OCTOBER 9,1987 —
THE DECREE —
PAGES
Cohen wants new student center
(Continued from Page 1)
your life, you don’t make your job
your entire life, and academics in
pursuit of a liberal arts education is
just part of growing up. The involve
ment on campus in extracurricular
activities going hand in hand with a
liberal arts education is very impor
tant for the student in terms of their
beginning to form patterns of behav
ior and beginning to see themselves
as an adult they will be in society.
Decree: Why did you decide to
come to a liberal arts college?
Cohen: When I looked for a job,
and I knew as I was getting into my
second year at East Carolina we had
an opportunity to accomplish a hell
of a lot during my two years there
and I felt like it was time for me to
begin to think about that next step. I
didn’t seek out a liberal arts college,
to be candid with you.
What I sought was an opportunity
for me to go to a level, the Dean or
Vice-President level, of Student Life
at a relatively small school. It wasn’t
important whether it was a liberal
arts school, although I like the fact
that it is a liberal arts school, but
somewhere they would, in essence,
take a chance on me and I would take
the chance on them and that it would
work well together.
The job at Wesleyan was adver
tised last year and I sent them a res
ume. I’ll tell you this very honestly,
although I think about 90 people
applied for the job, my background
in campus recreation is not the typi
cal background where you’d say
we’re ready to give this guy the next
step to be the Dean. They usually
look for a lot of people who work in
residence life and things of that sort
But I feel like I’m a very strong
administrator, I feel like I manage
people well, I understand students
well, and some people at East Caro
lina made some phone calls over here
to some key administrators like Dr.
Brooks, and they basically said,
“Whatever you do, just talk to this
guy. You don’t have to hire Steve
Cohen, but we think you need to talk
to him. You may have overlooked
him on his resume because you may
think he doesn’t have the typical
Dean of Student Life background,
but understand he was the director of
a large campus recreation program
through the Division of Student Life
at East Carolina. So he understands
how our whole Student Life depart
ment works.”
I came for my first interview. I
met with a lot of people, but not with
Dr. Gamer. He wasn’t here yet. I
came back and met with Dr. Gamer
and they eventually offered me the
job to be the Dean. So it wasn’t a real
“let’s go and find a liberal arts col
lege,” it was more “let’s find the right
position t the right time and place.”
I was also very excited about the
fact that Dr. Gamer was coming here.
I had heard very good things about
him, and I felt that Wesleyan was at
the time where a lot of changes were
going to be made. It was open to new
ideas. That’s the kind of person that I
think I am, and I think Dr. Gamer and
I are very similar in that respect. We
walk around every day and we look
around and we question how we can
make this place better.Why did they
do it this way? Why can’t we do it
that way? Why should we not build a
building like this or not?
Decree: Characterize Student
Life when you took over.
Cohen: I was not pleased. I inher
ited, in my mind, a mess. A mess in
many ways ranging from the man
agement of this office, the office pro
cedures, and how things are done. It
was a lack of professionalism in
terms of office management, pro
gram development and follow-
through, organizational structure
somewhat unclear. Not a very pro
fessionally run operation, not what
I’m used to anyway.
I’m very, very concerned with
professionalism. Not just a positive
image but the substance behind it.
I’m very pick about things. If some
one writes a letter, I don’t want any
grammatical errors or spelling erron.
I want it to look good and I want it to
read well. So to characterize the
shape it was in — not very good. A
serious question existed on this cam
pus that may hopefully be changing.
In terms of a lack of consistency in
the Student Life office in terms of
how students are dealt with when
they are involved in disciplinary
problems. What I’m trying to de
velop is a very fair system and a rela
tively consistent system so that stu
dents understand that we have certain
rules and regulations at this institu
tion j ust like any other aspect in soci
ety.
If you are 45 years old and you
live in Raleigh, N.C., or New York
City, there are laws in New York
City or in Raleigh, N.C. If you con
duct yourself within those laws, you
have no problem. If you violate them,
you are responsible for your actions.
