By Noah Heiing
President Jane Wood speaking to students at Q & A session. Photo by Noah Heiing.
Dr. Jane Wood, president of Bluffton University engaged in conversation with students the evening of Tuesday, March 28. The Office of Student Engagement hosted a Q and A session with Wood as part of the Life Hacks series. Thirty-five students were present and listened to Wood respond to submitted questions on a range of topics.
Wood divided the questions into different categories that included enrollment and marketing, student life, academic affairs, fiscal affairs and advancement. Wood said she oversees strategy and overall accountability for these divisions.
Food
The university spends roughly $1.8 million each year on food. Wood said in the next year, or two Bluffton will be putting out an RFP, or request for proposal, to different food service companies to try to change our current food service provider from Sedexo to a new company.
ESAs
Wood addressed the issue of students not following the ESA polices regarding cleanliness in outside areas. Wood said students should contact their resident advisor and encouraged students to inform the students with ESAs if they are not following the ESA policies.
Cleanliness
Wood encouraged students to contact Steven Heinze, buildings and grounds operations manager, if students have issues with the cleanliness of the residence halls. Wood is open to the idea of bringing back student custodians, which was an on-campus job prior to COVID.
Mental health
Wood said training of faculty and staff, resident advisors, online and in-person counseling services are all ways the university plans to support those struggling with mental health. Wood encouraged students to talk to Mark Bourassa, senior director of student development, wellness, and prevention if students have ideas on how the university can improve counseling services on campus.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Wood gave an update on the university’s plan to be an anti-racist institution, plans to support LGBTQ+ students, and how the university can be more handicap accessible. The next goal to becoming an anti-racist institution is faculty training within the classroom.
Dry campus policy
The university is looking into an alcohol acceptance policy where alcohol may be permitted for students 21 and older to be able to consume alcohol at different events such as tailgating or a wine and cheese networking. Wood said alcohol will never be allowed in the residence halls.
“Increasingly, college faculty and staff and administrators are worried about people’s inability to communicate if you don’t agree on a particular issue,” said Wood. “The world is becoming increasingly polarized, so if college educated people cannot have those kinds of authentic conversations, the question is who can.”
This session was a part of the university’s annual Civic Engagement Day. Civic Engagement Day is the culmination of year-long exploration of the civic engagement theme. This year’s theme was “Please Don’t ‘Ghost’ Me: Creating Space for Authentic Conversation.”
Editor’s note: This article was produced as part of an assignment for MED 225 Writing for the Media.
