To foster communication among a divided student body, several School of Music students are trying to revive a student advisory board to gather student input and help create community within their school.
“There was a need to increase communication,” said Music junior Jessica Schaeffer, a leader in the effort to create a board. “This school exists for the students in theory, so there needs to be a way for students to actively participate in their education.”
The board would consist of a core of about five students, Schaeffer said. They would meet once or twice a month and hold bi-quarterly forums for students to voice concerns.
Music and McCormick senior Josh Cohen said a student advisory board would be a good way to increase communication between students and the administration.
A popular student forum held last year by Music Dean Bernard Dobroski gave students an opportunity to recommend changes in the school, some of which already have been implemented, Cohen said. He said the advisory board could establish regular communication instead of an occasional forum.
Linda Garton, acting director of undergraduate studies, said the administration would welcome such a committee.
“We’re all working hard at making (communication) better,” Garton said.
A sense of community is sometimes lacking because the school’s main buildings, the Music Administration Building and Regenstein Hall, are located on opposite sides of campus, Music junior DeAunn Davis said.
“It’s difficult because the people who are within sections socialize within that area,” said Davis, who is working with Schaeffer to create the board.
That makes it harder for an instrumentalist to find a singer to perform with for events such as student recitals, Davis said.
Another problem at the school is the lack of knowledge of existing services, Davis said. Davis and Schaeffer considered starting a Music listserv only to discover that one already exists.
But since Music students must e-mail the listserv to register and the listserv was not highly publicized, few knew about it, Davis said.
And though Music students have hectic schedules, Cohen said that should not stop them from getting involved in a student advisory board.
“They would have time to give back to something like this,” he said.
Music sophomore Wayne Xia said he would like to see a new committee lobby for more practice rooms. However, he added he would rather take his concerns to an administrator instead of a group of students.
“(Students) can make suggestions, but they don’t have the administrative power,” he said.
Every other school at Northwestern, with the exception of the Medill School of Journalism, has a student advisory board. The School Speech’s Dean’s Advisory Council, founded in 1980, helped start a schoolwide newsletter and an “Opportunities Unlimited” day where Speech students can learn about study abroad and internship opportunities, Associate Dean Cathy Martin said.
The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ board has representatives from every department in the college who collect concerns and bring them to group meetings. Last year, the group was instrumental in the hiring of advisers to improve advising for students of all classes and majors, said Beki Park, the group’s president.
“No school is perfect. Everyone is always going to have concerns,” said Park, a Weinberg senior. “If it was a quick fix, we wouldn’t have to have a SAB.”
