UW-Madison Dean of Students finalist Timothy Gordon spoke Thursday in the Red Gym on how he would embrace the role of dean, underscoring the importance of a diverse and collaborative campus.
His response to questions regarding ongoing campus plans such as the diversity efforts of Plan 2008, campus safety and the funding of off-campus rental space for student organizations was that he ""need[s] to be a member of the community prior to making these decisions.""
Gordon focused instead on the importance of the established shared governance practices on campus and the importance of embracing dialogue between students, faculty and the community.
Gordon said shared governance—the UW-Madison approach that allows collaboration between students, administration and legislation in decision making—is the ""opportunity to provide value and complement what student organizations do on campus.""
Gordon also focused on diversity issues on campus and how he could promote the culture that currently exists.
""I'm excited about Wisconsin because I think there's a commitment to diversity,"" Gordon said. ""That's the beauty and the challenge of working in this kind of community.""
He said a key to approaching diversity and connecting a decentralized campus was ""for persons of color"" to talk with each other. He also added that being of color allowed him to use past experiences to relate to these issues.
Students and community members voiced concern for how he might react to a discrepancy of campus issues between students and administration.
""I think it's important for the dean to both support students and challenge them,"" Gordon said. ""To be quite honest, I think the reality of the Dean of Students is that they also work for the institution.""
Gordon is the first of three candidates in the running for Dean of Students to speak at the university. He is currently associate dean of student services and registration in the School of Continuing Studies at Northwestern University.
""I bring the wealth of experience from working for 13 years with higher education,"" Gordon said, speaking to the crowd about his qualifications for the Dean of Students position at UW-Madison.
Other candidates who will be speaking between now and Feb. 5 include UW-Madison Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam and Brian Rose, associate vice president for student affairs at Rutgers—the state university of New Jersey.
