University of Virginia Library

Columbia Institutes Changes
For Educational Atmosphere

Columbia University has
instituted a number of changes in
its administrational policy
emphasizing increased
student-faculty co-operation, in
order to facilitate an atmosphere
for effective education, rather than
the aura of conciliation o
negotiation.

Spearheading these alterations
are a number of newly formed
student-faculty committees. These
include the Students for a
Restructured University; the Joint
Committee on Disciplinary Affairs;
which includes seven faculty
members, seven students, and three
administrators; the Joint College
Commission, consisting of six
faculty members and six students;
the Independent Faculty Group;
the Temple Committee of the
Board of Trustees, working with a
body of twenty-six students; and
the Executive Committee of the
Faculty, whose Project on
Columbia was staffed by students
and faculty.

Action has been taken in two
general areas. The first involves the
students who actually participated
in the demonstrations last Spring.
The administration has made
efforts to free hundreds of students
from the threat of criminal
prosecution. The Board of Trustees
has asked that the courts in the area
dismiss hundreds of
studentsinvolved in tresspassing
suits.

The goal of Mr. Courdier's
efforts is to unsar last spring's
disciplinary tangle, to avoid any
vindictiveness, and to promote a
spirit of reconciliation, as well as to
begin the process of reform.

Scific proposals for
resturing the university were
comped during the summer by
the Executive Committee, aided to
a great extent by students. These
forthcoming proposals will be
discussed by the Columbia
community, when they are released
in the near future.

Proponents of measures other
than those of the Executive
Committee will be given an equal
chance to have their ideas heard by
the student body. The proposals
which receive the majority vote of
the students and the faculty, voting
separately, will be presented to the
Board of Trustees.

The proposals of the Executive
Committee task forces include a
University Senate of about ninety
members, which would be the first
such senate in a major American
university to have substantial
student membership. The
University Senate would be a
policy-making and legislative body
dealing with all matters of
University-wide concern, including
external and community relations.

The Trustees have also
committed themselves to
fundamental structural change at
Columbia. The Temple Committee,
a special committee of trustees, has
just issued its first report. It
commits the Committee to the goal
of providing increased participation
in the University's decision-making
processes for both faculty and
students.