Taking the ''student'' out of Student Development

by Jenna Mancini guest writer

One thing has been made readily apparent to me over the past couple weeks: the Student Development office seems to have a clear disregard for its students' development.

I am not simply referring to the visitation policy requiring students to leave at 4 a.m., thus promoting drinking ll!ld driving, or to the lack of courtesy displayed by the administration in not notifying students of policy changes prior to the start of the year. I am not even referring to the disappearance of counseling staff on this campus for the past month which has disrupted the emotional well being of Cabrini students. Perhaps what concerns me the most is the fact that the mere presence of students in the Student Development office appears to be a nuisance to its staff. If students at this college are seen as annoyances, bow will our voices ever be heard?

Last week I entered the Student Development office to speak with secretary Nicole Nordberg. Nicole wasn't there, but I told the front desk receptionist that I was going to say hello to John DiMucci and Mary Laver, the Campus Ministers. As I began to walk down the hallway that adjoins student development to Campus Ministry, I was instructed by the receptionist to exit the office and enter Campus Ministry from their own door. I suppose the presences of a student in that hallway woulddisrupt the work of the Student Development staff.

It concerns me that the only staff in the Student Development Center that have any contact with students are the Campus Ministers. The Student Activites Office, where student members of the Campus Activities and Programming Board did most of their work was moved out of Student Development to a room downstairs. The Student Peer Educator Office, formerly across the hall from Campus Ministry, was sent to the Rooymans Center. However, the campus' Peer Educators can't even begin their work because they don't have a supervisor. Whether intentional or not, the Student Development staff has sent a message to its students that we are not welcome. Cabrini's "Education of the Heart" is futile if its own students are ignored and decieved. How can an office be called Student Development when it has no contact with its students? On Sept. 25, Laurie Keenan-McGarvey stated live on the campus radio talk show "I don't read the Loquitur." If administrators have little contact with their students and do not even read the student publications, this office is not deserving of the title "Student Development."

While I can appreciate the fact that Dr. Valente, Laurie Keenan-McGarvey and Charlie Schaffner appeared on the campus radio station this past Monday, I can't say that they truly listened to the students. It seemed that their purpose of appearing on the show was to simply pacify students rather than work with them. A student with a disability called the show complaining about the college's lack of accessibility and was told that this was the concern of another office, not Student Development. Last time I checked, this office worked on the development of all students, including disabled ones. The Student Government Association was also insulted for not inviting administrators to the Student Union meeting. Well, the students were a little upset that none of them were invited to meetings with the administration where these radical policy changes were discussed. Furthermore, it is not the duty of the SGA to schedule student union meetings for the administration. If the administration was so concerned that they were not invited, why haven't they scheduled a meeting of their own with the students?

Lee Noel, an authority on retention of college students, once stated the following: "Students are the most important people on campus. Without them there would be no need for the institution. Students are not cold enrollment statistics, but flesh and blood human beings with feelings and emotions like our own. Students are not people to be tolerated so that we can do our thing. They are our thing. Students are not an interruption from our work, but the purpose of it. We are not doing them a favor by serving them. They are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so."

Student Development, we are the reason you are working for Cabrini. Listen to us and welcome us into your office. Give us a chance. Don't impart these harsh policies on us based on the actions of a few students from last year who took advantage of the lack of administrative leadership. You have the power to change the climate on this campus from one of cold discontent and mistrust to one of mutual respect simply by listening to our concerns. Don't just tolerate us and hear us, but LISTEN to us. And who knows, if you listen to us, we might just listen back.

Jenna Mancini is a member of the SGA Executive Board as the Academic Board Chair

Letter to the editor

Dear Loquitur,

I am a senior, and I have seen many many changes and dealt with many attitudes toward the students. Every administrator has a different point of view and perspective on students. However, in my three years here, I have never, ever been so disgusted at the administration as I am now. On Sound Reason, a radio talk show this past Monday, Laurie Keenan-McGarvey, the director of Residence Life admitted that she doesn't read the Loquitur. No wonder you have no idea what is going on. I've listened to the show, and it seems to me that all three guests spent more time dodging questions by saying that they don't know, or "that happened before I got here,• than they actually said anything useful. There is an easy way to know what is going on - read the Loquitur! What better way to know what the students' issues are than to read them in a forum that is written for the students by the students?

I also noted the hint of utter contempt when the name Loquitur was uttered. Why? Is there anything wrong with the paper? Are you above the lowly student paper? The alumnus association, the board of trustees, and most professors here read the paper and listen to what the students say. Why don't you?

The student body bas a voice and deserves to be heard. They are using that voice, high, loud, ii.nJrepeatedly. It's just that the voice is falling on deaf ears. There is an easy way to solve all of these problems. Practice what the college preaches. We are taught understanding, respect, the common good, and most importantly love. Where is that in the school? The only love and understanding I've seen have been on the faces of my professors who honestly believe what they are teaching. Where all of my lessons, where every belief in the common good that I learned dissipated, was in my conversations with administrators. Time and time again my well being (the well being of the students in general) has been passed over for the love of the almighty dollar. Over the past years more and more people have been crammed into areas designed for a fraction of that amount. Handicapped students are lied to regarding the accessibility of the buildings, students are charged for damages done to their dorms, but for some reason, those damages are never fixed. I have to ask myself, why? The only answer I can find is simple - money. More people mean more bucks. What should be more important, educating the students, not only through our Sem 300 classes, but educate them through actions? They speak louder than words. Run the college like the loving educational institution it professes to be.

I've been told that this school is a business. We can't function if we don't make money. From what I've ever learned we are a non-profit organization. That means no profit. Following that line of logic, shouldn't the concern for money fall to the wayside for the well being of us all? For arguments sake, however, let's say that this school is a business, not a non-profit educational institution. Then using a business perspective, I am the product. Your goal as a business is to produce a productive working member of society - me. But would any business (any business worth anything) take such dangerous shortcuts in the creation of it's product? If I am not produced (educated) correctly will I not end up flawed? How long could the Cabrini Factory function? I encourage everyone to read this, read everything, and pass it on to those who haven't yet read it. Pass it on to other administrators, other teachers, and your parents. That is the only way we can seem to get through the wall of "I don't know" that is thrown up to us. Just some thoughts.