Administration offers student/faculty conversations about upcoming curriculum changes
With the adoption of a new curriculum within Geneseo’s general education requirements, Geneseo Learning Outcomes for a Baccalaureate Education (GLOBE), the administration is now offering opportunities for students and faculty to speak directly with those creating and implementing the changes campus-wide.
In an email to all staff and students on campus, President Denise Battles wrote: “We are offering a series of engagement opportunities for individuals across campus to participate in facilitated dialogues about our equity-centered public honors college vision [...] and we hope you all will take advantage of this opportunity to connect with others around our vision.”
Though Battles appears to only be attending two of the nine discussions, the list of conversations spans a whole month from students’ return from spring break to late April.
The college’s “Strategic Plan 2022-27” states, the administration places particular emphasis on four areas: access, student experience, outcomes, and infrastructure/financial sustainability. Despite these goals seeming rather self-explanatory, the specific statistics Geneseo hopes to meet are quite optimistic. In access, a couple of the goals include “increasing transfer enrollment by 25%,” “increase first-generation enrollment by 5%,” and “decrease post-grad college debt by 10%.” The other three categories are less numeric, with goals like “improve student success, retention, and persistence,” “integrate career education into the academic experience,” and “finish major building renovations on time, budget, and scope.”
Though some might find these goals ironic considering, for example, SAT and ACT scores are no longer required for application (“applicants are free to add test scores they believe indicate their aptitude for successful higher learning”) despite standardized testing in the United States being deeply rooted in white supremacy per the National Education Association, and it may benefit students more to not utilize them at all so as not to effect admissions. Or Milne Library’s reconstruction timeline, slated for reopening in the 2024-2025 school year will leave the class of 2024 with only one semester with full library access and the class of 2023 with no full library access; or that undergraduate students at Geneseo have been falling in population, causing the total funds available to the school to drop, with what little is available going to renovation.
Students wishing to either express their concerns or agreements can talk directly to President Battles and one of her cabinet members on Mar. 22 from 10-11 a.m. in Bailey 115, or on Apr. 6 from 3-4 p.m. in the same place. Registration is required and attendance is being granted “on a first-come, first-served basis.” There are also seven other opportunities where either faculty only, students only, or both are invited, but the capacity is limited to 20 participants.
With the future of the campus in mind, it’s important to make the most of the rare opportunities non-administration members of the community have to express themselves. Whether you are a member of the faculty whose livelihood and career rests on the decisions of the administration, a senior who wants to see first years have a brighter undergraduate experience than they received, or a freshman who wants access to as much in academia as possible, the conversation has to begin somewhere.