Rochester Institute of Technology - Techmila / Ramikin Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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ions. The last election of the Men's Residence Hall is ample proof of this, TECHMILA; This year the Student Bill of Rights was passed. Do you feel this bill was necessary for the RIT community? EVANS: Yes. I'll quote the student power movement: . . . on most campuses the students are request- ing in writing what their rights as students are; what they can do and what they cannot. The Student Bill of Rights took almost a year to pass through the Student Policy Commi- tee, which worked with us and with the administration of RIT, and finally produced the Bill. This started in the Student Life Committee and the National Student Association. We took what they had and added to it to make it more specific. The Bill will be distributed to the students next fall, I think, TECHMILA: Does this mean that the human rights of the student have to be reconfirmed within an education- al community like our own? Do you feel the United States Constitution, which grants and governs our rights does not go into enough detail, whereas the Student Bill of Rights does? CAMPBELL: I think so because much of the Bill is concerned with organizational rights and procedures like: who should choose the advisor? It may not be so very different from the federal government's Bril of Rights, except for being more specif- ic, and that is why it was drawn up. It is quite liberal, and I am surprised it passed through the Student Policy Committee and Faculty Council as easily as it did. We've used the Bill three times this year, and it's pretty useful, TECHMILA: What was the Admini- stration's attitude toward the student power movement regarding the change of the winter quarter regis- tration date? EVANS: It was the first major con- frontation and a number of the members of the Administration were very angry about the letter I sent to the students. However, 2,500 stu- dents did sign the petition asking for a change in registration; how could they say no to us? By working with Dr. Campbell, who originally brought the need for a change in the registration date to my attention, and with Dean Welch we were able to obtain enough votes on our side to bring about the change. As far as the petition is concerned, it was not really that important. As Dr. Ell- ingson said to me, anyone will sign a petition. But it did show Jack and myself, and the other people who supported us that we did have the backing of the students. TECHMILA: When Dr. Ellingson said, anyone will sign a petition, what do you think he had in mind? EVANS: He meant that really no one reads a petition when he signs it, so it isn't of much tangible value. CAMPBELL: I think it would be good to note here that more than half of the students signed the petition, which indicated that the campus could be united for one common cause. In some aspects it is danger- ous, but it is something that every- one should be aware of, the Admin- istration included. More than any- thing, though, the petition woke them up. EVANS: It really did wake them up to the fact that the Student Govern- ment had the support of the students, and the respect of the students—something it did not have at the beginning of our administra- tion. TECHMILA: Dr. Ellingson has stressed that the channels of communication at RJT are open. What is your opin- ion about this? EVANS: They aren't as open as they could be, but in comparison with most other universities and colleges, they are very open. The executive “ Decem Jani died this year because of a definite lack of carryover. officers and almost any President of any organization can meet with any member of the Administration with no trouble to discuss problems or present constructive criticism which the Administration is more than happy to listen to. That is what is meant by open channels—they are open for us to work diplomatically and maturely with the Administra- tion to solve the problems that both- er the students. In some cases the problems involve negligence by the Administration, and very seldom do they take it as an attitude of bit- terness because attention was brought to a mistake they had made The only problem we have is with the faculty. They are often less agreeable when we brought our problems to them. TECHMILA: Can you give us a short history of the Meet the Dodge Boys? EVANS: It was Jack's Idea to give the students an opportunity to ask the Administration questions freely, and Ed Coyle supplied the name. At the first meeting approximately 500 people showed up, which isn't many ROTC was brought to this campus by a vote of the Student Senate.

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TECHMILA: What were some of the problems that you faced at the be- ginning of your term as President of the RITStudent Association? EVANS: The biggest problem was fol- lowing Paul Smith. Most people thought student government last year at RIT, was lack of government —period. That it would no longer exist because it had reached such a low level of student respect and had accomplished very little. The hardest thing I had to do was to build student respect for student govern- ment and coordinate the relation- ship of the organizations to student government. I spent most of my whole first quarter establishing pub- lic relations for student government, and little on legislation. TECHMILA; What sort of problems arise from a new senate? CAMPBELL: I think the biggest prob- lem is carry-over. 90% of the Sena- tors have had no experience before in student government, other than high school. Those that do come back are usually one-year Senators. There is very little carry-over from two and three-year Senators. The new Senators do not know what is going on. The big problem during spring quarter is the budget and they have never worked with one before: they think in terms of 35, 45 or 50 dollars. Most students do. When the Student Association considers its budget, it is over one hundred thou- sand dollars. TECHMILA: The first order of busi- ness each year is the budget. Do you feel that a new administration—both the President's Cabinet and the Senate—has the ability to review budgets of organizations that they probably are not very familiar with? EVANS: They more or less have to be taught how to handle a large budget, as Jack mentioned. They have never controlled this much money before. Each administration has a different philosophy about how it is going to handle its budget. Our's was differ- ent from Joel Pollack and Tom Dougherty's. Each student pays $25 and the only obligation we have is to carry-over $10,000 per year for the next administration. What we did was to spend the remainder of the money on the students who had paid that year. In the Pollack-Dough- erty administration, the philosophy is to cut all the budgets and keep them as low as possible. I can't agree with this idea because we are not a money making organization. The students are paying the money and it should be spent on them. This was the first year that one administration obligated the next three. We gave $21,000 to the barn project: $7,000 for the next three years. Then there is the Martin Luther King Memorial Scholarship which is $3,000 each year; and the IBM machine for the REPORTER will cost approximately $8,000 for three