Administrators at the Arts and Sciences Council meeting Thursday invited dialogue on issues at the heart of the University's future: the Campus Culture Initiative and plans for Central Campus.
For council members, this was their first official update on the progress of the Campus Culture Initiative since it began in April.
An interim report is due in December, and the committee expects to finish work in February 2007, earlier than the May deadline initially set by President Richard Brodhead.
"This was a process that was going to go on for a while," said Robert Thompson, chair of the initiative and dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, adding that it encompasses many, varied aspects of campus culture. "That's really a broad charge, and we began our work in April, just at the time when the spring semester would be coming to a close."
Although the initiative's 25-member steering committee is not "representational," it includes leading members of the faculty, staff and student communities, Thompson said. They have worked in subcommittees on the issues of gender and sexuality, alcohol, race and athletics.
Thompson noted that four broad themes have emerged so far from the committee's work: the University's "culture of divides," administrative separation into "silos," lack of engagement with diversity and failure to articulate its core values.
The alcohol subcommittee has already submitted its report to the steering committee. Thompson said the report discusses prioritizing administrative efforts among three alcohol-related problems: underage drinking, drunken behavior and dangerous behavior.
"There's a clear consensus that there needs to be alternative activities that students embrace," he said.
So far, the subcommittees on race and on gender and sexuality have examined how the community values diversity, and the subcommittee on athletics has explored how the University can continue to run both athletic and academic programs successfully, Thompson said.
"Is this an institution with great academics and great athletics? Are they equal? Should they stay equal?" he asked the faculty.
Finally, Thompson reminded the council of the important role of faculty culture, noting that the University needs suggestions for increasing interaction among faculty and students without placing unrealistic burdens on professors. He invited continued input at a town meeting Oct. 24 geared toward faculty members.
Lee Baker, chair of the Arts and Sciences Council, said the CCI's work was of vital interest to the council. "Central Campus is important, but these [issues], I think, are eternal," he said.
Earlier in the meeting, Provost Peter Lange discussed the amended plans for Central Campus that the Board of Trustees approved in September. Lange said he is confident the plans will receive approval from the City Council, despite a negative vote by the Durham Planning Commission earlier this week.
Lange added, however, "There'll be some things where we probably never will agree."
Faculty members wanted to know how the redevelopment would affect current buildings, including Trent Hall and the Bryan Center.
Lange responded that Trent would remain in use as a "swing space" throughout Phase I of the redevelopment and that a graduate student center would take the place of services relocated from the Bryan Center to Central Campus.
"I guarantee you, we will rapidly find uses for any empty space," Lange said.
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