The Undergraduate Council of Students heard reports of student input to the Corporation on housing improvements at the council's general body meeting Wednesday night.
Student representatives from many areas of campus life came together during Corporation weekend to voice their concerns about housing, said Jessica Liss '13, the council's liaison to the Corporation.
Twenty-five athletes, Residential Peer Leaders and representatives from the UCS executive board and the Residential Council met Oct. 1 with the Campus Life and Facilities and Design committees of the Corporation to discuss future potential improvements to the system, Liss said.
Among alternatives discussed, students brought up converting Perkins Hall to upperclassman housing and attempting to provide "more of a cohesive experience" to first-years, said Liss, a former Herald staff writer. Other discussions included improvements to sophomore housing.
At its meeting, the Corporation approved a measure that will add 66 on-campus beds by renovating a University-owned building at 315 Thayer St., but future changes are still up for discussion.
The council also discussed progress on ongoing projects intended to address student concerns this academic year.
Improving advising continues to be a priority. Building on work from last year, the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee is working with Carol Cohen '83, associate dean of the College for first-year and sophomore studies, to build an advisory booklet for freshmen designed to orient them to advising and to give problem-solving techniques for when advising issues arise.
The committee will prepare a report to reveal departments deficient in concentration advising, said Frank Rinaldi '12, the committee's chair.
The council further plans to recommend improvements to international student advising as part of a more comprehensive look at the international student experience, said Academic and Student Services Chair Chris Collins '11. The committee is examining international student transition to Brown and has been coordinating with the International Mentoring Program to assess the advising situation. Improvements must also be made to career advising and networking for these students beyond Brown, Collins said.
The council also addressed the declining use of the Critical Review course evaluation site as professors distribute department-wide online evaluations instead of the long-running student group's evaluation system. While departments may prefer their own course evaluations, students prefer the usability and external access to the Critical Review, many UCS members said.
The best solution would be to encourage professors to continue distributing the surveys, said Jeffrey Handler '14, a Critical Review writer, UCS member and Herald contributing writer.
The UCS annual agenda will likely be released to the student body by next Friday, said Molly Lao '13, the council's communications chair.
