of energy efficient light bulbs to support Sustainable Bowdoin's light bulb campaign.
The second proposal also requested that BSG members "volunteer to assist with [the light bulbs'] distribution," according to the official proposal bill.
Regarding the shuttle service, Dooley said that "It's going to be a lot more streamlined this year," with the goal of making the system "much more student friendly." Willey expressed concern that many students forget to pay tips to shuttle drivers and that this should be stressed in the Facilities Committee's media.
Reflecting on the meeting, President Dustin Brooks '08 wrote in an e-mail, "It looks like students will have a very committed group of representatives this year."
"We had a couple of great conversations, especially considering this was our first meeting," Brooks said.
"I'm really excited about getting into more substantive issues with this group and beginning our work," he added. "I'm hoping other students will attend a meeting sometime this semester and join us in our discussions."