2008 Woodie Awards
Students speak out about pressing campus issues and direction Hendrix is moving
Social policy and community relationships top the list
Rachel Dedman
Issue date: 5/17/02 Section: Campus Life
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Over the past year, this section of the Profile has been devoted to expressing the voice of the Hendrix student body. Many issues have been covered, from sexual orientation to Christianity.
An open sharing of ideas can only further enhance the community of Hendrix as the students, the faculty and the administration grow to learn more and more about each other.
With each article that has appeared in this section, students have shown themselves to be educated and passionate about many issues on campus. Not one student has ever turned down the chance to be interviewed, and most students give much more information than could ever be included in a single article.
Therefore, in this last "student survey" article, a broad topic was chosen in order to allow students to express any and every concern that they have regarding Hendrix: Do you as a student like the overall direction that Hendrix is going?
The survey did not end with the above question, which is overbroad and open-ended. Instead, a series of issues that the student body has expressed a degree of interest in over the previous year were presented, including the following: student-administration relationships, academics, social policy, tuition, non-smoking dorms and student-student relationships.
Student-Administration Relationships
This first issue was heavily weighted with "no," yet it contained a surprising undertone of hope. Two-thirds of those interviewed rated the relationship between the students and administration as negative. Some felt that the administration had become more condescending towards the students and that they cared less about what the students desired and more about the image of Hendrix.
Others felt that the issue was a person-to-person concern, and therefore it could not be generalized to include all the students and the entire faculty. For these students, some administrators have good relationships with the students, and some administrators have developed negative relationships with the students.
An open sharing of ideas can only further enhance the community of Hendrix as the students, the faculty and the administration grow to learn more and more about each other.
With each article that has appeared in this section, students have shown themselves to be educated and passionate about many issues on campus. Not one student has ever turned down the chance to be interviewed, and most students give much more information than could ever be included in a single article.
Therefore, in this last "student survey" article, a broad topic was chosen in order to allow students to express any and every concern that they have regarding Hendrix: Do you as a student like the overall direction that Hendrix is going?
The survey did not end with the above question, which is overbroad and open-ended. Instead, a series of issues that the student body has expressed a degree of interest in over the previous year were presented, including the following: student-administration relationships, academics, social policy, tuition, non-smoking dorms and student-student relationships.
Student-Administration Relationships
This first issue was heavily weighted with "no," yet it contained a surprising undertone of hope. Two-thirds of those interviewed rated the relationship between the students and administration as negative. Some felt that the administration had become more condescending towards the students and that they cared less about what the students desired and more about the image of Hendrix.
Others felt that the issue was a person-to-person concern, and therefore it could not be generalized to include all the students and the entire faculty. For these students, some administrators have good relationships with the students, and some administrators have developed negative relationships with the students.
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