2008 Woodie Awards
Student Affairs Emphasizing the Students
Noach Lerman
Issue date: 9/4/07 Section: Features
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Student Affairs has had plenty of experience running programs for students over the years. But recently there has been a push to fine-tune their operations through a greater emphasis on pleasing the students.
Part of this effort is through a new push to have greater student input in their programming. Their attitude towards the student government displays this approach. According to Associate Dean of Students Bradley Karasik, , Student Affairs programming revolves around the student government's activities. "If they ever want to run a program when we were considering running a similar event, we will always cede the event to the student government," Karasik said. "We exist to try to complement them, or to cosponsor events with them. We're here to help."
The Office of Student Affairs is also willing to tweak the Shabbat menu to meet student desires. Student Affairs has been proactive in having students review the menu, both over the course of last year and during the summer. They have also been soliciting suggestions from students at large, and have managed to be pretty responsive: when one student requested that the Beren Campus' brownies be served at Wilf Campus, they were on the menu the following Shabbat meal.
While Dean Karasik acknowledged that some may still be unsatisfied, he urged them to come to his door with practical suggestions to make the food better.
As part of its focus on meeting student needs, Student Affairs has also recognized the value of having events just for fun. "Every program has a mission, but instead of needing to meet five different goals, we're having some more events whose mission is to get students to have fun and relax," explained Dean Karasik. Because of strong student response, they plan to expand the gaming activities that were held during reading week last year. They are continuing the Shabbat raffles, also added last year, so students can enjoy the drama of the raffle and the massive goody bag of candy. Rosh Chodesh Donuts, a sporadic occurrence in the past, will become regularly ensconced within the Wilf Campus schedule.
Dean Karasik declared that "a successful program is when I can order 950 donuts and have none left in a half-hour." And the goal of those 950 donuts is wholly for them to be sitting is YU student's stomachs, without any side motives.
Some YU students may applaud the initial steps, but would like to see them to go further to think of the situation of a college student. "I thought that the pool and pin-pong tables during Reading Week was a cool idea, but I didn't get much of a chance to play because I was studying," said Benji Greenfield (YC '08).
But these are exactly the type of missteps the office hopes to avoid by being more aggressively responsive, according to Dean Karasik. He wants students to drop by Furst 419 or send an e-mail to osawilf@yu.edu. "While we can't promise to do everything you want - some things just aren't feasible - we will definitely explore any student feedback."
Part of this effort is through a new push to have greater student input in their programming. Their attitude towards the student government displays this approach. According to Associate Dean of Students Bradley Karasik, , Student Affairs programming revolves around the student government's activities. "If they ever want to run a program when we were considering running a similar event, we will always cede the event to the student government," Karasik said. "We exist to try to complement them, or to cosponsor events with them. We're here to help."
The Office of Student Affairs is also willing to tweak the Shabbat menu to meet student desires. Student Affairs has been proactive in having students review the menu, both over the course of last year and during the summer. They have also been soliciting suggestions from students at large, and have managed to be pretty responsive: when one student requested that the Beren Campus' brownies be served at Wilf Campus, they were on the menu the following Shabbat meal.
While Dean Karasik acknowledged that some may still be unsatisfied, he urged them to come to his door with practical suggestions to make the food better.
As part of its focus on meeting student needs, Student Affairs has also recognized the value of having events just for fun. "Every program has a mission, but instead of needing to meet five different goals, we're having some more events whose mission is to get students to have fun and relax," explained Dean Karasik. Because of strong student response, they plan to expand the gaming activities that were held during reading week last year. They are continuing the Shabbat raffles, also added last year, so students can enjoy the drama of the raffle and the massive goody bag of candy. Rosh Chodesh Donuts, a sporadic occurrence in the past, will become regularly ensconced within the Wilf Campus schedule.
Dean Karasik declared that "a successful program is when I can order 950 donuts and have none left in a half-hour." And the goal of those 950 donuts is wholly for them to be sitting is YU student's stomachs, without any side motives.
Some YU students may applaud the initial steps, but would like to see them to go further to think of the situation of a college student. "I thought that the pool and pin-pong tables during Reading Week was a cool idea, but I didn't get much of a chance to play because I was studying," said Benji Greenfield (YC '08).
But these are exactly the type of missteps the office hopes to avoid by being more aggressively responsive, according to Dean Karasik. He wants students to drop by Furst 419 or send an e-mail to osawilf@yu.edu. "While we can't promise to do everything you want - some things just aren't feasible - we will definitely explore any student feedback."