On Friday, Nov. 16, trustees met with University students in the Public Affairs Center (PAC) to discuss the new need-aware admissions policy. The panel was composed of the 13 trustees who agreed to a dialogue with students. The panelists emphasized that each of them could only speak for themselves, rather than for the entire board.
The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) arranged the conversation as part of the trustees’ weekend gathering. At the beginning of the meeting, the trustees affirmed that the University’s values have not changed, despite the financial policy shift.
“Diversity is a core value of this University,” said Chairman of the Wesleyan University Board of Trustees Joshua S. Boger ’73, P’06, P’09.
As the meeting began and students posed questions, board member Darryl B. Hazel ’70, P’03 explained that the board is responsible for the long-term health of the University and must take into consideration the University’s values as well as its mechanism.
“Need-blind does not force the University to make this student body diverse,” said Board member Miguel Guadelupe ’98. “The reason why that happens is because the people demand it and do a checking process.”
Students described the discussion as useful, though many came away disappointed with a few aspects of the meeting.
“Student attendance [at the meeting] was, unfortunately, quite poor, though those that did attend certainly had much to say and ask,” Co-Chair of the Student Budget Sustainability Task Force Andrew Trexler ’14 wrote in an email to The Argus. “It was also unfortunate that the discussion was cut off rather abruptly after exactly one hour.”
WSA Representative Martin Malabanan ’16 said he thought the meeting was beneficial to the community.
“It was quite helpful getting the insight of the Board of Trustee members on certain issues, since they are ultimately the ones who decide on the policies of the University such as the need-blind policy,” Malabanan said.
Trexler also made further suggestions for University students.
“The student body should continue to think creatively and energetically engage the administration and the community to address the issues that Wesleyan faces vis-à-vis financial aid, as it has done for the past six months,” Trexler wrote.
Malabanan agreed, saying that students should follow new University policies more closely through different sources such as administrative blogs, The Argus, Wesleying, the WSA, or communication with administrators and Board members.
The Student Budget Sustainability Task Force was formed this semester and serves to look for long-term, sustainable solutions that would allow the University to move back to need-blind admissions. Trexler said the Task Force continues to work on various initiatives despite the current trajectory of the need-aware policy.
“The Student Budget Sustainability Task Force is moving forward, working to generate a memo with our current findings, direction, and various recommendations, which will form a basis for a full report in the Spring semester,” he wrote.
President Michael Roth expressed satisfaction with the discussion in an email to The Argus.
“We had about 50 students for lunch with the trustees and just over twenty-five for the discussion of financial aid,” he wrote. “I think both discussions were productive.”