The University Record, November 9, 1998
President to meet with LS&A advising staff on Angell Hall move
By Jane R. Elgass
LS&A Interim Dean Patricia Gurin and President Lee C. Bollinger will be meeting with members of the LS&A academic affairs/advising staff to discuss his move to space in Angell Hall now occupied by the advising staff, Gurin told LS&A faculty at its Nov. 2 meeting.
Discussion of the president’s intentions and their impact on the advising staff and others in Angell Hall, including the Honors Program and the Great Books Program, preceded a presentation by two faculty members on a retreat held Oct. 27 on the future of the professoriate.
Bollinger announced his intent to move to Angell Hall in an e-mail message on Oct. 24. Since then, members of the advising staff have expressed concern about their move out of the building, saying it takes them away from close access to students.
Esrold Nurse, LS&A assistant dean for student academic affairs, indicated that there had been “some notion for some time that [the move] would be to Angell Hall.” According to Nurse, the advising staff has been housed in Angell Hall for 50 years, with the space recently remodeled.
“The move won’t happen overnight,” he said, indicating that there would be a move to temporary space before the transition can be completed, maybe taking as much as five years. He expressed concern about the possible “deleterious effect on our students” such a situation might have.
Gurin noted at the meeting and in talking with the Record that integrating services, programs and administrative functions in one building has been a long-term objective for some time. She noted at the meeting, however, that the long-term plan had not necessarily been “thoroughly discussed with the rank and file.”
Gurin added that she told Bollinger of this objective, and that his move to Angell Hall was consistent with the College’s objectives. “The president did not decide where to move without regard for the College’s plans, but in fact announced his intention, believing it to be perfectly consistent with our objectives,” she told the Record.
“I take full responsibility for not having talked through the College’s objectives, which have been held for some time now, with the academic affairs/advising staff, with Great Books and with the Honors Program.”
Gurin said the academic affairs/advising staff will form a small group to explore ideas about LS&A’s long-range objectives of integrating all undergraduate academic services and special programs into an LS&A building.
“We will proceed with the most open mind about how we will make an integrated LS&A building work to the benefit of the students and of these important services and academic programs,” she added.
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