years. TECHMILA: Do you forsee a raise in the Student Association fee? EVANS: 1 expect a resolution next year for a raise in the fee to take effect in two years. TECHMILA: Could you estimate the amount of the raise? This was the first year that one administration obligated the next three. EVANS: Probably five dollars, which would bring the total fee to $30, The way things are now, the budgets are too tight. The organiza- tions can't request the money that is necessary. As student enrollment rises, more organizations and funds are going to be necessary. TECHMILA: What happened to De- cern Jani this year? EVANS: Decem lani died this year because of lack of carry-over. There was only one member who had two years of experience on it, and that was me. Otherwise Decern Jani was all new members. I could not attend the meetings because of my obliga- tion to student government and con- sequently they did very little this year. TECHMILA: How does RIT compare with other colleges in terms of stu- dent involvement? EVANS: We have an apathetic stu- dent body, but they all are, RiT stu- dents don't know much about the student power movement. I know they don't. When I wrote an article this winter about the Students for a Democratic Society, I found to my surprise that very few people on this campus knew what the SDS was. If the students had read any national magazine or any newspaper they would find an article on SDS activi- ties. It only goes to show the lack of general knowledge that these students have concerning anything going on outside the little world of RIT. TECHMILA: What about the appear- ance of the SDS at RIT this year? Does it have the potential of be- coming a strong force here? EVANS: I think the answer is no. They started out well, with backing from the U of R and the Brockport SDS chapters that had wanted to start an RIT group for the past two years. They got it going, but it fell through, At the first meeting there were about fifty people; half of them were people 1 had invited from the student government. And I would say we out debated them right there about their objectives. When I asked them what their objectives were as an SDS chapter, they said, We have no objectives. There they held back, and that's why the RIT chapter failed. TECHMILA: It was noted in the RE- PORTER they did come up with some objectives. One of them was nullification of the women's resi- dence halls curfew regulations. EVANS: By that point most of the SDS's objectives had already been decided, only they weren't aware of it. TECHMILA: Do you think that there has been a change, now that RIT has a new campus? EVANS: Definitely. There's much more student interest now in what is going on around the campus. I think the reason why is because of the residence halls. We all live to- gether and I think it is a warning to the Creeks. Before, the fraternities and sororities were the only big organizations on campus. But now the residence halls are organizing and having all sorts of social events; they are becoming very strong polit- ically: they really voice their optn- 27

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considering the number who are al- ways complaining. It did give them the chance to voice their criticisms and problems to the top Administra- tion personnel, and get a direct answer. At the second meeting the students were more radical, really cornering Dr. Ellingson and Dr. Campbell a number of times, but often they were framed into asking some of the questions. TECHMILA: ROTC has now been added to RIT. Do you have any feel- ings about the ROTC program here? EVANS: ROTC was brought to this campus by a vote of the Student Senate. On some campuses the stu- dents are having riots to get rid of their ROTC program, but the stu- dents here decided to have it. There are approximately forty people in the ROTC program now, almost double what they expected. TECHMILA: Student court appears to have died this year. What were its problems? EVANS: The biggest problem was my own negligence. There was so much happening that by the time I realized it was in trouble, it was too late to do anything about it. The members let me down, and in several cases became very emotional, especially the women, and I think they lowered everyone's opinion of how well mature students can judge their peers. When you make a decision and then go and cry about it in Dr. Campbell's office, I think that this is an example of why the Admini- stration thinks it has to make the decisions. CAMPBELL: It has gotten to the point where one must go through three or four different courts before reaching the Student Court. For ex- ample, there is MRHA's court, WRHA's court and the College Union's court. Everybody has a court. So when the Student Court does get a case, it is a kickback from some other organization. EVANS: I think that things will get straightened out eventually. Student Court has two fine people on its staff: Al Ritsko, a very mature and capable person who always follows through, and Jack, who is the new Chairman. These two will restore the Court, and probably improve it great- ly. It failed this year, but I know it won't fail next year. TECHMILA: Do you plan to change the basic organization of the court system on campus? EVANS: No, I don't think there will be any changes; courts are courts no matter where they are. I would like to see more cases sent to student Court in the future. When someone has a gripe—a legitimate complaint —and the court can liberally inter- pret the Student Bill of Rights, the case should go to Student Court. I just want to see more cases, because the more cases you try, the more involved you become and people start to look up to the Court and respect it. We could set some im- portant precedents in several areas if only we could get the cases. TECHMILA: Recently you were granted voting rights on the institute Policy Committee. What does this mean in terms of student involve- ment and power? EVANS: What does it mean for stu- dent power? Well, it is a beginning for the students here at the Institute. The ideal policy making organization for a college or university is one in which there is equal representation of the administration, of the faculty, and of the students. If there are to be thirty people on the committee, it should be split ten, ten and ten, respectively. Right now, here, it is approximately twenty-six to one. But as I said, it is a start and I am very sure that within the next five or six years, the students will have much more representation on the Policy Committee. I think the students won another important victory this year when they finally initiated repre- sentation on the Faculty Council; this organization has the governing power of the entire Institute faculty like the Student Senate has with the students at RIT. The Council makes the important decisions concerning tenure and curriculum. Being on the Council gives students the oppor- tunity to voice opinions about these issues; before, the students did not have a say in curriculum revision, for example. The fact that we have rep- resentation on the council is im- portant in another way: we did it peacefully, unlike Columbia and Berkeley where it took riots to force this change. My hope is that we stu- dents can continue in this direction, becoming more and more equal with the faculty and administration in deciding the future of RIT. h 29