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BY LINDA HOU

In print | Published March 4, 2010

Dean of Students-Designate Liz Braun opened Sunday’s special Student Council meeting with stories of her son recently singing Swarthmore chants and planning a teddy bear picnic in the Crum Woods.

After this humor, Braun launched into a discussion of more serious issues, such as the upcoming search process for a BCC director, student wellness and the potential implementation of a student senate.

She stressed that these kinds of meetings with the student body were important because she needs to learn more about Swarthmore before she can make concrete decisions.

“I think I need to learn Swarthmore, and Swarthmore needs to learn me,” Braun said. “By doing that, I can know groups like StuCo and can know how I can help you.”

Involvement in dean replacements

As the position of Black Cultural Center Director has been vacant since Tim Sams’ departure for NYU Abu Dhabi in January, the college is planning to form a group of students, faculty members and administrators later this semester to gather information for a “sculpting document” that the search committee can use to write a job description. Acting Dean of Students Garikai Campbell ’90 said that it’s still undecided how members of the group will be chosen.

Next year, the college would not fill Kelly Wilcox ’97 recently vacated position of assistant director of student life and academic advisor, according to Braun. Instead, Braun said that she would like to see the whole department take on the wellness initiatives that Wilcox was involved in

Campbell said that he is uncertain of his future plans after Braun takes over on July 1. Before temporarily filling in for former Dean of Students Jim Larimore’s absence last year, Campbell served as associate dean for academic affairs.

At the Sunday meeting with Braun, Appointments Chair Sonja Spoo ’13 brought up these replacements. Spoo said that there was an urgent need for a BCC director. Campus Life Representative Watufani Poe ’13 agreed, adding that the lack of a Swarthmore African American Student Society president makes the matter even more pressing.

“SASS doesn’t have a president … and Dean Sams helped them with that, and it’s a really shaky time for them not to have a dean,” Poe said.

Braun said that she, President Rebecca Chopp and Campbell recently discussed these positions over the phone.

“After consultation, we’ll put up a search committee and they’ll put together a job description,” Chopp said in an interview. “As always, when a position that comes out, we have to ask the students what they wanted and the faculty.”

Campbell said that the planning group’s job will be “to define the sculpting document and to determine who the right search committee will be.”

He added, “Once the search committee is actually formed, I think Dean Braun will definitely be integrally involved in the search.”

Braun said that Wilcox’s position will not be filled next year because she believes that the whole dean’s office should work on the wellness initiatives that Wilcox spearheaded. “I see that being a theme in the dean’s office next year,” she said. Braun added that one of her goals is “to keep Swarthmore a place where students are maintaining their intellectual passions … while still maintaining their sense of joy and balance.”

Both Wilcox and Sams left in January for positions at NYU Abu Dhabi, where the former college president Al Bloom and Larimore now hold positions. Currently, associate dean for multicultural affairs Darryl Smaw is spending half of his time at the BCC.

Sami El-Dalati ‘10 and Humzah Soofi ‘10, both of whom graduated in December, are currently serving as paid interns to help fill some of Wilcox’s wellness roles. Both will leave for graduate school next academic year.

Opinions on other issues

Several students also asked how Mount Holyoke’s student senate worked and whether Swarthmore could benefit from such a group.

Braun explained that the senate consists of representatives from each residence hall and student group. The senate meets weekly to debate and vote on student policies.

“It really became a venue — a chance to engage a large group of students on policy issues,” Braun said.

At Mount Holyoke, issues regarding the allowance of smoking in dorms and 24-hour-access cards to all dorms were settled by the senate.

Benjamin Hattem ‘12, one of the several non-StuCo members attending the meeting, asked Braun about her opinions on the current debate over the employment of subcontracted security guards from AlliedBarton (see page 5 for story).

Although she stated that she doesn’t know enough about the subject, Braun said that she would need to look at both the institutional structure of Swarthmore and the bigger issues involved.

“I think it’s important to … work with students about [whether] we need to open this to a bigger conversation,” said Braun. “One of the things I’m always thinking about is not only what’s the specific issue but also what are the big issues that the specific issues lead into.”

Braun asked how the dean of students has worked with StuCo.

Vice-President Deivid Rojas ’11 said that in the past year, StuCo has met biweekly with Campbell to ask questions. However, StuCo would like to make the exchange more two-way.

“Before it has always been us going to the dean of students with questions. It would also be great for the dean of students to come to us,” Rojas said.

In response, Braun said that she would like to see more training for StuCo members and to help them to develop goals each semester.

At the end of the StuCo meeting, Braun asked StuCo members about what they liked and disliked about Swarthmore. After the meeting, Braun met with students at an informal gathering in the Parrish Parlours.

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