In a meeting Wednesday night, the Undergraduate Council of Students announced plans for a winter break J-term and discussed benefit events for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.
This January, a J-term will be available to students, said David Beckoff '08, chair of the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee. The J-term will take advantage of the five-week winter break between semesters to provide students with opportunities for productive independent activities. This winter the J-term will consist of mostly off-campus activities coordinated by the Curricular Resource Center, but the long-term goal is for the J-term to offer mini-courses and activities on campus and in Providence.
UCS members researched J-terms at other universities, including Cornell University. In a WebCT survey last spring, 74.5 percent of students polled by UCS were in favor of a J-term.
Another group, the Center for Independent Learning, is sending surveys to all faculty members to ask questions about their book preferences and recommendations. The responses will be bound and placed in Rhode Island Hall, said Ben Creo '07.
President Brian Bidadi '06 reviewed UCS's planned response to Hurricane Katrina. The response may entail a benefit concert with musicians and speakers, as well as a nighttime vigil resembling Relay for Life.
There should be "strong creative responses" within these events, Bidadi said. In one proposed project, students would help build the frame of a house on the Main Green that would be shipped to the Gulf Coast. There is also a warm clothing drive for relocated students underway.
The Campus Life Committee is addressing the issue of roommate pairing surveys. The surveys are vague and skip important issues such as substance use, said Sara Gentile '09.
UCS also held an internal election for delegates to the Ivy Council, a group that unites Ivy League student governments. The Ivy Council holds a summit once a year and also facilitates communication between campus groups at different schools. The three delegates elected were Beckoff, Halley Wuertz '08 and Student Activities Committee Chair Cash McCracken '08.
Eight of the nine appointments to the Campus Life Advisory and the Peer Community Standards Committees were approved. One appointment was tabled when the council learned that the person was studying abroad next semester.
Admission and Student Ser-vices Committee Chair Zachary Townsend '08 revealed plans for "mybrown," a one-stop Web site for everything from financial to academic information. This would also facilitate services like online bill paying.
The Communications Com-mittee is beginning a "yearlong publicity blitz," said committee chair Tristan Freeman '07. This will include a WebCT poll and dorm rounds to be conducted the week of Oct. 11-16. Also, committees will be encouraged to hold office hours in more public places, such as the Sharpe Refectory, to make UCS more accessible.
UCS voted to constitute Triple Helix, a science and technology publication; Hanuri, a Korean percussion group; Kendo Club, a martial arts organization; Brown Opera Productions and women's club lacrosse as Category I groups. Also, the council approved Democracy Matters, a lobby group currently focusing on clean elections, as a Category III group.
