Northwestern is soliciting undergraduate applicants for a new Off-Campus Advisory Board, Dean of Students Burgwell Howard announced Thursday.
Following widespread complaints after a weekend of hard partying, Howard sent an e-mail to off-campus residents Oct. 14 denouncing some student behavior. That e-mail eventually led to an Oct. 26 town hall forum, inviting the NU community to discuss the relationship between off-campus students and non-student residents.
Creating the advisory board was a topic of discussion at the town hall, attended by about 25 students. It will consist of 8-15 members, who will serve as a focus group for dealing with town-gown issues and give feedback to the administration.
It will also help solicit more opinions from students, Howard said.
“Oftentimes students may feel more comfortable sharing information with a peer or a friend than an administrator,” he said.
Because of the relatively small audience at the town hall, the latest e-mail to off-campus residents advertised the board more widely and invited interested students to contact Betsi Burns, a new assistant dean of students whose job, in part, will involve working with off-campus and non-student residents.
Another goal for the advisory board will be helping the administration reach out to students in effective ways, Howard said.
“One of the challenges for Northwestern in general is, how do we prepare people for living within the Evanston community?” he said. “Often students find themselves in violation of city ordinances simply because they just weren’t aware, so we need to prepare people.”
Howard received national attention from gossip website Gawker for two e-mails he sent to the student body in October, one detailing the weekend of partying and the other informing students about the implications of dressing in blackface for Halloween, which was co-signed by several students.
University President Morton Schapiro told The Daily Wednesday that NU knew the e-mail would receive national attention.
He also said he had not heard too much about the e-mail or the incidents since that weekend, adding that he has received far fewer complaints about student behavior this year than last.
“We have a responsibility to this neighborhood. Don’t worry about embarrassing the University; just make it fair and transparent,” he said administrators told Howard. “We’re not ashamed to admit that we’re not perfect at Northwestern.”
Schapiro said relations between Evanston and NU have improved, though having undergraduates living next door to families is an inherently difficult situation.
“Every weekend I cross my fingers,” he said.
With Howard and Burns actively working to improve relations, Schapiro said the University is making an active effort to find solutions.
The new advisory board is another step toward that goal.
“I don’t necessarily like talking at students. I prefer to speak with them.” Howard said. “Although people have received some ‘nasty-grams’ from me this quarter, in general my style is to speak with students.
“Let’s have a conversation and let’s talk about what we need to do,” he said.
