About 50 UW-Madison faculty, staff and students gathered Thursday night in Gordon Commons to discuss the climate of the university at Days of Listening and Discovery. The event was created to emphasize the valuable qualities of the university and discuss how it can improve.
Participants were randomly divided by tables for small group and partner discussions. The tables then reported their ideas to the whole group. Associate Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Climate, Bernice Durand, said she organized the event, \to use the values and wishes discussed for the university as a guide to give instructors to let them know what students think works best in the classroom.""
Durand said Thursday's discussion was the first of a pilot program to attract a mix of people from the university to evaluate it and discuss how improvements could be made.
UW-Madison sophomore and member of the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board Beth McGrath said Days of Listening and Discovery provided, ""a good discussion for people who do not always have the opportunity to express their concerns.""
But she said the positive was overemphasized, which made it difficult for her to understand the purpose of the event.
""There should have been more students at the discussion, because they are the core of the community,"" McGrath said.
She expressed concern with UW-Madison's lack of diversity. She said there is a huge push to increase the diversity on campus, but no stress on retention.
Career advisor for Letters and Sciences Mo O'Connor said she would like to see more of a reciprocal relationship between students and professors. She thought there should be more emphasis on equality and mutual respect in classroom dialogue and activity. She also said smaller class sizes are important because they foster an environment of critical thought, motivation, accountability and individual value.
Steve Kosciuk, a researcher for the vice chancellor for student academic affairs, highlighted the importance of administrator-student communication.
""Not working directly with students, it was hard to understand where the problems are. The discussion made it more clear why we have to address these issues,"" he said.
Durand encouraged students to participate in the discussions Friday, held in Gordon Commons at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
