About an hour after the original Fishbowl announcement was released yesterday, Dean Carolyn Denard reached out to The College Voice offering to answer questions. Due to her absence this week, her responses were a bit delayed and are somewhat repetitive in the context of her most recent email to the campus community. Nevertheless, the questions and answers are posted in full below.
The College Voice: When did the idea to cancel Fishbowl occur? Was it your original idea or was this something stirring in the administration long before your arrival?
Dean Denard: This issue was raised as a result of the Office of Student Life conducting a review last spring of the event. A letter was sent to me shortly after my arrival with their concerns and recommendation for the event. I followed this letter with a comprehensive review of this event which indicated very clearly to all of the Senior Administrators – as it had to the staff in the Office of the Dean of Student Life – that the event had evolved into something that was no longer appropriate for the College. The review included a report of last year’s Fishbowl, complaints and concerns expressed by students, staff, and alumni, recommendations by the Office of Student Life, and a review of events and policies at peer institutions.
CV: Your email mentions you spoke with student leaders. Did the students bring this to your attention? Were any students able to weigh in on the decision or was it only senior administrators?
DD: I spoke with the student leaders in the Senior Class about the need to make this decision. The students did not bring this issue to my attention. I advised them of the need to make this decision and asked them to take a leadership role in planning a new tradition. While I believe that they were disappointed, they understood why the decision was being made, and they indicated that they were willing to take the leadership role in helping to plan a new event.
CV: What were the biggest factors influencing this decision?
DD: Clearly the major factors were the health and safety of the students and the staff and the potential legal issues this event posed for the College. The results of our comprehensive review of last year’s event made clear that we would place the health and safety of students and staff in jeopardy if we allowed the event to continue.
CV: The biggest complaint that [we’re] seeing via social media about the decision is the elimination of traditions. More specifically, Tent Dance was eliminated one year ago due to safety concerns and now Fishbowl. Some students (and many alumni, in fact on the College Voice page a disproportionate amount of alumni are voicing opinions) are feeling like it isn’t fair to eliminate traditions that all those before us have been able to experience. What would you say to these students?
DD: I do understand the students’ concern with losing traditions. Traditions are very important, especially in a small liberal arts community like Connecticut College. But senior traditions should be events that are welcoming to ALL members of the senior class, they should be safe, and they should be aligned with the values of the College. Traditions are also dynamic; they can change. When they no longer represent the community’s values it is the responsibility of the community to establish a new tradition. That’s why I’ve invited the senior class to create a new tradition – one that more appropriately reflects the College’s values and the values of our students. That could be an exciting and very meaningful opportunity for the senior class.
CV: Another thing on social media is that many students want to streak together some time before graduation regardless of whether or not it is a college sponsored event. Will this type of action be penalized?
DD: Without knowing the circumstances, I can’t predict the consequences, but under day-to-day circumstances, students would get written up for streaking. What you should know is that my priority is that students are safe.
I find myself wondering what section of the honor code prevents streaking.
There’s no mention of nudity or streaking in the student handbook. Connecticut state law only prohibits nudity “with intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of another person,” which is plenty vague.
The Dean’s threat seems empty, or else authoritarian.
Fuck this bitch! who the fuck would hire her?
She really fucked up in her agenda you think she could at least witness the event first. Hope she get fired asap
Love,
Conn Students
I would first like to say a good strong “Fuck you connecticut college administration”. Conn as sad as it is has apparently entered a period of darkness, where student concerns are clearly replaced by fund raising and other bureaucratic bullshit. This new tradition I hope for future classes is referred to as a lame excuse for once was a great liberal arts school. Since it was created it the hour of conn’s “dark age.” Why does this administration suck so bad? I really hope they understand that they have squeezed too tight. At the time i had distaste for dean Briddell but now I understand that we had it good compared to this fascist Denard.
Please refrain from (wrongly) voicing the opinions of all Conn students as your own in your less than decorous post.
Her responses do not voice a concern for the streaking/”freedom of body expression” claim that students align with Fishbowl (and honestly, if streaking is something that you want to do, why don’t you just do it? Why does the school have to hold an event for you to be naked?). The decision, furthermore, is not out of Dean Denard’s need to exercise authority over you or anyone else on campus; rather, it’s a genuine way for her to reach out and encourage students to create events that are inclusive to all members of the senior class (which Fishbowl, for many reasons, is not).
Consider your own self-centered ignorance before even thinking of publishing another “opinion.”
Love,
Critical Thinking
Your challenge for people to just do it seems at odds with the Dean’s statement that people just doing it will be written up.
To clarify: why does streaking even have to be an on-campus activity? And if it must, you can always just be naked in your room whenever you want. Hold a naked party. But, to be fair, I’m unsure if the some students’ anger over this really has anything to do with being naked so much as having a “privilege” taken away.
she doesn’t understand the definition of a tradition. traditions do NOT change, that’s why they are traditions. you can’t come up with new traditions, it doesn’t work that way. she’s killing our sense of community
So corsets and women staying at home to raise children rather than going out to pursue higher education and careers should have remained intact? Should things like segregation and criminalization of gay marriage remain as they were? Traditions MUST change in order to adhere to social contexts.
Also: lol on “our sense of community.”
Fishbowl is not a all-inclusive senior year experience or tradition. It’s just a way to make certain members of the “community” feel excluded for being uncomfortable or alienated for not “fitting in” with peer expectations. Maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea to not consult us about the decision, but I definitely agree that we should have a tradition in which all members of the senior class can participate.