USG senate introduces Dean of College, discusses changing academic requirements

The Undergraduate Student Government senate introduced Dean of the College Jill Dolan at its weekly meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Dolan described the wide range of programs her office oversees, which includethe residential colleges, admissions, financial aid, the office of international programs, and the McGraw Center.

"It's quite a large operation. There are 200 staff people," Dolan saidof her work at the Office of the Dean of the College. "It basically touches on everything that has to do with the undergraduate curriculum."

Dolan explained that she and Vice President for Student Life W. Rochelle Calhoun are willing to work together for student advising across colleges and across departments. Both the academic side and the co-curricular or mental health side constitute a holistic student experience, Dolan explained.

Dolan said that the administration has discussed possible changes to academic distribution requirements, including considering the possibility of adding a computer science requirement or changing the foreign language requirement.The academic distribution requirements have remained the same for the past two decades or so, she said.

While the exact timing for changing requirements is yet to be determined, Dolan said that the changes could follow a “stepped process,” with incremental adjustments over time.

Dolan said that her office would continue to cooperate with groups such as USG and the Council for Teaching and Learning. For example, USG has recommended changes to course evaluation questions, and Dolan said that her office was moving forward with those suggestions.

USG president Ella Cheng ’16 also noted that the senate has a project committee focusing on the pass/D/fail policy, the members of which will be reaching out to Dolan in the future.

Cheng is a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

When asked about student involvement, Dolan said that she has met with academics committee chair Ramie Fathy ’16 as well as University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 to discuss the best way for students to be represented.

Dolan explained that the administration thought student focus groups would allow for as much feedback and engagement as possible.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Undergraduate student representative of the Committee on Sexual Misconduct Allison Fleming ’18 said that the committee has worked closely with WeSpeak in the past, and that this year they would work to analyze last year’s survey results.

Julie Chong ’17 of the Student Groups Recognition Committee presented a list of new student organizations that the committee had recently approved.

The groups approved at the meeting included the Liars' Club, a group that plays the game “Mafia” every week in Whitman, 1080Princeton for video journalism and Genesis, a Christian group.

U-Council chair Naimah Hakim ’16, who is also theMental Health Initiatives Board co-chair, said that the board has been working with Sexual Health Advisory Board on “Stay Healthy Week,” which is this Monday through Friday.

Hakim also said that the board will be meeting with Director of Counseling and Psychological Service Calvin Chin to discuss plans for this year’s mental health week programming.

University Student Life Committee chair Kathy Chow ’17 said that the committee is planning an event to take place during late meal hours with different food items representing different parts of the world.