Advising Block: Response from the Student Council President

To the Editor: Last spring, Mr. Weatherspoon and Ms. Braile approached Student Council with a proposal to institute a mandatory 30-minute advisor/advisee meeting block on Wednesdays, adjacent to Meditation. Though we discussed the issue in Council at the time, we did not take an advisory vote. This Tuesday, Council once again considered the proposal and would like to submit two advisory votes and a brief summary of the conversation for the faculty’s consideration.The general view of Council is that the imbalance in the advising system needs to be addressed. Some students only meet with their advisers once per term, whereas others see their advisers nearly every day. Most felt that mandatory meetings would improve adviser/advisee relations, but several concerns were repeatedly raised. The first was that weekly meetings are unnecessarily frequent, especially with the already busy schedules of both students and faculty. Secondly, group meetings would not be the most effective way to use adviser/advisee time, as most students would not feel comfortable discussing personal problems in front of the advisee group, and would prefer individual meetings. Thirdly, many worried that advisers who meet rarely with advisees would not use the mandatory meetings block, thus undermining the purpose for the proposal. Lastly, students were hesitant to extend the Wednesday schedule past 12:30, especially in light of sports and afternoon extracurriculars.When we took an advisory vote at the end of the discussion, Council voted against the proposal in its current form, with 25 for the change, 61 against, and 5 abstaining. The majority of Council felt that weekly meetings, especially in light of the already cluttered schedule, were too frequent. However, a second vote supported mandatory but less frequent adviser/advisee meetings with 62 in favor, 29 against, and none abstaining.Council also discussed possible modifications to the proposal that the faculty may consider. First, some members suggested “drop-in hours” during this block, where all advisees must check in with their advisers, but will only stay and meet if needed. Another possibility suggested was mandatory check-ins with advisers in the 20-minute block after Assembly every other week, which could be easily adjusted to a biweekly schedule with the Week 1/Week 2 system already in place. Others supported more easily switching advisors to find the best match for each student.Overall, Council is in favor of less frequent mandatory adviser/advisee meetings, with possible modifications to best fit the needs of both the faculty and the students. We hope the information provided from Council will help the faculty make an informed decision that will work best for us all, and we are always ready and willing to provide help or feedback as needed. Thank you,Alice JuStudent Council President This letter was sent to the faculty for consideration during faculty meetings.