Student Life searches for ways to foster community

by Joe Lazauskas

Monday March 24, 2008

On the Committee on Student Life , each member represents a specific sect of individuals at SLC (faculty, staff, mead way residents, Hill House residents, etc.). As a whole, they represent the entire college community in one room. However, for the past month, the committee has been grappling with what exactly the Sarah Lawrence community is.

Student Life has expressed concerns that SLC is a school and a community without a clear identity. Members committee have even wondered whether the motto brandishing slc.edu’s front page: “You are different. So are we” results more in disconnect than communal coming together. Compared with other colleges and universities around the nation, Sarah Lawrence does not have many traditions. While some student groups, like TransAction, have put a high level of effort into creating or maintaining traditions, on the whole, there is not a large amount of effort to that effect.

In search of traditions and ways to improve the quality of life at the school, Student Life has concentrated on the aspects of Sarah Lawrence that are unique. Junior Evan Perlo has championed the idea of setting aside a space where students from the same and different classes could meet to discuss not only the material being covered in class but also each other’s conference work. SLC students’ propensity towards critical discourse is unique, and so is our conference work system. The one time students seem to bond more than any other is during the hectic last two weeks of the semester, when students have up to sixty pages of papers due. Perlo’s idea to spread the sense of community prevalent in conference week has been met with overwhelming support by Student Life. However, discussions in Student Life have indicated that this should not be a mandated event; though the space may be provided, it has to originate “organically,” through the motivation of the student body. There were also discussions of posting conference work and bibliographies in a network online.

However, the motivation of the student body does not seem to be something Student Life feels wholly confident in at the moment. Concerns have been expressed concerning the apathy on campus towards initiating campus events. Students are fantastically engaged in their individual endeavors, but there are not widespread efforts to launch events open to the entire campus.

One of the reasons for this might be because of confusion concerning the funds available to students to host events. SLC’s financial concerns are well known throughout campus. However, Senate has a large amount of funds each year, and would like students to take advantage of them, as these events improve the quality of life on campus. Student Life seems to sense that students are not fully aware of how to get events funded and have discussed publishing a “Sarah Lawrence Survival Guide” in some form. The Survival Guide would be a student-written document that gives advice on student life and how to accomplish things like throwing registered parties and getting funding for events and projects. Ideally, the guide would be accessible and informal in a way that the administration-composed Student Hand book is not.

In early February, Dr. Karen Lawrence even came to the Student Life meeting, in part to address these issues of community. Dr. Lawrence seems intrigued by the possibility of connecting to the student body online and also giving SLC clubs their own MySLC page. With two major community groups—Senate and Student Life—currently concentrated on the quality of life on this campus, students can only hope that discussion ultimately results in action.