So what we’re trying to show stu
dents is that we’re part of a commu
nity here and I don’t think there was
that feeling before. They’re part of
that community, they are responsible
citizens in that community.
There needs to be more financial
support in the Student Life area, our
office situation is intolerable — lack
of space, lack of privacy — and an
effort is going to be made here to do
the right thing, I hope.
Decree: What rules have been
changed for this year and why?
Cohen: Much to the dismay of a
lot of people, no rules have been
changed. The thing that may be dif
ferent this year is there will be a sin
cere and concerted effort to enforce
the rules that are on the books. I came
here too late for me, Pam Derrick,
and my staff to sit down and look at
the handbook and say we don’t like
this, let’s change that, let’s modify
that
So I directed my staff in the first
meeting I had with them to read that
handbook cover to cover, understand
the rules and regulations of this insti
tution, and enforce them. That’s what
we’re doing this year. Now as we go
through the year, and work with fac
ulty, students, and staff and their per
ceptions of what we’re doing and not
doing, we are going to take note of all
these things are of concern.
For next year my staff and I will
have the opportunity, if need be, to
modify, change, etc. For right now, I
am taking the handbook and we are
going to live with this. This is our
bible this year, but let’s do the job.
The things that have changed are
the style of management. I think my
style may be a little different from
Dr. McKita’s style. Those are the
changes; they are more management
kind of changes, more administrative
changes. But no real rules and regu
lations have been changed. A lot of
students think we have come in here
and changed the rules, but we
haven’t. They just never had them
enforced the way we are going to
enforce them.
Decree: How do you think you
are generally perceived by the stu
dent body?
Cohen: I think the reactions are
fairly typical right now. I held a big
meeting in the cafeteria about the
second week I was here. The major
ity of students that live on campus
showed up. A lot of people came to
me afterwards and said you are what
you say. You are a straight shooter.
You say that your staff is not going
out to look for people who are mak
ing trouble. We are just going to react
to the situations that we encounter.
We are not going out to investigate
people, to knock on doors, to break
into people’s rooms checking for
marijuana or beer. But if we see
people violating the Code of Conduct
of this institution we are going to
respond.
Some people, I think, have a very
good perception. They say the guy is
fair and he’s different from what
we’ve had before. Some people hate
my guts. Some people say the school
has made the worst decision in his
tory bring this guy in here. So I think
it’s a mixed reaction. But I don’t
worry too much about that The main
thing I’m concerned with is that
when I look at myself in the mirror I
feel I’m being fair.
Decree: Characterize the student
body at Wesleyan.
Cohen: We have to be realistic
here. This is not Chapel Hill. This is
not Harvard. This is not Princeton.
This is a school where a lot of people
come in who were not high academic
achievers in high school or they were
not leaders of student government in
high school. We have a good cross
section. I’ve been very, very im
pressed by some students that I’ve
met and quite frankly, I’ve been very
disappointed in the behavior of some
students that I’ve met.
One of the things that I have said
from the start is we’re not going to
pamper people. We’re not going to
cater to people. We are in the busi
ness of providing students services
and we know that is our business. But
that doesn’t mean we treat people
like babies. Some people were
spoiled at home or they’re not used to
having some expectation put on them
in terms of their behavior. They’re
going to get a rude awakening here
because we’re holding people ac
countable.
Decree: What are your priorities
while in the position of Dean of Stu
dent Life at Wesleyan?
Cohen: Number one. There is a
distinct and immediate need to begin
to plan and then construct a student
activities building. It is a must on this
campus and I know that I have the
complete support of Dr. Gamer on
this issue. We must build a building
that can address the physical and cul
tural recreational needs of the stu
dents here.
