At Conn, we love the term “student leaders.” The deans are quick to affix it to a plaque and award to it to whomever is best at both learning and leading; the Office of College Relations and the Office of Admission like to capture these students and package them into the materials that are sent off to the former and future classes of Connecticut College as models of success. These smiling faces are coupled with the equally-loved term “shared governance,” which our website describes as allowing “Connecticut College students [to] have a major voice in how the College is run… Students serve with faculty, staff and administrators on virtually all College standing committees.”
This holds true. The spaces for student direction, where students are at the helm of all action, including the Student Government Association, Student Advisory Board, and Student Activities Council, are vast and alliterative. The spaces for student input, where students are only a part of a larger conversation that includes faculty, staff, the administration and trustees, are open and welcoming. One of these spaces is the Priorities, Planning and Budget Committee, or PPBC, which decides where the money goes; there are two student voices, as equally weighed as any other, that help decide the allocation of over one hundred million dollars.
These positions are one of the many ways in which students are given the opportunity for both expression and representation—but the key word here is “given.” Despite their abundance, these channels governed by students do not have possibilities defined by students. The rules are passed down without much flexibility for change: the chair of the Student Advisory Board sends out a weekly email and plans a semi-annual party for their peers; the president of a club holds regular meetings that work towards a goal, whether it’s raising awareness of health education or educating students in the martial arts. Still, the supposed limits on the roles remain a barrier for innovative student leadership.
There needs to be more room to move. As members of student clubs and organizations, either at an introductory or an executive level, we’re part of a giant experiment in which there is no desired outcome other than exploration. We have the opportunity, and more importantly, the time, to test our interests and ideas, to shy away from the prescribed “this-is-what-a-club-president-does” and to rewrite the rules that take into account what students want now. Instead of having the same run-of-the-mill activities, think outside of the box: a sports team could invite recurring spectators to join them—not just to watch, but to run/lift/swim—at an extra practice; WCNI could host informational sessions to show how the DJing works. It’s not about just transparency; it’s about gauging and maintaining interest. If we were to put focused, creative and enthusiastic effort and time into our clubs, our dedication would certainly be more detectable.
Here’s to the Voice-themed Cro dance (Press Fest? Read’n’Rave? Delta Lambda Layout?) that we’ve always dreamed of.
– Ipek Bakir & Jazmine Hughes
Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief
