Remove move-in petition
We, the undersigned, request that Jessica Campbell Buie, remove the old move-in petition protesting New College Dean of Students Wendy Bashant.
It has inaccurate information and is dated. The people who signed it are far removed from the current issues at New College, don't know the Dean Wendy, and thus are supporting Buie's inaccurate depiction of the events rather than the actual occurrence. Buie is part of the old residue of USF/Student relations. In those days, New College had an alarming history of antagonism between the college and the USF administration. Dean Blauweiss (2004) was fired. Dean Fisher (2000) lasted less than one year: she left after the students produced t-shirts depicting her as an assassin's target. Dean Wendy is a completely different model. She has been here for six years and we really like her. We support the New College administration and thus would like the petition removed.
Inaccuracy #1: The petition suggests that the Dean sets the academic calendar. She doesn't. A faculty committee with student representation set the date. She made this point in several meetings that she had with students. Her statements proved true: the start of classes (and hence the move-in date) was changed back to the original date, last year. Both the original change and the return to the old ways was set by the EPC (Educational Policy Committee), which students and faculty sit on it, but not the Dean. This alumni information is thus based on faulty information.
Inaccuracy #2: The petition suggests that there was a dramatic change in the move-in policy. This is not true. While Dean Wendy determines when Orientation begins, there was no change. Orientation always began 4-5 days before mini-classes. The return date always was the day before mini-classes. Buie's petition suggests that students are "losing their agency." This is not true. The fact is they just weren't paying attention.
Inaccuracy #3: The administration didn't adequately explain the rationale. At the end of this petition, you can see the last of several email that was sent out to students which explains why move-in is set the way it always has been set. The Dean went to two town meetings, had several 411s and also met individually with students and student government about the matter.
Inaccuracy #4: The current student body doesn't feel as though the current administration listens to them. This is not true. As the President said to the group of students in College Hall: Listening to isn't the same as agreeing with.
We, the undersigned, believe that there have been changes made to New College, and we support them. This school has an international reputation. The old petitioners need to put aside their personal vendetta and cease to allow these inaccuracies to fester and sully our school's image.
Email sent by the administration to students regarding move-in:
Philosophy on the return date:
1. Saturday returns are tough on our cleaning and physical plant workers. We have major overtime issues with orientation in general, and a Saturday return exacerbates it. All of our cleaning/physical plant staff has to be on hand when the students come back to make sure air-conditioning works, the furniture is in place, and the cleaning has been done. If students are coming back both Saturday and Sunday, we'll need to have key personnel, cleaning staff, physical plant right through the weekend.
2. Conferences are ending this week on the 18th. Orientation starts on the 20th and then the return-ers come back on the 24th. That gives us fewer than five days to get everything together. It also makes for a killer two weeks for the USPS workers: they get the rooms in order in less than a week, work through the weekend and then get hit with all of the work orders the following week because students want beds removed, etc.
3. Four days are necessary for Orientation. Once the upper-class folk start coming back, the attendance at the group events drops off precipitously. It is helpful to have Thursday and Friday for academic orientation and then Saturday to do community and co-curricular orientation. To lose that last day because the upper-class students are seductively telling the underclass that they don't have to participate undermines the cohesiveness of the class.
4. We grant waivers to anyone who has compelling reasons: these can be work-related issues for parents, plane fare prices for students who are out of the state or out of the country, medical or personal reasons for needing to leave home sooner. These were all waivers that we granted last year. Everyone who asked, last year, was granted a waiver.
5. We'd love to have students come back and be orientation leaders. Thus, if students don't have compelling reasons to come back, but want to, they should consider applying to be an orientation leader. In the past we've hired everyone who wants a position.
New College folks, academic calendars are always in evolution; we suspect this one is as well. If EPC decides to change or revise the current plan, we'll implement it. The fact is, every school that is our comp doesn't bring upper-class students back to campus until there is something for them to do -- that can be service projects or registration. That is also what we've done forever -- students don't come back until minis start --and to change it, when there are so many compelling reasons not to, goes against ration!
What other schools do:
FY=First year; UC = UCNCF-old schedule
Aug 20 --FY
Aug 24 --UC
3 days
Student's proposed change due to faculty change in calendar
Aug 20 -- 1st and returners arrive on campus
Aug 27 -- classes start
7 days!!
Oberlin
Aug 28 -- 1st year move in
Sept 2 -- returners move in
Sept 4 -- classes
2 days
Carleton
Sept 7 -- move in
Sept 10 - classes
3 days
Hampshire (06-07)
Sept 4 -- returners move in
Sept 6 -- classes
2 days
St. Marys of Maryland
Aug 25 --returners move in
Aug 27 -- classes
2 days
Reed College
Aug 24 -- returners move in
Aug 27 -- classes
3 days
We, the undersigned, request that Jessica Campbell Buie, remove the old move-in petition protesting New College Dean of Students Wendy Bashant.
It has inaccurate information and is dated. The people who signed it are far removed from the current issues at New College, don't know the Dean Wendy, and thus are supporting Buie's inaccurate depiction of the events rather than the actual occurrence. Buie is part of the old residue of USF/Student relations. In those days, New College had an alarming history of antagonism between the college and the USF administration. Dean Blauweiss (2004) was fired. Dean Fisher (2000) lasted less than one year: she left after the students produced t-shirts depicting her as an assassin's target. Dean Wendy is a completely different model. She has been here for six years and we really like her. We support the New College administration and thus would like the petition removed.
Inaccuracy #1: The petition suggests that the Dean sets the academic calendar. She doesn't. A faculty committee with student representation set the date. She made this point in several meetings that she had with students. Her statements proved true: the start of classes (and hence the move-in date) was changed back to the original date, last year. Both the original change and the return to the old ways was set by the EPC (Educational Policy Committee), which students and faculty sit on it, but not the Dean. This alumni information is thus based on faulty information.
Inaccuracy #2: The petition suggests that there was a dramatic change in the move-in policy. This is not true. While Dean Wendy determines when Orientation begins, there was no change. Orientation always began 4-5 days before mini-classes. The return date always was the day before mini-classes. Buie's petition suggests that students are "losing their agency." This is not true. The fact is they just weren't paying attention.
Inaccuracy #3: The administration didn't adequately explain the rationale. At the end of this petition, you can see the last of several email that was sent out to students which explains why move-in is set the way it always has been set. The Dean went to two town meetings, had several 411s and also met individually with students and student government about the matter.
Inaccuracy #4: The current student body doesn't feel as though the current administration listens to them. This is not true. As the President said to the group of students in College Hall: Listening to isn't the same as agreeing with.
We, the undersigned, believe that there have been changes made to New College, and we support them. This school has an international reputation. The old petitioners need to put aside their personal vendetta and cease to allow these inaccuracies to fester and sully our school's image.
Email sent by the administration to students regarding move-in:
Philosophy on the return date:
1. Saturday returns are tough on our cleaning and physical plant workers. We have major overtime issues with orientation in general, and a Saturday return exacerbates it. All of our cleaning/physical plant staff has to be on hand when the students come back to make sure air-conditioning works, the furniture is in place, and the cleaning has been done. If students are coming back both Saturday and Sunday, we'll need to have key personnel, cleaning staff, physical plant right through the weekend.
2. Conferences are ending this week on the 18th. Orientation starts on the 20th and then the return-ers come back on the 24th. That gives us fewer than five days to get everything together. It also makes for a killer two weeks for the USPS workers: they get the rooms in order in less than a week, work through the weekend and then get hit with all of the work orders the following week because students want beds removed, etc.
3. Four days are necessary for Orientation. Once the upper-class folk start coming back, the attendance at the group events drops off precipitously. It is helpful to have Thursday and Friday for academic orientation and then Saturday to do community and co-curricular orientation. To lose that last day because the upper-class students are seductively telling the underclass that they don't have to participate undermines the cohesiveness of the class.
4. We grant waivers to anyone who has compelling reasons: these can be work-related issues for parents, plane fare prices for students who are out of the state or out of the country, medical or personal reasons for needing to leave home sooner. These were all waivers that we granted last year. Everyone who asked, last year, was granted a waiver.
5. We'd love to have students come back and be orientation leaders. Thus, if students don't have compelling reasons to come back, but want to, they should consider applying to be an orientation leader. In the past we've hired everyone who wants a position.
New College folks, academic calendars are always in evolution; we suspect this one is as well. If EPC decides to change or revise the current plan, we'll implement it. The fact is, every school that is our comp doesn't bring upper-class students back to campus until there is something for them to do -- that can be service projects or registration. That is also what we've done forever -- students don't come back until minis start --and to change it, when there are so many compelling reasons not to, goes against ration!
