Two task forces begin addressing issues in the aftermath of ‘Over the Hill’

Two task forces begin addressing issues in the aftermath of ‘Over the Hill’November 11, 2005Kevin Morrowkdmorrow@syr.edu

Two task forces commissioned by Chancellor Nancy Cantor in response to concerns raised by HillTV’s “Over the Hill” program are now formed and moving forward with their respective charges.

Barry L. Wells, senior vice president and dean of student affairs, leads the Task Force on Student-Run Television. Kal Alston, associate provost and professor of cultural foundations of education and women’s studies, oversees the Task Force on Institutional Culture at Syracuse University.

Both groups will submit interim reports by the end of the Fall 2005 semester, with final reports and recommendations to follow early in the Spring 2006 semester.

The Task Force on Student-Run Television has three chairs: Hubert W. Brown, associate professor and chair of the communications department in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; Sandra Hurd, associate provost and professor of law and public policy in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management; and Jason Fisher, senior broadcast journalism major and member of HillTV from 2002-04.

Members include Roy Baker, associate dean of students; Butch Charles ’81, G’81, program director of WWHT-FM and WPHR-FM; undergraduate Kiana Cornish, representing the Black Communications Society; undergraduate Sam Edelstein, representing Undergraduates for a Better Education; Barrie Gewanter, executive director of the Central New York Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union; Margaret Himley, associate professor in the Writing Program in The College of

Arts and Sciences; undergraduate Eric Morissette, representing the Student Association; Andrew Robinson ’77, general manager of The Orange Television Network; and Juanita Perez Williams, director of judicial affairs. Additional student membership will be drawn from a wide range of groups, including some former members of HillTV, Women in Communications and other recognized student organizations.

“I am grateful that these individuals have accepted the invitation to work on this important assignment,” Wells says. “The work of this task force will support our common goal of creating a student-run television station that ensures that the content meets the needs and expectations of an inclusive campus community and also educates and adequately prepares our students to work in a manner consistent with the way quality television operates in the real world.”

The charge of the Task Force on Student-Run Television is to make recommendations for offering a model student-run television station that includes students from across all major areas of study, conforms to SU’s non-discrimination policy and other applicable policies, and welcomes the participation of many voices.

Specific assignments are to identify best practices in student-run television in higher education today; consider the applicability of these models to the SU environment; and develop recommendations for a student-run television station that describe the following:

• organizational structure of the new television station, including descriptions of key leadership positions;
• methods for recruiting new members and selecting the television stations leadership;
• advising and/or oversight structure within which the new television station will operate;
• editorial review processes to be implemented;
• a strategic plan to promote the television station’s programming and to elicit campus community participation; and
• topics to be the subject of education and training for student members of the television station, the methodologies for delivering this education and training, and the persons or units who will be responsible for delivering this education and training on an annual basis.

Including Alston, the Task Force on Institutional Culture numbers 29 students, faculty, staff and alumni. According to Alston, other members of the University community who have expressed interest in the task force’s work may be asked to serve on working groups.

The task force will provide recommendations to the Chancellor, administrators, the University Senate and the larger University community on means to, as Chancellor Cantor says, “break down the social barriers that wound and limit educational opportunities.”

Among its activities, the task force will conduct an audit of the campus climate and will examine the core curriculum, campus responses to racial and sexual violence, and the nature of the relationship between curricular and co-curricular experiences on campus.

Other concerns that will be addressed include:

• faculty and staff training and development;
• student first-year experiences;
• disability rights issues on campus;
• advising and mentorship, both formal and informal;
• the graduate and professional school climate;
• best practices in the schools and colleges; and
• the on-campus climate in relation to the University’s engagement with the world

“One of the great things about Syracuse University is the depth of the talent pool and energy on campus,” Alston says. “I am certain that the group assembled for this task force will contribute their own ideas and energies to the activities identified as essential for the strengthening of the institutional culture, and they will provide leadership in involving every possible constituency of interest in the processes and activities going forward.”

Members of the Task force on Institutional Culture are: Cecil Abrahams, Visiting University Professor in the School of Education and The College of Arts and Sciences; Keith Alford, associate professor of social work in the College of Human Services and Health Professions;Marina Artuso, professor of physics; graduate student Marsha Atterberry; graduate student Jenna Aurand; Curlene Autry, director of diversity and employee relations in the Office of Human Resources; Brown, of the Newhouse School; Carole Brzozowski, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts; undergraduate Vincent Cobb; Carrie Garrow, executive director of The Center for Indigenous Law, Governance and Citizenship; Paula Johnson, professor of law; Mariana Lebron, director of the Office of Orientation and Transitions Services; Andrew London, associate professor of sociology in The College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; undergraduate Savanna Marion; undergraduate Khadija Mehter; Jason Mills ’95, CEO of BLISTS; undergraduate Sarina Morales; Mary Ann Ocampo, assistant professor of architecture; undergraduate Zulay Olivio; Bonnie Ryan, associate librarian; Mara Sapin-Shevin, professor of education; Michael Schwartz, assistant professor of law; Melvin Stith, dean of the Whitman School; undergraduate Brian Stout; Raymond von Dran, dean of the School of Information Studies; law student Rafiel Warfield;Diane Weathers ’71, former editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine; undergraduate Tya Winn; and the Rev. Thomas V. Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel.