Staff Editorial

In a 16 page report released by the Extracurricular Activities and Residential Life Committee in mid-March, concerns with residential life were addressed. The underlying theme of the report was the need to redevelop a sense of community at the College. Some of the EARL Committee members argued that an increased presence of faculty would prevent some of the problems facing residential life. However, the EARL report suggests faculty involvement on a punitive level, opposed to a proactive one.

Instead of trying to fix the issues, we need to address the faulty foundation that creates the problems in the first place. The burden of improving the campus should not be entirely assumed by the student body.

In these critical final weeks, inundated with papers and exams, students have a great need for professor guidance. Part of what covers our $40,000 annual tuition is ensuring the provision of the student/faculty ratio of 10 to 1. Mandatory office hours provide a minimum of support to students. The several hours per week that are offered by faculty members can barely cover some of their administrative responsibilities in regards to students. While the college encourages faculty involvement on campus, most professors limit their time with students to academic related endeavors.

We would love to see more of our professors around campus and in the community. Professors have wisdom and guidance that a lot of us are seeking outside of our academic interests. There are some faculty members who make an effort to develop relationships with students outside of their classes. However, students have expressed an interest in opportunities to further their relationship. Students and faculty, we hope, will form relationships based on common extracurricular hobbies and interests as well as academic ones. As it stands now, there is a strong division between life in and out of the classroom.

Although the EARL report recommends several opportunities to enact change within the community, it fails to investigate the causes for this disintegration. Increased presence of faculty in the dorms does not remedy their lack of involvement in the community. This may be attributed to the large number of commuting staff. Of the 828 Bates faculty and staff, only 255 live in Lewiston or Auburn, which means that the majority of faculty have a significant commute to the college, restricting their ability to participate in campus life.

The lack of faculty presence on campus affects how students perceive the role of professors in our lives at Bates. For some students, personal interaction with faculty goes no further than class registration. Opportunities to interact with professors outside of your major are few and far between. Unfortunately, only a minority of faculty participates in campus activities and clubs. Acting as a faculty advisor for a club gives professors an opportunity to pursue their personal interests and contribute to student life outside of the classroom.

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