What other schools do:
FY=First year; UC = UCNCF-old schedule
Aug 20 --FY
Aug 24 --UC
3 days
Student's proposed change due to faculty change in calendar
Aug 20 -- 1st and returners arrive on campus
Aug 27 -- classes start
7 days!!
Oberlin
Aug 28 -- 1st year move in
Sept 2 -- returners move in
Sept 4 -- classes
2 days
Carleton
Sept 7 -- move in
Sept 10 - classes
3 days
Hampshire (06-07)
Sept 4 -- returners move in
Sept 6 -- classes
2 days
St. Marys of Maryland
Aug 25 --returners move in
Aug 27 -- classes
2 days
Reed College
Aug 24 -- returners move in
Aug 27 -- classes
3 days
Dean Wendy is the greatest. She is always available and really makes an effort to teach how to write an essay. Her discussions are fabulous. She's extremely approachable. What's not to like?
I lost my bright futures and Wendy was instrumental in helping me get in reinstated. I wouldn't have been able to continue at New College if it hadn't been for the letter that she wrote for me. I am eternally greatful!
Dean Wendy is one of the hardest working people I know. She does the job of three!
The so-called alumni need to grow up and face the real world. It looks like their education was squandered.
She is a very enthusiastic and energetic person. I like to serve on committees with her!
I'm a Wendy Bashant success story: When I started college, I wasn't at all ready. I took her class and three others and flunked them all. When I talked to my advisor, he told me that I wasn't college material and should consider withdrawing. I met with Wendy and she was strict, but supportive. She said that she'd help me, but I would have to work for it. This was ten years ago. I'm now a partner in a law firm in Boston. I've recently given money to the college in Wendy's name. She literally made me who I am by believing in me.
I went to New College many moons ago. I've since graduated, gone on to grad school and administrative posts in university settings. Looking back on my years at New College, I have to say that there was very little supervision. Students are 18-20 year olds. While they may think they have all the answers, the truth is the college has a longer vantage point than their small worlds. I'm glad to see the college is willing to embrace change, and I salute any administrator who is willing to initiate it.
This list of so-called "alumni" is full of people who were anarchists, unable to complete their degree and thorns in the side of the old administration, and people unable to understand the concept behind safety and liability. They need some real-world truth-testing.
Wendy is a thoughtful and friendly personality on campus. Her bright smile and willingness to listen is central to New College's philosophy.
She may be the best administrator on campus. There is definitely NO ONE who CARES more!!!!!
I have found Wendy to be amazingly supportive of my work at New College. I've several times considered transfering and each time, she gives me good reasons why I shouldn't. She's given me the confidence to finish.
As a faculty member, I've worked with Dean Bashant on a number of initiatives. She has been a strong advocate for both the students and the college.
She's a cool teacher who cares deeply about the students!
Dean Wendy Bashant is a very responsive and responsible administrator. I have contacted her several times and each time she listens closely to my problems and helps me find a viable solution.
When I dropped out of New College for family reasons, Dean Wendy wrote to me frequently, asking me how I was doing and how she could help me come back. I'm excited to say that through her I've worked through the problems and will be re-enrolling and hopefully graduating next year!!!!
Great and always available. Made the effot to reach out to students. Very friendly and a very good college leader
I'm delighted that Dean Wendy has brought some wisdom and compassion to the purely intellectual and verbal culture of New College.
I'm an alum. The description of New College is very accurate in this petition. I've never met the dean, but if she is all that this petition says, she is the ideal person to move the college from the 60s into the 21st century. I always thought that I wouldn't be able to send my kids to my alma mater because of the unhealthy social atmosphere. This petition heartens me.
Dean Wendy is always open to new opinions and good ideas. I've served on a committee with her as well as sat through her class, and I've found her to be funny, open-minded, and productive
Dean Wendy Bashant has been a diplomatic force at New College. She cares abot the students and is willing to put herself out there to make sure they graduate. She has also made it clear that she can't ignore illegal activities. If Jessica Campbell was an active drug dealer, I'm not surprised she had a run-in with Dr. Bashant. I've found her compassionate, willing to listen and alway helpful.
Professor Bashant makes herself very accessible for consultation, whether through email or face-to-face meetings. She is extremely helpful in ferreting out paper topics and theses, and in helping students develop further their areas for investigation when doing research. Her enthusiasm for her subject matters makes her classes thoroughly enjoyable!
