Simmons briefs staff about long-term planning

In a forum sponsored by the Staff Advisory Committee, the president offers remarks on campus expansion, safety, diversity.

by Tracie Sweeney

In a noontime forum attended by hundreds of staff members, President Simmons outlined a variety of steps her administration is taking to ensure Brown’s position among the top research institutions in the coming decade.

The forum, sponsored by the Staff Advisory Committee, was held in Sayles Hall on Sept. 24.

The Initiatives for Academic Enrichment announced last February are just the first steps in the University’s long-term planning, she said. By February 2003, Simmons said she hopes to present to the Corporation a proposal that maps the direction Brown should take.

Work on the proposal is under way and includes such areas as:

• master planning. Brown has hired Frances Halsband of R.M.Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects, a New York City-based consulting firm, to help prepare a master plan for where and how Brown’s facilities should grow. “The University cannot thrive … if it is not growing,” Simmons said. She added that Halsband is talking with members of the Brown community and with Brown’s neighbors about ways to accommodate Brown’s facilities needs.

• student life. Janina Montero, vice president of campus life and student services, is working with colleagues and students to identify residential life and campus life priorities.

• biology and medicine. This fall, an external review committee will examine the Division of Biology and Medicine, as well as the Medical School, in order to strengthen the division, Simmons said.

• safety. The University has implemented many recommendations made by a group of safety consultants, but still unanswered is the question of arming campus safety officers. Simmons said she expects the issue to be resolved “in the next month and a half,” adding that “in the end, we must be motivated to use every means at our disposal for the safety of our community.” The campus conversation about the issue will require “the very best efforts of each and every one of us.”

• diversity. Simmons announced her intention to hire a senior officer to guide the University toward its diversity goals, including “defining what we mean when we talk about diversity” and, at the policy level, developing a mission statement.

“It is time for institutions to take responsibility for including people of different origins and faiths and sexual orientations …and join them in a process that leads to greater mutual respect and concern,” Simmons said later during a question-and-answer session. The senior officer will lead the Brown community in that process, and will unify the multiple diversity efforts on campus.

Several times during her address, the president urged staff members to participate in the ongoing dialogue about setting University priorities. “A good idea can happen anywhere on campus,” she said. She encouraged employees to share their ideas with their supervisors or representatives of the Staff Advisory Committee.