Strategic planning
President Paula Johnson and Provost Andrew Shennan attended the April 19 senate meeting to give a presentation on the College’s strategic planning for the next five years. The plan gives an overview of the direction Wellesley administration intends for the College to go in, encompassing a wide range of topics including academics, residential life and Wellesley’s role in the greater world. As President Johnson explained, the College needs to formulate a new strategic plan every few years in order to maintain institutional accreditation. In its current stage, the plan sets broad goals for improving the school, including making academic departments more interdisciplinary, elevating Wellesley’s role in the world (particularly involving gender equality) and building a sense of community. In the future, these broad goals will inform specific actions the College will take.
Students were then invited to voice their feedback. Francesca Lameiro ’23 asked whether the plan could use more gender-inclusive language, to which President Johnson replied that the plan would still maintain usage of the word “woman” due to Wellesley’s status as a women’s college. Quinn Etoll ’23 and Sarah Sansón Hernández ’21 asked for clarification about a point Provost Shennan made that the College may see some smaller departments merged into bigger ones; Provost Shennan replied that majors would remain the same, but, for example, it could be possible that a small department such as CAMS (Cinema and Media Studies) becomes part of the art department instead of being a separate entity.
Students who would like to provide feedback on the strategic plan may submit to this form.
CPLA amendments
Senators voted on amendments to the constitution of the Committee on Political and Legislative Awareness. Amendments included changing the name of CPLA to the Committee on Political Engagement (CPE) and the name of the CPLA Chair to the Political Engagement Chair (PEC), as well as adding a newsletter editor to the CPLA e-board. Results will be announced by College Government President Tatiana Ivy Moise ’21 via email because there was not enough time during the senate meeting to calculate whether enough senators had voted to meet quorum.
Outdoor space proposal
Sophia Ashebir ’21 presented a student proposal to create an outdoor gathering space on the grass near Stone-Davis Hall and Billings, by the tennis courts. The proposal includes bringing in accessible picnic tables, string lights, an outdoor ping pong table, a large chess board, chalk and more. Senior administration has already approved this proposal, as has SOFC through grants being given to students this semester. Because the proposal asks for $7,000 from the SOFC fund, the proposal has to be approved by Senate, which will vote on it next week.
