StuCo Discusses Speech on Campus, Develops Dining Hall Feedback App

Student Council (StuCo) met this Tuesday to discuss communication between faculty and students, especially in regards to perceived power dynamics at Exeter, and plans for a dining hall rating application.

The dialogue on communication arose after The Exonian recently published several articles detailing how administrative responses to student and faculty opinions were perceived as intimidation by members of the community.

The StuCo executive board hopes to send a StuCo-sponsored letter to the administration identifying Exonians’ thoughts on the issue and how it can most practically be addressed.

In the past few years, students have reported that members of the PEA administration have approached them to address their articles in The Exonian and comments in open forums such as the recent “goodness” Assembly. A large portion of these students feel they should have more freedom of speech on campus.

Student Council President Benjamin Cohen believed that communication, as a current major student issue on campus, needed to be addressed immediately by StuCo. He hopes to help students feel safe when they express their opinions.

“We want to make sure that self-censorship does not exist, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that no student feels like they cannot share their opinion,” he said.

“We want to make sure that self-censorship does not exist, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that no student feels like they cannot share their opinion,”

“This is not me attacking anyone or the administration, but nonetheless, students [feel] this way, and it needs to be addressed.”

In order to help the students, the executive board first needed to hear their opinions on the topic.

The Last StuCo meeting created an open environment where students could freely express their opinions and stories regarding censorship. Like Cohen, Secretary Kevin Zhen understood from comments during the meeting that students are currently feeling suppressed.

“Personally, I understand the deans are doing what they believe is best for us, and I appreciate that extremely,” he said.

Zhen continued, “But right now the students feel there is a clash with the censorship that has occurred and that idea. If the administration is telling students that their opinions are incorrect, then students might feel violated.”

A first draft of a letter to the administration will be designed and unveiled at the next meeting. The letter will outline the students current feelings towards censorship along with presenting suggestions for a solution. Cohen hopes to stimulate a useful discussion with the administration through it.

“We would love to get a response to get a conversation going about this,” he said. “We want to talk about it.”

By addressing the administration as a whole, StuCo does not wish to blame the entirety of the members. As discussed at the meeting, the problem is not with the administration oppressing students. There are only a few administrators that make the choice to bring students in, a choice StuCo believes should not reflect the entire administration.

“I want to emphasize that I understand the administration is a very caring one, and it wants to do what is best for the students,” Zhen said.

“But as one of the executive representatives of the council, I represent what students want, and so I am trying to figure out a solution with the help of the executive board and the advisers.”

In addition to the discussions on free speech, censorship and communication, the meeting time was used to unveil StuCo’s new dining hall cellular application. Planned to be finished by Thanksgiving, the app will display the current menu of both dining halls and will allow students to upvote or downvote the entire meal, or certain parts in an anonymous manner. It will also contain a comment section that will be read weekly by dining hall staff.

The executive board believes the mix of numerical data and specific advice will be embraced and used by the dining hall staff. Although StuCo already meets with each dining hall regularly, the app will provide a more useful form of feedback.

“In the past, Dining Hall Services Committee has collected feedback through hearsay, which is not effective for such a large student body,” he said.

“So the vision of the app is a way to collect real, numerical feedback from every student. They are going to know right away whether a meal was popular, and how popular it was, which can inform their meal choices later on.”

This new dining hall app is the first step in a much larger project commenced by StuCo. According to Cohen, as the year continues, the app will be updated with apps, schedule features and calendars—turning into a full “Exeter app.”