It is really a disgrace that we have
one building like Everett Gymna
sium, as small as it is, that is sup
posed to serve the athletic, recrea
tional, and physical education needs
of this institution. There needs to be a
place where students, when they are
not involved in classes, can go and
recreate. They could play a little rac-
quetball, swim in a pool, play some
indoor tennis, some volleyball, bad
minton, watch a movie, watch some
TV in a more comfortable environ
ment than they have now, play a
game of backgammon, or listen to
some music. That is critical.
Typically at a large university,
you would build a physical recrea
tion center and then you’d have an
other building that’s your student
union. That would be ideal — to do
something to this building and also to
build a physical recreation center.
We may have to look at combining
the two, but we definitely need that
kind of facility.
There’s some talk about reno
vating the power plant and making it
more like a theater. What Dr. Gamer
and I have talked about is incorporat
ing that into the notion of the con
struction of a student activities cen
ter. I would like a building that could
really be looked at as a recreation or
activities center in the fullest sense of
the word, culturally and physically.
And I think at a school this size,
meaning a not very big one, we can
probably accomplish that in one
building and one renovation of the
physical power plant. And if we do
that, we are going to attract more
students and the students that are
here will feel happier about being
here. Right now you can have a ten
dency to get depressed around here,
there’s not a lot to do. We need to
start doing some of these things.
We also need to better develop
Student Life programs like student
activities — have more trips, have
more cultural opportunities. We are
working at developing a better intra
mural and recreational sports pro
gram. We are working at managing
the housing situation better. It used to
be that we exterminated one resi
dence hall in October, then another
one in November, then another and
we rotated back and forth. Well, Tina
DeLaine and I don’t agree with that
We say we want every residence hall
exterminated every month. When it
is exterminated we want every single
room in that residence hall
exterminated.
So we’re making progress. We
want to upgrade the quality of things
we do. We want to upgrade it, and
then expand it. The quality is not
good, the professionalism is not
there. We are going to upgrade the
caliber of what we do and then we are
going to expand what we do.
Decree: If you could change one
thing immediately, what would it be?
Cohen: If I could change one
thing immediately, I would walk into
this school tomorrow morning and
there would be a new student activi
ties center. The physical facility
would allow us the capability of all
these other things that I’m talking
about — the better programming,
the expanded programming, we’d
have to hire more staff, better oppor
tunities for student involvement,
employment opportunities, more rec
reation opportunities. So if I could do
one thing now, it would be to turn
around one day and see a new student
activities center that can meet the
physical, cultural, and recreational
needs of our school.
Decree: What is a timetable for
these priorities?
Cohen: Dr. Gamer and I just
talked about this last week. He would
like, and I would agree, that by the
end of this academic year we’d have
the plans of this kind of facility.
There are different ways in which
you can finance this kind of a build
ing. Dr. Gamer has some very dis
tinct ideas of what to do, and I agree
with him. I think this building needs
to be built in the next two to 2-1/2
years. That’s realistic. I wish it could
be done tomorrow, but that’s reaUs-
tic.
Decree: As Dean of Student Life,
is there a message you would like to
give to the students?
Cohen: I look at students, and I
want them to look at themselves this
way, as consumers. They arc paying,
or their parents are paying, a good
deal of money for them to come to
this educational institution. They
have every right, and I stress that,
every right to question their environ
ment. To look around and say I think
we need better this or more of that,
etc. I will be more than happy, and
my staff is more than happy, to hear
from students about their concerns
for the quality of the environment in
which they live and go to school. But
when they complain, they need to
come in and not just complain, but
offer suggestions for improvement.
Don’t just come in here scream
ing and yelling about this or that.
Offer altematives. Offer suggestions.
Involve yourself on campus in differ
ent student groups and activities.
And also try to understand what I’m
trying to accomplish here with my
staff, and that is to help prepare you
for your life as an adult in what is
referred to as the real world out there.
Because in many ways, I feel that
the way many students were handled
here before was not like the real
world. They may not like some of the
things we do now, but maybe they’ll
look back on it five years from now
and say, thank God there was a guy
like that here that made me wake up
and take responsibility and accounta
bility for myself and my actions.