The UW-Madison Interim Dean of Students, Lori Berquam, hopes that she will be able to continue developing the ""Think"" campaign to promote diversity as the new, permanent dean of students.
Berquam hesitated to announce her candidacy until now because she did not want to appear like she was grandstanding.
""The bottom line is I want the best dean for our students—I want the best dean for the UW,"" Berquam told The Daily Cardinal. ""If that's me, great, if it's not me, that's great for them.""
Her initial focuses as dean, she said, would be the ""Think"" and ""Vote 2006"" campaigns, as well as campus safety forums, one which is to be held today at B10 Ingraham Hall, 7-9 p.m. These are three initiatives Berquam is currently promoting from her position as interim dean.
""I think our students should be able to study and work and live and celebrate life in an environment that's safe,"" she said.
Berquam said she would work to promote the Wisconsin Idea, which promotes community, civic engagement, and intellectual debate.
Part of promoting this idea, she said, is promoting policies that would stop faculty from leaving for lack of domestic partnership benefits.
""Without them, our campus is harmed,"" she said, claiming students lose out when qualified professors leave.
New steps in reporting intolerance
Berquam is promoting a biased reporting system as a unique element to the Think campaign, allowing students to submit complaints of harassment to the Dean of Students office via the Internet.
""Up to this point, they've only been able to file a report by going to the police or going to the dean of students,"" said Eric Trekell, the director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Campus Center.
According to Trekell, the reporting system makes access to resources easier as well as helps students feel more open to report harassment.
""People are stigmatized, sometimes, when they are assaulted or harassed, so they don't go public,"" he said.
The campaign efforts also team up the Dean of Students office with many groups promoting diversity on campus, and these groups all agreed that a minority of cases are reported.
""We firmly believe that's the tip of the iceberg, that there are more situations that are happening, and they are just going unreported,"" Berquam said.
The students' response and the biased reporting mechanism is focused less on enforcement, Berquam said, than on providing support to students who may encounter prejudice.
Staff at the Dean of Students office will follow up on claims, possibly referring them to organizations on campus that represent the community with which that student identifies.
For instance, a student who experiences harassment due to their sexual orientation may be referred to the LGBTCC.
""We may have more credibility in communicating with some of those populations,"" Trekell said.
The system will provide a starting point for efforts to improve campus climate, by centralizing students' complaints for the first time.
""That's a mechanism with which we might be able to ascertain some numbers in terms of how our students feel the campus is working,"" Berquam said.
