Dear Students, Today, we are proud, pleased, thrilled and excited to announce a new set of initiatives that will aim to promote the continued improvement of student quality of life. They begin by the official creation of the Center for the Office of Student Initiatives and Outreach, which will be a part of the Division of Academic Planning and Student Services, which is under the umbrella of the Department of Policy Implementation and Paper Pushing. It will be spearheaded by the Vice President of Scholarly Academic and Student Services, who will work closely with a team of provosts, a few dozen deans, some advisers, a chair, a vice-chair and a secretary, all of whom will collaborate closely along with a director, an associate dean, an assistant dean and an assistant to the assistant dean.As its name suggests, the Center for the Office of Student Initiatives and Outreach will be responsible for initiating, implementing and strategizing student-focused initiatives and reaching out to students.The mission of the Center is clear: It will simply engage, integrate, strengthen, promote, advocate, maintain, sustain, improve, expand and diversify student life, student mental health, student safety, student excellence, student engagement, student access and student commitment. And, of course and as always, it will do so with a strong and enduring commitment to long-term, short-term and medium-term economic, environmental and global self-sustainability.We are even prouder, more pleased, more thrilled and more excited to report that the team of vice presidents, provosts, advisers, directors, deans and chairs has already made dramatic and noticeable progress toward these ambitious goals. Over the past few weeks, they’ve worked hard to form several ad hoc, standing and sitting committees, which themselves have created subcommittees, sub-subcommittees and sub-sub-subcommittees. These committees, along with their subcommittees, sub-sub committees and sub-sub-subcommittees, have, in turn, established several task forces, which have written several proposals, each of which proposes several pieces of policies, legislation, statements and resolutions, which will be diligently followed by a flurry of press releases.For example, the Student Outreach Advisory Engagement Executive Committee has already formed the Task Force for Student Feedback, Engagement and Accountability, which have set up dozens of effective centralized frameworks and structural paradigms intended to bolster, reach out to, unify, connect and bridge any gaps, divisions and communities among the student body and across all corners of campus and between all cultures and religions, sexual orientations and academic departments, including the Africana Center.And we are happy to announce that the task force is proud to report that it has voted to pass the proposal. After months of meetings and forums, it has decided that unifying, connecting and bridging gaps, divisions and communities is a good idea. Out of these substantial joint and mutual efforts to write proposals from the Center for the Office of Student Initiative and Outreach will come a groundbreaking, revolutionary, extraordinary and transformative stimulus on the local, state, national and global economies.And in line with the goals of the strategic plan and community support, the Center, together with its task forces and committees, seeks to foster, devise and implement collaboration, innovation and creativity across all inter- and intradisciplinary fields in the humanities (except theater and education), the sciences, the mathematics and engineering to ensure future strength and success for days, months, years, decades and generations to come.Of course and as always, the entire process will be entirely transparent, open, accountable and see-through. In fact, the Committee has reached out to a diverse range of student leaders of various student organizations across campus to create partnerships, open communication lines and broaden debate in order to ensure, renew, foster and leverage a louder student voice, access, input and feedback which can only expand, nurture, foster and grow our sense of community, unity and togetherness. Though it has already accomplished a great deal, we envision that the Center will continue to support and advocate for higher learning, public engagement and discovery, and continue to supply us with a never-ending list of buzz words.And lastly, but definitely not least: CornellNYC Tech Campus.
Signed,Day Hall
Steven Zhang is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He may be reached at [email protected]. The Bigger Picture appears alternate Tuesdays this semester.
Original Author: Steven Zhang