The recent announcement of a "grandiose" Gatsby-themed party to be coordinated by the Forbes College Director of Student Life (DSL) highlights the growing importance of this new kind of administrator. The DSL position is has great potential to enhance life in the residential colleges, but the key to the success of the new DSLs will be cooperating closely with students.
As the new DSLs work to find their places in the college system, special care must be taken to ensure that these new administrators seek first and foremost to work with students at every phase of event planning. Rather than outlining a program of events and then seeking student input, DSLs should make helping students create new events a top priority. By adopting the role of a facilitator, DSLs will be able to ensure that they make positive contributions toward encouraging student leadership rather than using their authority for implementing plans that may or may not be successful.
In order to ensure that administrators in the new college system serve as positive forces in the social lives of the colleges, the University should create a way for students to rate administrators in their colleges. Such an arrangement would allow undergraduates to rate not only their DSLs but also their deans and directors of studies in much the same way students now rate professors. Such a system would be beneficial because, unlike members of college councils, who are elected and held accountable to their peers, administrators do not typically have the means by which to gauge the success or effectiveness of their work. A college-wide rating system would encourage administrators to seek out all members of the college for advice and help in the creation and realization of a variety of events. It is only when events, like the Gatsby party, are the results of student planning that the DSL system can truly be said to be successful. Jessica Lanney '10 recused herself from participating in this vote.
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