More student input needed

As the implementation of the four-year residential college system draws near, the University faces many decisions that have a major bearing on the future of student life at Princeton. Despite the gravity of the situation, such decisions, from the residential college system to the layout of dining halls, are being made with insufficient and ineffective student input.

Recently, there seem to be more and more instances of failure by the University administration to consult students on issues that are of pressing importance to the student body. These failures have led to several uproars and petitions that have forced the administration to change proposals it has spent a lot of time developing. Perhaps the best example of this is the recent petition against the renovation of the Rockefeller College dining hall. The University published a plan to change the dining hall to give it a more "personal feel", with smaller tables and booths instead of the long tables that are currently in the hall. Many students, who had not been consulted about the renovations prior to their publication, had serious objections to this change. The objections were so strong that the University was eventually forced to scrap the renovation, throwing away months' worth of work.

There are several other examples of the University's failure to consult students prior to making changes that significantly affect student life. Recent examples include the transfer of text book sales from the U-store coop system to the privately owned Labyrinth Bookstore, as well as plans involving the four-year residential colleges. In this instance, students were only consulted after the fact (and in the Labryinth case, not at all), leading the University to either ignore student concerns or to go through the inefficient process of changing the plans after they had already been made. In some cases, even well-intentioned forums did not allow students to properly voice their concerns. At the unveiling of the campus master plan held a few months ago, students were given a presentation on the new plan and then asked to leave their comments on small slips. Such indirect and impersonal methods of soliciting input can be replaced by a much more constructive process of inclusive dialogue between the administration and the student body.

Forums should be held while plans are still being formulated. This way the administration can incorporate student ideas into the original plans. Not only will this process be more efficient, but it is much more likely that the administration will be able to consider several suggestions at this stage. There are clearly some situations when the administration must make decisions without student input for the sake of expediency. Nonetheless, when it comes to issues that have a impact on student life, such as the setup of the dining halls or the structure of residential life on campus, students should play a major role in the decision making process. More transparency means that the administration will be able to do its job better, and students will be happier with the administration's policies.