A new task force started by President Tilghman will consider issues of health and wellbeing, including potential renovation of the McCosh Health Center and the restructuring of the scope of campus health services.
"For a university of Princeton's stature, with its caliber of students, staff and faculty, we deserve not only a state-of-the-art building, but a state-of-the-art state of mind in our medical services," said Nancy Newman '78, the University trustee who chairs the Board of Trustees' committee on health issues.
The task force will look into supplemental health and wellbeing programs, as well as the extent to which the University should provide health care to faculty and staff. It will also consider issues of family support, including day care services, said Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson.
The task force will examine exemplary health and wellness programs from other universities as well as local for-profit medical care providers. It is expected to produce a report of its findings and recommendations in spring 2004, though it may extend its work into the fall, Dickerson said.
"Princeton has been hobbled a bit by the fact that we don't have a medical school," Newman said.
She said the task force would consider this difference when examining the programs at other universities that have medical schools.
The task force will also consider forming partnerships with other area medical facilities, Newman said.
Faculty, staff and undergraduate and graduate students will serve on the committee, which will be chaired by Dickerson and Robert Durkee '69, the current vice president for public affairs who was recently named the University vice president and secretary, effective Jan. 1.
The trustees strongly encouraged the appointment of the task force, Tilghman said in a press release.
Martin Johnson '81, a member of the Board of Trustees, said the focus on health care was motivated by "the expansion of the student body and the current capacities of the health center."
"With the new chief health officer, Daniel Silverman, it was an opportune time to form a brain trust on campus," Johnson said.
Silverman has raised questions about the prospect of University health services taking on "a broader purview than student health," Dickerson said.
"President Tilghman has a deep interest in improving the quality of the environment for faculty and staff," Dickerson said, adding that one main goal of the task force would be to help develop means of support for faculty and staff trying to balance family and work.
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