VSA creates long-term planning committee

Hayley Tsukayama News Editor

The Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council has approved the creation of student Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) in order to officially address the VSA’s long-term goals. According to VSA President Sam Charner ’08, long-term goals are currently being defined as issues “five years and out.”

According to the proposal, the committee “shall look at the next decade and contemplate the changes that will take place over that timeframe and envision their effects on the College and the VSA structure.”

Charner said that creating this committee has been under consideration by the VSA Executive Board since their election earlier this year.

“The rationale behind making the committee was that we have no structured place to talk about long-term topics right now,” Charner said.

Currently, the Executive Board spends most of its time managing the day-to-day functioning of the VSA structure, while the representative council concerns itself with current events. “We wanted to create a place where we’d be able to organize long term planning and also put in priorities for the College,” he said.

Vice President for Operations Summer’s-Grace Green ’09 agreed, saying, ““Hopefully it will help alleviate the problems we’ve been having, such as [the four-year student] turnover and things like that.”

As VSA President, Charner will chair the new committee, which wil consist of fourteen students including all members of the VSA Executive Board, students selected from the Committee on College Life, the Committee on Curricular Policy, and three members additonal members of the current VSA council. On Nov. 11, the VSA Council appointed three members to the newly-formed committee: Class of 2009 President Maryrose Myrtetus, Strong House President Camille Friason ’09, and Ferry House Representative Tendai Musakwa ’10.

The committee will make recommendations to “relevant VSA and College committees” in an attempt to align all the VSA’s long-term goals.

“Of course there will be [issues] that affect both,” said Charner, “and all the long-term things will have short-term effects.”

In order to ensure that the new committee will not encroach on the VSA Council’s jurisdiction, Council will vote on whether or not to continue the committee at the end of the year. Charner said that if the committee does continue Council will explicitly state in the bylaws that the SPC must be careful to concentrate on long-term planning.

The committee, which will expects to meet for the first time next week, already has a very specific agenda, centered around five major issues. “One is getting student’s initiatives into long term planning at the College,” said Charner, “then there’s obviously displacement from dorm renovations over the next decade, looking and doing a real thorough analysis of our operating budget and our capital budget, the role of student organizations on campus and then sustainability.”

For the 2007-2008 year, according to the proposal, this 10-year plan will be completed by March 30. The SPC will revisit and revise this plan annually as needed.

“I’m really excited that we have it. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some really good work and take a longer-term perspective on things,” said Charner of the year to come.