Senate Beat: Senate Announces Forums on the Presidential Search and Student Success
President Nikhita Airi, lacking a gavel, opened this week’s Senate meeting by banging a water bottle. Announcements for two events next week dominated the agenda: an all-campus forum on student success on Monday, and a presidential search forum limited to students on Tuesday.
The first of these two events is a series of large and small listening sessions on student success at Reed. The largest is a forum open to the Reed community on Monday, September 10, from 12:00–1:30 p.m. in Vollum Lounge. Lunch will be served. The forum will be hosted by a consulting firm hired by the school to conduct a long-term study on obstacles to and resources for student success at Reed, as well as the student-staff-faculty committee overseeing the firm’s work. The forum will begin with presentations by both consultants and committee members on the results of previous listening sessions last year. They will then lead a discussion with all present on major areas of concern. These discussions will help the consulting firm and the committee identify concrete initiatives for Reed to implement.
Smaller student listening sessions, to be held on September 10 and 11, are limited to those who have made reservations. They include a discussion with students who identify as “thriving” at Reed — whether socially, professionally, academically, or in any other way — to be held from 11:15 a.m.–12:00 p.m. on Monday. Further events on Tuesday will be organized around the schedules of confirmed participants.
Members of the Presidential Search Committee and the search firm hired by the committee will hold a forum for students this Tuesday, September 11, from 4:30–6:30 p.m. in Vollum Lecture Hall. The event takes place in lieu of the usual Senate meeting. Members of the search committee — including members of Senate — will facilitate a student discussion on what they expect of Reed’s next president, as well as the goals that they will support. Attendance is limited to students, following similar events held exclusively with faculty and staff.
In other news, Senate appointed Sarah Nixon and Tania Jaramillo to J-Board, and announced that applications to the Appeals Board and the Computing Policy Committee are open. Applications are available at sin.reed.edu. With SIN fully working after a hiatus, Funding Poll will take place next week as well.