Unheralded student-administrator relations bringing life to campus

During freshmen orientation week, University administrators address the incoming class, offering words of wisdom for the next four years and beyond. After that assembly, most students never come in close contact again with administrators.

Those who do come into close contact often form important working relationships with members of the administration to turn student ideas into campus programs. Administrators say they find it very important to stay in touch with students on an active basis while students say they appreciate the support and assistance administrators provide.

This partnership between students and administrators is an on-going and important one. It is not always visible and not always widespread, but both student leaders and administrators say it is a central part of preparing and designing campus life.

Former USG president Joe Kochan '02, who just finished his term, said the University is unique among its peers when it comes to cooperation between students and administrators. "I think that many students take it for granted that Princeton's administration is so transparent," he said.

Noting that student leaders "are allowed to be part of the leadership structure," Kochan credited the openness between administrators and students as one of the factors that aided the work he did as USG president. "I cannot imagine how much less effective I would have been as a USG president had I not been able, at any time, to contact administrators whenever I had an issue that I wanted to discuss," he said.

One project Kochan worked on with administrators was putting on the Billy Joel concert that took place in Richardson Auditorium last November. He worked with assistant dean of undergraduate students Thomas Dunne to bring that concert to life.

Dunne said the whole process was emblematic of the continued cooperation between students and administrators. Putting on the concert required a "tremendous amount of behind the scenes work among the USG president, the social chair and our office."

He added that it is often hard to grasp how many intricacies there are in bringing to campus a major recording artist. Dunne estimated that Kochan must have put upwards of 150 hours into planning the event, working with the music industry to put on the concert in Richardson instead of Dillon Gym. The enterprise was also "unfamiliar territory" for him as he worked to obtain some of the special equipment needed for the show, Dunne said.

Even though his office works with outside companies and organizations while "representing as best we can the interests of the students," Dunne said student leaders are the primary actors in preparing University activities.

"People are surprised by the amount of student leadership on campus and [that] students take a very active role in planning these major University events," he said. "They're making the big decisions. We're assisting them."

Dunne's position is not limited to assisting with big projects. It is focused mostly on the day-to-day activities of student groups. Dunne said working with students is a "central part of the job." He and other administrators "advise, counsel and shepherd students through their organizational processes." When students come in with new ideas about new organizations, Dunne will "talk with them about options and opportunities."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Sophomore class president Eli Goldsmith '04, who has worked with Dunne on various projects, compared Dunne to a "sixth class officer" who always suggests the methods through which class government can turn "ideas into action." Dunne has "encouraged my administration to think outside the box, not simply staying in the narrow class government boundaries of study breaks and sweatshirts," he said.

While Dunne helps students represent their interests in front of the larger University community, assistant dean of undergraduate students Ande Diaz works to aid students' efforts to help fellow students on campus.

Diaz is the coordinator of the residential college and minority affairs advisor program and other campus support programs. In both the preparation and execution of these programs, Diaz said she welcomes and encourages student participation and input.

"Most of my partnership with student takes place with my work with the Residential College advisors. I work closely with students to receive readings for the advisor reading packet on diversity and civic development," Diaz said. "In addition, I think advisor-training has been more vibrant and exciting over the past few years because of students shaping and moderating panels . . . I'm creating the forum, but it's the students who are doing the teaching."

Though administrators like Dunne and Diaz work on student projects on a daily basis, top administration officials tend to be more removed from the minutiae of student life. Nonetheless administrators like President Shirley Tilghman and Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson make an effort to keep up to date on student interests and concerns.

"Understanding what's on students' minds is probably as important as everything else I do," said President Tilghman.

Throughout her first half year she said she tries to talk with students about their projects and programs as often as possible. "I feel as though I meet with students all the time," she said. "I have a policy whereby I try to have meals with students in different venues as often as possible."

President Tilghman, who holds regular office hours, unlike many other university presidents, not only meets with University students in an informal manner but also works with them on various University projects including committees such as the one to build a sixth residential college. Tilghman said she attends USG meetings regularly and works on the U-Council, which represents the University community and meets regularly to discuss the many issues facing the University.

The "most remarkable" partnership between students and faculty occurred before she was appointed president, Tilghman said, when the presidential search committee was formed to find a successor to former University President Harold Shapiro after he had announced his intention to resign. A group of 18 students, faculty and administrators, the committee "involved a truly remarkable process where [it] just coalesced into a single group with only one major concern, which was to do the right thing for Princeton," she said.

Another top administrator, Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson, works with student leaders and helps them use University resources for various projects and proposals, she said. "I see students who are engaged in a variety of kinds of leadership work," she noted. "I try to work with them, informally for the most part, to encourage them and to advocate for them in areas where they may be needing support."

Wanting "to foster a chance to get people from around the campus to get to know each other," Dickerson said she works mostly as a medium through which student leaders can find the most appropriate contacts in the University for a certain project.

Dickerson's office also runs the venture fund which the USG projects board uses to fund student programs. When President Shapiro retired, his President's Fund, which supported many programs at the University, was dissolved and some money was transferred to the office of the vice president for campus life. Many student groups were concerned about their financial support from the University.

However, "those students' fears were put to rest" by Dickerson, according to Wade Rakes '02, who was co-chairman of the USG projects board. Rakes said he wanted very much to secure funding for student-led programs. "Dickerson was fully supportive of that effort and established the Venture Fund, a new fund for students and registered student organizations whose programs and projects broaden campus dialogue on issues such as race, class, ethnicity, gender and orientation," he said.

Dickerson sits on a number of committees with students that focus on major campus projects. Shani Moore '02, who has served with Dickerson on two committees overseeing the planning and construction of the sixth residential college, said Dickerson is an "accessible and supportive" liaison who "really cares about student input and it is exemplified through her policies and improvements at Princeton."

Dickerson represents an important contact for students, Moore added, because "she isn't afraid to examine and consider even controversial plans that may benefit the University."

USG president Nina Langsam '03 recognizes that the administrator and student relationship will be important during her term.

"I rely on administrators as much as they rely on me. They want feedback from the students on everything from academic reform to social life," she said. "I need the support of the administrators to accomplish my goals as president. We have a co-dependent relationship."

Langsam, who has already met with Tilghman, Dickerson and several deans to discuss her plans for the USG's new term, said she has "great relationships" with many administrators. Langsam said she believes that the USG at the University is extremely fortunate to have such access to administrators.

"The great thing about USG at Princeton is that students really have an opportunity to effect change on campus. Administrators at other schools are not nearly as committed to improving student life," Langsam said.

When members of the graduating class leave through FitzRandolph Gate, most of them will have never interacted closely with administrators during their four years on campus. For many seniors, the last time they heard an administrator speak will have been at freshman orientation.

Although only a handful of working relationships are forged between students and administrators, every student is affected in some way by the partnerships between students and administrators. Nearly every student has taken part in cultural events, discussion groups or class activities that were student-run and coordinated with administrators who helped student leaders bring their ideas for student activities into life.