By Elizabeth Held
The last of the four candidates for the new position of Dean of Student Affairs visited Bryn Mawr on Tuesday, April 28.
Dean of the Undergraduate Karen Tidmarsh explained the goals she has for the new position:
“To give increased attention and leadership in that whole area of student affairs…We’re very thinly staffed across student activities, residential life, civic engagement, and intercultural affairs. Most of those are one and two person offices; and so the notion is to give them an additional person coordinating their efforts,” she stated.
Tidmarsh also said that she hopes the new dean will coordinate closely with Haverford and Swarthmore and work with the Self-Governance Association’s Executive Board.
“It seems to me it might be good to have regular meetings with the SGA leadership and this person. At this point the president of SGA meets regularly with President McAuliffe and me,” she explained.
Candidate C began a discussion with students by explaining the benefits of working at a small liberal arts college.
“One of the things we can do at a small liberal arts college is to make every student matter,” she said.
She also discussed issues of marginalization on college campuses and asked students to name groups they felt were marginalized at Bryn Mawr.
The candidate explained that at her current school, she has spent much of the year working to make the LGBT community feel more included in the overall college community.
Candidate C currently works at an all-women’s institution. She developed her interest in women’s education after studying English and women’s studies while completing her undergraduate degree.
She has found that, despite her co-ed college experience, she enjoys working at an all-women’s institution.
She stated, “I’m stuck in this conundrum where I don’t want to work anywhere but an all-women’s institution.”
Like Bryn Mawr, Candidate C’s current school is a member of a consortium.
“It functions similarly [to the Bi-Co]… We do a lot of collaboration…with our sister schools,” she explained.
She told the students in attendance that it makes sense for schools to share resources and to have a good relationship with neighboring institutions.
Candidate C offered student activities as one piece of a successful consortium relationship.
“There’s always an opportunity to bring big name bands, comedians [by sharing resources],” she said, adding that each college could contribute money to bringing an act to campus. That way, each college would have a certain number of tickets that they could distribute as they please.
She explained what she sees as the relationship between the new Dean and SGA.
“I think it’s a partnership. Anyone who thinks this role is going to replace SGA doesn’t know this institution,” Candidate C said.
She elaborated, “I know your President and Dean staff know you need some help to make things happen.
The Dean Search Committee will make their final recommendation to President McAuliffe in the coming weeks, who will then ultimately decide to hire the best candidate for the job.
Mawrters can expect to meet the new dean in the fall.
This article is © 2008 The Bi-College News. The material on this page is free for personal or educational use, but may not be reproduced, reprinted, republished, redistributed, or otherwise transmitted to a third party without the express written permission of The Bi-College News, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041.
Editor's note: Articles that appear in the Last Word section are works of satire.
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