December 12—The Deans’ Forum, the event students had been waiting for since the Town Hall Meeting with President Joel one week ago, took place on the Beren Campus. The anticipated forum was referenced upwards of five times by President Joel, directing and encouraging students to approach the deans with their academic questions.
Attendance at the Deans’ Forum was noticeably lower than the standing-room-only turnout at the Town Hall Meeting.
The Deans’ Forum is a Student Academic Affairs Committee (SAAC) event that began last spring. It will planned to occur once a semester. According to Elisa Karp, President of SAAC, “The goal of the event is to allow students to bring up their academic questions, but it’s really just a starting point. It allows students to start feeling comfortable asking the Deans about their academic questions so that they don’t necessarily need a forum for their issues to be addressed.”
Dean Bacon emphasized this point in her opening words. She reminded the students that they are able to come to the sixth floor of 215 at any time, with any questions—said Bacon, “the door is always open.” After the introduction, the floor was opened to questions. Deans Bacon, Orlian, Pava, Giloni, Strauss, and Jessica Ostrow (Academic advisor at Sy Syms) were all in attendance.
One of the main focuses of the forum was the business school. Dean Pava clarified that the “Sy” has indeed returned to Sy Syms. To date, he is “not quite sure why they removed it.” He introduced a lot of excited Sy Syms news, including the hiring of new professor, Charlie Harary. A main concern voiced amongst business students was lack of teaching practical skills. Dean Pava responded that “Sy Syms aims for a perfect balance between practical and theoretical,” needed for a successful business career. Additionally, he clarified the two possible routes for aspiring accountants.
Several students expressed frustration over the class selection for the upcoming semester. Penina Cohen, SCW 14’ and Political Science major, expressed frustration that Stern only offers introductory level courses, with no pre-requisites and no option for honors or advanced classes. Dean Bacon replied that this is subject to change. As departments grow, more sophisticated classes can be offered. Such development can be seen in the Psychology department and will hopefully occur in the Political Science and History departments as well.
Tamar Berger, SCW 15’, presented the concern that certain class time-slots offer many “awesome” classes from which to choose, while other time slots “don’t have enough class options.” Dean Orlian assured the crowd that efforts are made to spread out classes, but there will always be more crowded spots. She advised Shira Marder, a pre-med student struggling with conflicting class requirements, to “make the deans aware of your needs far in advance.” Schedule planning begins in the 2nd or 3rd week of the previous semester.
A concern was raised about the need for more peer tutors in subjects such as Calculus. Dean Bacon said that “there are only as many tutors as there are students interested in being tutors.”
Hannah Dreyfus, SCW 14’, posed two questions. The first regarded members of the Stern College Dramatics Society (SCDS) receiving credit for their involvement in the production. Members of the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society (YCDS) receive 2 credits for their involvement in the production. Dean Bacon responded that, “the play is not academic, so credits will only be granted if it is part of an independent study program.” Regarding the disparity between the policy for men and the policy for women, Dean Bacon said she “would not address the difference between the two schools.”
The second question regarded the presence of a pre-Law advisor for the women, previous advisor having left campus at the end of last year. Information about the new women’s pre-law advisor on campus, Michelle Filorimo, Program Director at Cardozo, had been disseminated to the student body earlier in the year via an s-stud sent on September 4th, 2012. Ms. Filorimo is currently available to the pre-law students by appointment.
Overall, the Deans’ Forum was an important event as it helped students realize that the deans are accessible and available to hear and solve the academic concerns of the student body. The Observer would like to extend a thank-you to the deans and SAAC for making this forum possible.