Viewpoint

An open letter to President Bollinger

It has recently come to our attention that you plan to move some of your central administration offices to Angell Hall. While our government understands the reasoning behind this move, we feel that it is our duty to inform you of some of the problems that would result from this change. Numerous resources, including LSA Academic Advising and the Honors Office, would be displaced by the move. It is in the interest of our government to assure that these two institutions, which are so crucial to LSA students, are settled into new homes before the administrative shift takes place.

Our concern stems from putting these student services in temporary housing, perhaps with classrooms transformed to makeshift cubicle units. Some of the most important benefits of Academic Advising are linked to its spatial design, including the privacy of individual offices that the Center provides. Without permanent offices, not only will the quality of advising diminish, but the inconvenience and unsettling atmosphere of the temporary space would decrease the effectiveness of advising in general. Also, each adviser currently has the ability to use the Internet to ensure accurate advising, which temporary cubicles in a classroom would not allow. Finally, perhaps what makes the Advising Office work so well is the open space in the middle of the office where students can consider their questions and schedules and where advisors can converse and ask questions of other advisors. It is this open and friendly space that would be lost if Advising was moved to temporary classrooms.

Academic Advising is crucial to the success of LSA students. Each student must meet an academic adviser during his or her first-year orientation to set up an academic plan for their years at the University. This initial contact is one of their first and most important impressions of the University, and the move has the potential to affect an entire generation of LSA students. But their interactions with Advising do not end there. Academic Advising facilitates 36,000 in-person appointments, 46,000 phone calls and 23,000 academic advisor e-mail messages per year. These numbers are just one indication of the importance of Academic Advising to students.

LSA Student Government is willing to endorse your move to Angell Hall, but only if Academic Advising and the Honors Office have been settled into their permanent homes first. We fear that any other decision would set a precedent of compromising students' interests, thus prioritizing administrative objectives over students' needs. Before the administrative relocation takes place, we are asking you to support the students' need for sufficient advising facilities by providing a permanent setting where adequate space and computer facilities are available. Thank you.

11-12-98