[295] in UA Exec
Re: You are being lied to.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jessica H Lowell)
Sun Apr 4 13:22:46 2010
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2010 13:22:41 -0400
From: Jessica H Lowell <jessiehl@MIT.EDU>
To: Alexandra Jordan <amjordan@mit.edu>
Cc: Anthony Rindone <arindone@mit.edu>, hwkns@mit.edu,
UA Senate
<ua-senate@mit.edu>, UA Executive Board <ua-exec@mit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <A2F61896-7408-47A1-A2F4-F62096E53496@mit.edu>
Who is student-sympathetic (or at least student-sympathetic on relevant
issues)
in the administration these days who might have any pull with (or authority
over) Columbo? Who in the UA is friendly with that person/those people? One
tactic that can sometimes be useful is to come up with your own proposal and
take it to a relevant admin who might endorse it and can help you push it
through over the objections of the obstructive one. I had a success or two
using that tactic.
Tipping the Tech off about problematic administrative actions can also be
helpful.
Are there any underlings in Dining that anyone in the UA is friendly
with, that
could provide information about what exactly he's intending to do or what's
making him tick?
Has anyone talked with Matt McGann (admissions guy, 1999-2000 UAP)
about this? I found him pretty useful to bounce ideas off of when I was
doing this. He's
completely trustworthy, and, being an admin himself, he might know something
relevant (or he might not - Admissions and Dining don't interact much).
- Jessie (UAVP 2005-2006, Senator from EC 2004-2005 and 2006-2007)
Quoting Alexandra Jordan <amjordan@MIT.EDU>:
> And what "course of action" do you recommend if admins continue to
> side-step your complaints and conduct business as usual (i.e. with
> little to no student input)? I think this is actually the place we
> find ourselves at.
>
> With respect to dining, we've done everything under the sun to engage
> administrators in a conversation they are simply unwilling to have.
> BRDC had student input (though it was mostly ineffectual), and in
> response to the BRDC leak, the UA decided to draft its own document
> with a heavier student perspective. Dean Colombo had both of these
> documents in hand last May and has sat on them ever since.
>
> Throughout the summer, members of the DPC continued to collect
> feedback from various parties on the DPC report (including
> housemasters). They also tried to discuss the report with Dean
> Colombo, who had nothing concrete to say on it, either positive or
> negative. Then the academic year started, we got a new Dining
> Committee chair, and Dean Colombo also ignored him.
>
> We've seen ZERO changes made to dining in the last 11 months that DSL
> has had the BRDC and DPC reports. In that time, however, the UA has
> been in constant contact with the Dining Office, trying to secure
> programs like a take-out or hot breakfast option. All of which have
> been turned down by the admin for the present (although hot breakfast
> is likely to happen in the fall, despite the fact that there isn't
> currently a plan in place to fix the inefficiencies that make dining
> so expensive).
>
> So after 2 official dining reports, 11 months of prodding and
> conversation starting, and one bill from the Senate urging Dean
> Colombo to respond, where do we--the students and MAJOR stakeholders
> in the dining system--find ourselves? Nowhere.
>
> Dean Colombo has set up yet another diversion--HDAG--and devised it
> such that students are outnumbered by housemasters and admins.
>
> So again, I ask you, what "course of action" would you take?
>
>
>
> Alex Jordan
> Chair, UA Committee on Sustainability
> Former DPC member
>
>
> On Apr 4, 2010, at 11:51 AM, Anthony Rindone wrote:
>
>> I think it's irresponsible to create controversy largely on
>> speculation, but I'll bite.
>>
>> I do remember some discussion on that resolution a few months ago,
>> and I do recall at least one person pointing out the lack of "bite"
>> that said resolutions have. If the people responsible for certain
>> obligations (i.e. Colombo) do not meet those guidelines, then what
>> really are the consequences? O yeah...people bitch about it on these
>> mailing lists.
>>
>> Members of the UA should approach him in person and grill him on
>> these issues during his office hours (if he still has them...and if
>> he doesn't he should be grilled on that too...) Essentially, if
>> something like this comes up, the gut reaction necessarily should
>> not be to shoot off a weak email, but to get into the faces of
>> Admins. If they still bullshit you, then come up with a course of
>> action.
>>
>> Talk less, act more
>>
>> Anthony Rindone
>> arindone@mit.edu
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 7:45 AM, Daniel Hawkins <hwkns@mit.edu> wrote:
>> Task Force report, Summer Housing, Athena - all handled very well so
>> far, in my opinion. But something isn't right. Has anyone noticed
>> that we've had no real dialogue whatsoever with the administration
>> about dining this semester? And not for lack of trying... Student
>> engagement my ass. The final decision will be thrust upon us in a
>> few weeks, right about the time we need to be studying for finals,
>> and in the mean time we are being intentionally blocked out of the
>> decision making process.
>>
>> Colombo refuses to talk to the UAP about dining. Yes, he refuses.
>> Just think about that for a moment. Did you ever imagine you would
>> have a Dean for Student Life who would refuse to talk with a student
>> representative about a student life issue?
>>
>> Remember that resolution that most of you put your names on back in
>> December? The one that demanded dialogue and evidence of
>> incorporated student input? Not only did Colombo fail to get back
>> to us for an entire three months, but he did nothing that we asked
>> for. Absolutely none of it. Our requests were neither difficult
>> nor unreasonable, but he chose to completely ignore them.
>>
>> Instead, three months later, he came up with HDAG, and set a time-
>> line that was already severely inadequate for taking student input
>> into account in any meaningful way. Then he failed to meet even
>> that time-line (according to his plan, the Idea Bank was supposed to
>> open up on March 15, almost three weeks ago).
>>
>> At the exec meeting on Wednesday, I learned that the Division of
>> Student Life has been building a web site that they hope will
>> minimize blowback from the announcement of the new dining plan.
>> Members of HDAG, of course, being the principal advisers in this
>> process, had no clue that the web site existed.
>>
>> I don't know what the hell is going on, but it's not student engagement.
>>
>> Discuss.
>>
>> -hwkns
>>
>
> __________________________________
> Alexandra Jordan
>
> MIT 2011
> Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science
> Political Science
>
> amjordan@mit.edu
> 916.813.7740
>
>
>
>
>
